In thinking about our current project regarding worship song analysis, I started thinking

about the use of verbs and vertical vs. horizontal worship. All of the example songs are
good songs, I wouldn’t have a problem using them in a service, but they also serve as
good examples.

A few semi-organized notes and charts.

1. Adjectives and Adverbs

I started thinking about how we use verbs in worship and sometimes don’t use verbs in
worship. For example, lets look at this “praise chorus” I grew up singing.

You can’t find a verb in this song. It is descriptive, and theologically decent, but not
scoring very well. We find adverbs and adjectives....but no true verbs. “His” functions
as our subject, so the song is directed towards Jesus, but we see attributes ascribed
through description, not action.

His Name is Wonderful (Audrey Mieir

"HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL, 

HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL,
HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL,
Jesus, my Lord.

He is the mighty King, 

Master of ev'rything,
HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL,
Jesus, my Lord.

He's the Great Shepherd,

The Rock of all Ages,
Almighty God is He.

What are some implications through no verbal usage in a song whatsoever? It certainly
isn’t wrong, but it could be done better. How is Jesus “wonderful”...what has he done to
be “mighty king” and how is he “almighty”?

2. Vertical vs. Horizontal

If there are verbs, how do they act? Who is the main actor? Lets set this up like this.
Red verbs are mans action. Blue verbs are Gods action.

Lets look at the son “You are worthy of my Praise” (David Ruis)

I will worship, with all of my heart

I will praise You, with all of my strength
I will seek You, all of my days
I will follow, all of your ways

I will bow down, and I'll hail You as king

I will serve You, I will give You everything
I will lift up, my eyes to Your throne
I will trust You, trust You alone

I will give You all my worship

I will give You all my praise
You alone, I long to worship
You alone, are worthy of my praise

Gods Verbal Action Mans verbal Action

15

7.5

# of mentions

In this song, we have 12 verbal mentions of Mans verbal action directed towards God,
and no examples of Gods verbal action. ( I enter 1 in the data to see that there is a
separation). Mans action towards God isn’t necessarily problematic, but it should be
part of the overall engagement of Gods story.

Lets put another piece in the equation. With Gods verbal action, there can be verbs
directed at people, and general verbs directed at who He is.
Green will be Gods action and Blue will serve as His action towards people. Red will
continue to be Man. Theologically problematic (for various reasons both good and bad)
will be in purple. These are verb phrases that need more flushing out (outside of the
corporate singing of the song).

In Christ Alone (Getty, Townend)

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh

Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied - (my point of issue. It could be considered Gods own actions)
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me, (do we give the devil verbal credit? Or do we reference evil?)
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

In this song, we see a great deal of verbal variance, and a few places where we might
need a different category or two! The “theologically problematic” places are where we
could use better explanation, or discussions surrounding the issue of evil and it’s action.
But what we do see is a wide spread of action. This song would allow alot of teaching
surrounding the idea of God’s action, and what is something that He just “does” or is
something that is specifically directed at man.

Part of developing a good Trinitarian theology means understanding that God as Father,
Son and Spirit “does” things. A song like this is a good place for teaching. As a
Wesleyan, I do have problems with 1 line, but that doesn’t take out the great example
that it serves as a rubric of example.

Lets look at how it charts out.

Theological God towards man God Himself Mans action

5.25

3.5

1.75

0
Untitled 1

2007

Untitled 2

Gods actions towards Man is at the top of the verbal mentioning, with Man towards God
in 2nd, Gods actions of being in 3rd and the theological issues in bottom (remember
these can be lumped in multiple).

What questions can be gleaned from this example? Here are a few off the top of my
head-

1. How do worship songs teach complex theology?

2. How do we deal with learning about the “beingness” of the Trinity is worship songs?
3. In what way do songs with multiple senses of action teach the complex nature of
Christian doctrine without swamping people in technical jargon?

Like I said-just a few notes. I hope to develop a better version of how to incorporate
and analyze this data.