It’s perhaps endemic of the beauty/truth divide that has plagued much of modern Christendom—we don’t seem to be able to hold the two together, and people who specialize in one area tend to be suspicious of those who are particularly focused on the other.
Sometimes, we’ve got to let creatives be creative and trust they’re grounded. We’ve got to disciple them and invest in their understanding of the Word. To my mind, it’s hardly more problematic for our theology to be shaped by worship songs than it is for it to be shaped by a writer, blogger, poet, filmmaker or theologian.
Historically, preachers have made just as many theological errors as worship leaders, probably more. I could purchase a paperback on almost any shelf of a reputable Christian bookshop that will still contain moments of lunacy. And preachers are no more immune to the danger of style over substance or rhetoric over truth. As I’ve written before, preachers need to kill their darlings.
Sometimes, theologians and preachers are able to see blind spots songwriters may not. I’m probably more aware than many in our church of the fact that most of our songs are implicitly Unitarian or Binitarian rather than Trinitarian. Not that they deny the other members of the Trinity, but many of our songs mention only one or two members max. We could unwittingly go a whole worship set and not mention Jesus, or the Father, or more likely the Spirit—and maybe that’s a blind spot a theologian might be more attuned to notice.
But theologians should not simply police such things but teach worship leaders to spot them, too.
The flipside is theologians and preachers can also be boring, uncreative or pedantic! I think a strong case could be made for worship leaders or creatives inputting into the work of preachers, helping them to be aware of their blind spots and weaknesses. I’ve certainly benefited from running ideas by people who are far more creative than me, and I hope my preaching is all the better for it.
So I’m happy for worship to shape our theology, bringing it to life, helping us to see timeless truths in new ways, crafting an experience into which we can enter together. In an ideal world, worship will shape our theology, theology will shape our worship, and both will be shaped by the Word and the Spirit.
