Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, Let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore you
Hope of a life spent with you
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
King of all days
So highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly you came to the earth you created
All for love's sake became poor
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
(repeat)
I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
(repeat 3x)
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
(repeat 6X)
----
This song, when used, is usually placed at the beginning of the service as a sort of call to worship - here I am to worship. I appreciate that the song speaks some specific Gospel proclamation - Christ's humility (you stepped down into darkness, humbly you came to the earth you created, ...became poor), a future home in heaven (hope of a life spent with you), and death on a cross for our sins (I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon the cross). That is a fair amount of doctrine and proclamation as compared to many CCM songs. This is good.
What bothers me about this song is the "Here I am to worship" refrain. This is obviously the main thrust of the song. It is the title of the song, and it is repeated many many more times than the rest of the lyrics. It is the part of the song you are going to go home with and have running through your head. The refrain is the focal point of the song. And there is no Gospel proclamation in it. It is about our action - "Here I am to worship."
What happens in worship? God's action or man's? First and foremost is God's action - him feeding us through the means of grace: the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. In response to this, man may respond with praise and thanksgiving. But the emphasis of this song is certainly on this "response" part. For a song about worship, it neglects to even mention Word or sacrament. What does this song teach to the congregation? I think that it teaches that worship is about: 1. our being there 2. our thinking and showing that God is great. If that is what this song is teaching, then it is teaching false doctrine.
I wish the refrain were something more like this:
Here Christ comes to feed me
Here he grants forgiveness
'Cause he has washed all my sins away
Through water, bread and wine and
Through his Holy Word he
gives me his Salvation fully free.
I would not recommend this song for Lutheran worship.
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Welcome to the world of Blogging, it's great to see more WELS Bloggers; especially from a student. I have added your BLOG to my Links; hopefully I can steer some traffic in your direction.
ReplyDeleteSorry we disagree on this song.
http:\\sjbrown58.wordpress.com
Thanks Steve!
ReplyDeleteWhat points do you disagree with?
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI like many of your comments about the song text but I tend to think that we sometimes over analyze song lyrics. I take this song at face value. It explains one reason why I am in church, perhaps not the only reason and not the only motivation behind that reason, but certainly one of them. I’m not there to see my friends that I only get together with once per week, I’m not there to show off my musical skills, I’m not there to feel good, I’m not there to get inspired – I’m there to worship my Lord and maker and savior, to respond to His great works, to make an offering to Him, to hear His word, to pray to Him, to confess to Him, to exalt Him, to make more of Him and less of me, and to partake of His supper among many other things. It’s impossible to capture all of this and the motivation behind all of this in any one song. I’m not a fan of criticizing music for what else it could have said. In this case, the song writer attempted to dwell on one aspect, and in my humble opinion, he did a fine job at it.
Many people, don’t like the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” because they claim that it puts the emphasis on when “I” survey and they also state that it’s missing the first thing that comes to mind when anyone surveys the cross, i.e. Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice. I don’t agree. That’s being over critical. I-love-this-hymn!; in fact, its one of my favorites. Many of the songs that God himself inspired, the Psalms, would be deemed bad if we looked for the Gospel or the Law, or the sacraments mentioned in every one. Some are just simply a “light” praise song and apparently that’s OK with God.
The scriptural reference to “Here I Am to Worship” is 1 John 4:19.
“We love because He first loved us.” Knowing this, to me, puts the entire song into perspective.
One of the things that I like about this song is that it recognizes God, as bringing us to faith, not as a result of our actions, in the lyric: ‘Light of the World, You stepped down into darkness. Opened my eyes, let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore You.
One other thing Mark, I know that these song lyrics are posted all over the WEB, but as a believer and follower of Christ, we should make every effort to abide by the copyright laws and not reprint lyrics without either pre-approval to do so, taking the lyrics from the artist’s website and referring back to the origin by linking, or at least by following the lyrics with the appropriate copyright markings. For the record, this should follow the “Here I Am to Worship” lyrics:
CCLI Song #3266032, © 2000 Thankyou Music, music & lyrics by Tim Hughes
I'm not even sure that you mentioned Tim Hughes in your post. You should.
Wishing you great blessings in your ministry,
Your fellow brother & believer in faith,
Steve
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your taking the time to respond and sharing your thoughts.
I agree with your point about not criticizing music for what else it could have said. I don't plan to make a habit of saying "it should have covered these topics instead." I pointed out Word and Sacrament because this, being a song about worship, did not include the central main most important things that happen in worship - the reason we're even "here for worship". The reason why? Word and Sacrament are not the central main most important things in worship according to the songwriter. His emphasis reflects his theology. It is not a Lutheran emphasis. However, American Evangelicalism does emphasize the feelings of the people.
What do you consider a "light" praise song? Throughout the Psalms praise is almost always paired with proclamation. The Psalms proclaim who God is or what he has done. So using the Psalms as our perfect model, our worship songs praise God by saying who he is and what he has done. The central theme of this song does not do that. A recent blog post by Pastor Strey makes this point better than I do here -- scroll about half way down to where the book "The Fire and the Staff" is quoted. And not just in the Psalms. The first song of praise recorded in the Bible, Miriam's horse and rider song praised God by describing what he did - he delivered the Israelites. Mary's magnificat praised God by describing the things he has done.
"Here I Am to Worship" has some of this Gospel proclamation, which I originally pointed out with appreciation. But it - the Gospel - does not predominate the music. The refrain, which is Gospel-less and man-centered, predominates this music. I believe that in Lutheran worship, the Gospel needs to predominate everything we do.
The portion of the lyric you quoted ("Light of the World...") is good. I wish more of the song dealt with that. But the amount of good lyrics is not proportional to the amount of empty lyrics.
I struggled with the copyright question a bit. Fair use allows for analysis of texts without pre-approval, and no claim was made that the lyrics are my own. You are right, I should probably cite them. I did not want to make authors shade people's opinions, rather I wanted the text to stand alone. For instance, knowing that Paul Baloche writes CCM might turn one person off to a song of his before they even get to the text. That's not a fair evaluation of the text. Or knowing that Luther wrote a text might make another assume it will be hard to understand. Again, not fair. For the same reason I have left my full name off... I would rather be judged by what I have to say here than about any preconceived notions about me or my family (however little-known I am). As a solution, I will provide a separate copyright blog post, permanently linked from the main page, that contains all of the info for all of the songs posted. CCLI info is not necessary as I do not hold a CCLI license; I am publishing under fair use. CCLI doesn't even require the song number when citing - rather the account number.
Peace,
Mark
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI play guitar for a WELS blended worship service. We have used this song "Here I come to worship" several times. I feel uncomfortable every time that we use this song for the very reasons that you have so clearly given. The emphasis in the refrain (which is the main part of the song, the climax, the part that will stick in your head all week) focuses on me and what I am doing and feeling instead of on Jesus and what He has done and is doing for me.
Thank you for a clear, Lutheran evaluation of this song. Keep up the good work.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteAgreed. One thing I would like to point out however. Getting some memorable lyrics with a singable melody into a person's head so that he or she sings it throughout the week is a very powerful thing. Personally, I have difficulty doing this with most, but not all, hymns. The key, as you know, is to find the right songs. I look forward to your future song reviews. Keep up the good work.
Steve
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI was a bit rushed in my last response. You had asked how I defined a “light praise song?” I’m thinking that a good “light praise song” is one that is God pleasing, but doesn’t dig deep into doctrine to the point that just about any Christian denomination that recognizes the deity of Christ could sing it and believe it – a real oxymoron to us WELS-types. I’ll give you three examples, a hymn, a Psalm and a contemporary song. The contemporary example would be “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” by Rick Founds, the Psalm would be Psalm 117 and a hymn would be (this is tougher) but I'll say CW#250.
Steve
We have sung this song for years in our circles, and it is meant to draw the head and heart into our reason for coming together. If objectionable, perhaps a remedy would be to sing only one chorus at the end of the song. The bridge can be sung directly after the second verse, "AND I'll never know...."
ReplyDelete