I can literally only find the youtube/itunes audio of the song, so I have spent a good portion of this past hour typing out the lyrics as I find them (and soon I will chord it out).
However, as I am typing the lyrics, my head is spinning because while the actual words are simple, the biblical principles and scriptural references are not (at least enough to process in a few minutes!) Unless a church (congregation) has specifically been taught about what it means to worship in spirit and in truth, who really knows what they are saying? Songs like this are so good if the worshipers understand and sing it in spirit, in truth. But they are also so dangerous, and can lead people who are disconnected to either be curious about what they are singing, or become even more disconnected. I have actually been waiting for a challenge like this! I have been yearning for what is going to challenge me as a worship leader-teacher. YES! The best part about this will be all the thinking I put into it to get a hopefully simple solution.
When I'm singing a song, worshiping through music, there are many, many, even an infinite number of songs to worship the definitely real and worthy God. There are so many songs that expound on the truth of God and the truth found in the Word of God. However, there are also a few songs like this that, to me (and I emphasize this because I tend to complicate things and others may find this over-kill) contain concepts that take a little longer to process than the 3 minutes of trying to catch up and learn a song.
I know, I know. You may say, "well, Lindsay, this is why we do it multiple times, and teach people." But how many worship leaders are really teaching? Teaching is intimidating, it is challenging, and truthfully, when on the platform, it can be incredibly awkward. Especially if you're me, and sound more like Matthew Henry than MacArthur and need to spend quite a bit of time processing, and simplifying concepts into what is, essentially, a thesis statement for the song.
For this song, "Break Down The Walls", I see what could possibly be the stumbling block, the factor that increases the tendency to "just sing the words on the screen and kind of know what's going on". It is the bridge:
"In Spirit and Truth we worship You"
Ironically, this is the line that may keep people from worshiping in "Spirit and in Truth." It is a great line, but it is kind of just... stuck in there. Should a song be written as an essay would be- the bridge would serve to reinforce what else has been going on in the song. In this song, it actually does, in a round about, not sung about way, which I will explain in Part 2, A Challenge, where I will further explore the scriptural references that this song makes.
Until we meet again...!
-Lindsay
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