The author is not the text, just as the composer is not the music. Contemporary associations are usually more problematic. Sometimes closeness is just a function of time. The music to “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” was originally a courtly song of unrequited love (circa 1601). But neither is it edifying to announce it publicly: “Before we sing this next song, there’s something you ought to know…” If a member of our church body asks about the connection, we can be open about our careful consideration of the issue. It’s not a matter of deception, either if we use the song, we’re not hiding the association. If a song has an obscure connection with a person or movement that we’d have a problem with, we have to evaluate to what degree the connection would be recognized, and therefore potentially confusing to the body of Christ. But associations fade with time, and some connections are less significant than others. That is, how current and how commonly known is the association? We live in the Age of Google, where every connection and every detail of every song can be found online. Here are three that shape our decisions in our church’s music ministry: When considering a song that may have disqualifying associations, there are a number of helpful questions to ask. There may be songs with good content that are unwise to use corporately because they are linked to people or doctrinal positions that run contrary to sound teaching. So while a song’s association shouldn’t be the first thing we consider, it’s unwise and unloving to ignore association altogether. This is true for any number of personal and cultural decisions, including the songs we sing as a church. Another way to say it is that we move from making merely knowledge-based decisions to making love-based ones. When we live in community with other believers (and we always should), our criteria for what we accept and reject are intensified. We don’t flaunt our liberties, or scorn the weak consciences of our brothers and sisters. Instead of clinging to what we prefer, we prefer others. When we come together, we set aside our rights and opinions. That’s the central issue in corporate worship. He goes on to explain what he means: “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” “All things are lawful for me,” said Paul, “but not everything is wise” (1 Corinthians 10:23). But content isn’t the only factor to consider. With that mindset, we shouldn’t have time for weak lyrics and kitschy music. Our life is a vapor, and part of the purpose of corporate worship is to prepare us to stand around the throne and sing in adoration. And most importantly, you’re leading and teaching a congregation of people whose time on earth is limited. If your church is like ours, you have a limited amount of time each week to sing together. He also needs to evaluate the music: is it beautiful? Is it easily sung by a congregation of diverse ages? Does it accurately reflect the text? A song may pass the first test but fail the second, or vice versa. It ought to go without saying that every leader should first examine lyrical content with a critical and a pastoral eye.

But happily there’s much that is excellent and rich, especially in the past fifteen years. And there’s plenty of material, both old and new, that’s weak or even heretical. Right or wrong, the songs we sing shape our understanding of who God is and what He does. Part of the reason for such a recent glut of music is that what once was the purview of pastors and trained theologians (that is, writing song texts) has been taken up by musicians, often with little thought for the magnitude of the responsibility they’re assuming. Even if your church is guilty of chronological snobbery and sings only songs written in the past few decades, you could still make weekly song selection into a full-time job. Since the Reformation, the church has seen such a wealth of songs as to be nearly uncountable (Charles Wesley himself wrote more than 6,000). Strike out the songs with weak theology or inaccessible music, and it’s still overwhelming. If you’re a church music minister, there’s a lot out there to choose from. Brian Houston, senior pastor of Hillsong Church Sifting, sorting, choosing

Pastor who used to sing with hillsong