The Shelf Life of Worship Songs

The other day, I was reading Mike Cosper's latest book on worship called, Rhythms of Grace, when I came across this sentence:

The short life cycle of worship songs today - hip today, gone tomorrow - is a clear symptom of a consumer society's shaping influence on the church.

I began to think about songs I hear in the church today versus what I heard when I first became a Christian over 20 years ago. It amazes me how a worship song gets pushed aside because it is not what is popular. The songs I sang as a new Christian were simple and easy to know with only so that I can sing as I am going through the hallways of my school.

Some songs I did sing as a new Christian are still being sung but not as often as they were back in the day. Whenever Chris Tomlin comes out with a new song, some churches need to learn it because people have heard it on K-Love. Church only sing what is popular because they want to satisfy the consumer. You see where this is going.

Singing songs that are only popular can lead to consumerism. In fact, that is what Cosper is saying in this quote, that the hip songs that are hip will be liked by the consumer and those that becomes old, which is normally more than a year old, is gone. Think about it. How many songs from before 2011 do you really sing in worship? Consumerism in worship is dangerous because we are not worshiping in Spirit and in truth, but worshiping only based on our preferences. How many times can we sing "10,000 Reasons," which is a great song, before we get bored with it?

Consumerism in worship will only guide us to sing popular songs without truly giving God all the praise he deserves. Consumerism in worship will also us to "enjoy" worship services rather than engaging in worship. The Bible should lead us on how to lead others in worship not what our consumeristic society says.