3 Things That Work On Vampires & Worship Songs (and 1 That Doesn’t)

Okay, so vampires aren’t real. But we’ve all heard contemporary praise & worship songs that we wish didn’t exist, either. So if you’re a pastor looking for solid modern hymns and songs for worship leading, or you’re a worship songwriter who wants to improve your craft, bear with the fictional analogy. Here are three things you can use whether you eat a bad burrito, fall asleep and get whisked into the pages of Dracula, or in the more likely case that you either write a song for Christian worship or find a new one for your worship service planning:

The Cross

Contemporary literature’s so-called vampires like those in Twilight don’t shrink and sizzle in sight of the cross. This reflects our post-modern culture’s denial of Christianity (or at least, the belief that Christianity may be just one valid alternative among many paths to God). But the classic vampire was a metaphor for Satan. You can’t read, for instance, Bram Stoker’s Dracula without seeing this. The cross worked against these creatures of the night because it stood for Christ’s victory over the powers of hell. Even the “wooden stake through the heart” hearkened back to this (wood, the material of the cross).

Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross is the central moment in the Christian faith and all of history. Without it we have no victory, no joy, no song in the night. So worship pastor, is the cross central to your set lists and liturgies? Worship songwriter, is the cross central to your psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?

As I wrote in my Abstract Worship Songs: Enough Already, one reason many people prefer classic and modern hymns to some contemporary praise choruses is because the best of hymnody features “sound theology and clear expressions of praise (who is to be praised and why he is to be praised, along with specific injunctions to praise him”).

This doesn’t mean that every worship song should be about the cross, but it does mean that if you look at entire set lists, albums or songwriting portfolios and see a cross-less Christianity, then you’ve got a problem.

A Mirror

Want to find out if that good-looking new kid in town is a vampire? If the stranger casts no reflection in your mirror, that’s all the proof you need.

In the same way, you need to hold songs up to a mirror. Examine them. This is easier to do if you’re a worship leader considering someone else’s song than if you’re a songwriter who just busted out a praise song in a euphoric fit of inspiration. We writers don’t like to “kill our darlings.” We’re so enthralled with how it came together that we insist it must be perfect.

Christian songwriters have an additional excuse: “The Lord gave me this song.”

Reality check: While the Holy Spirit may have inspired your song, he didn’t give it to you in the same way he gave the 66 books of the Bible to Moses, David, Luke, Paul and friends. Your song is not the inerrant Word of God. You need to put it away for a day or probably a week, then look at it with fresh eyes. Most songs need editing, revision and sometimes even a wholesale redraft.

The Sun

Trick a vampire into standing in the sun, and you’ll have something better (a nice pile of vamp dust) in no time. Show your worship song the light of day and you’ll get something better too — a better song.

By “light of day” I mean the collaboration or critique of others. Unlike the Mirror stage, where you examine your own work, the Sun stage can involve pastors, worship leaders, songwriters and other kinds of writers, people in your congregation, friends and family.

Last year Kristen and I bounced ten songs off a group we invited to our house, and received valuable feedback. This wasn’t a group of songwriters or worship leaders — these were “people in the pews.” We wanted to know if our songs were clear to them, beautiful to them, and singable by them.

And we “kid-tested” some children’s worship songs with a few children, ranging several years in age, both boys and girls.

Of course we don’t neglect bouncing our ideas off pastors and our fellow songwriters and worship leaders. Before recording My Song In The Night, the theme song for this website (which you can download for free in the column to your top-right) I talked about it extensively with Sojourn Worship Pastor Mike Cosper, at several stages. I showed him the lyrics, played the original demo, asked for recording recommendations and played him the session rough cut and final version.

So before we get to the one thing that doesn’t work, do these three things:

1. Ground your songs in solid Christian theology, which centers around the cross of Christ.
2. Don’t rush a song into a worship service or recording session, but rather look at it with fresh eyes and edit as needed.
3. Seek the input of others — those who have experience in writing, music and Christian teaching, and those who don’t.

And 1 Thing That Doesn’t Work: Silver Bullets!

Silver bullets only work on the Wolf Man, silly.Use a silver bullet on Dracula and he’ll laugh at you.

From folklore’s prescription for killing werewolves, we get a metaphor for any simple “quick fix” that works like magic against a conundrum. But there are no silver bullets in songwriting. It’s a craft, and it requires work. Roll up your sleeves, get to it, and don’t forget to use the cross, the sun and a nice shiny mirror.

Tagged as: songwriting, songwriting workshop, worship leading