Writing worship songs is hard work.  A lot goes into the creation of something that will be used in part as spiritual formation (it’s often been said, “Show me the songs a church sings and I’ll tell you what they really believe”) and also as one way in which a body of people worship God together. 

     The eleven songs on Before The Throne passed through a screening process that included these elements, as outlined by Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper:

Theological Truth - Does the song faithfully present Biblical truth? This is a fairly simple category.  Is the song true, does it say anything heretical, etc.

Clear and unified musical ideas - Does the chorus relate clearly to the ideas of the verse? Does the bridge connect the rest of the song? Often, in writing worship songs, there is an unfortunate tendency to “fill the gaps” in lyrics with Christian clichés, catch-phrases, and commonly heard phrases from the scriptures. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this so long as those phrases contribute to the central themes of the song and are part of the logical flow. Often they don’t.

Textpainting - Does the emotional impact of the music communicate consistently with the lyrics? A great example of this is Rebecca Dennison’s “Crippled Soul” from Sojourn’s record These Things I Remember. The bluesy nature of the song communicates the emotional melancholy of the text.

Vernacular language - Have you ever seen a movie, a musical, or heard a song and said to yourself “No one talks like that”? Language that isn’t rooted in the way we carry on our conversations will feel unnatural in worship. This can serve a purpose when singing old songs with archaic language - it connects the body to the past. But new songs serve to connect the body to the present - who we are, where we are, and who God has made us. Our songs should sound like us because we have the joy and privilege of being who we are, where we are.

Often in worship music, this means looking for new ways to say things that are true. A great example of this is Michael Pritzl’s “Invitation Fountain.” The scripture verse “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened” was poetically rephrased “All who have climbed mountains of heartache”, and “all who have sailed on rivers of heartache.” THIS IS HARD WORK! This is the work of pastors and missionaries throughout the history of the church. How can the truth of the gospel be heard fresh and new when our ears are so familiar with the words and phrases? By carefully crafting new metaphors and carefully thinking through our language.

Musical excellence - Let me clarify this category by describing what it’s not. This doesn’t mean songs that require Celine Dion and Eddie Van Halen to play them. Rather it requires that the song be a good song for what it is. If it’s a folk song, is it a good song compared to other folk songs? If it’s a rock song, is it good compared with other rock songs? Now, this is the most subjective category, for certain. But the best way to judge this category (of song demos submitted for possible inclusion on Before The Throne — ed.) was simply to hear the songs near one another - most shared common core musical ideas (simple harmony and melody, etc.) and the truly great songs made themselves apparent - regardless of who sang or performed them.

    

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