Although there are many genuine ways to worship God, music is a prominent form of praise. Just ask David. But I think that contemporary worship songs are losing their ability to praise God. Human emotions have diluted authentic worship. The focus has drifted away from pleasing the Lord ans has settled on pleasing human emotions. The emerging importance of our feelings hinders the purpose of the song: to glorify God. Anyone who opens a pew-back hymnal can see a successful way to praise. Hymns like "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" pack as much honor, reverence, and exaltation that can fit in one song. There are no flowery expressions or meaningless phrases found in hymns, just the meat of worship -- adoration of God. Rarely do I find a hymn centered on man (as I have sung along to before at my church), and whenever I do it highlights man's depravity and unworthiness. In thee songs we put to music John the Baptist's vision of "I must decrease, He must increase." Yet hymns lack to musical eloquence. In fact, they are much more beautiful than our modern praise songs. Animated imagery and thought-provoking analogies flow into a river of powerful melodies.
But in recent attempts to revamp hymns' popularity and modernize the music, new fangled "hymns" have lost the quantity and quality of their ancestors' worship. The songs I sing in my church don't outshine the ones I sing at Deerfoot. Many of the songs I sing in my church are shallow. Authentic worship has been watered down to cater to our "contemporary feelings." But true praise revolves around God, not us. I want a musical renaissance is worship: a return to the clasical hymns of the past. Shifting our style will shift our focus.