Madly in Love with You

This is exactly the right focus. :thumbs: raise:

 

HEY!! WHO'S BIG AND OLD AND FAT??

Oh......that's right.......ME :laugh:

Yup :thumbs: While I think generally the standard of Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts etc songs are higher than most today, and there is a lot of "madly" style dross now, I'm not throwing out my Keith Green, Petra, or Geoff Bullock stuff. There are a few diamonds in the dirt

That's why hymnal reading should be compulsory It's funny reading through sometimes and coming across lines that have been... "borrowed" ...by someone today.

In some songs though even "Jesus" or "Christ" or "God" feels like it's just tacked on for the Christian market. As The Simpsons described it in one episode: They changed from Christian music to regular pop, all you do is change "Jesus" to "Baby"...I remember noticing a song like that recently, but I forget what the song was now.
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My 2¢ worth is that if someone is going to write a song about God it should be unmistakably about God. Not that every song has to be a 39 verses of at least 8 lines each exposition on 5 attributes of God and 3 main doctrines...(but wouldn't that be cool)...but I think we should be doing a lot better than current level.

Here's a short song that gets my vote as one of the best of the last 20 years, Geoff Bullock & David Reidy's Blessing Honour from 1990.

Blessing, Honour, Glory to the Lamb
Holy, Righteous, Worthy is the Lamb

Death could not hold Him down, for He is risen
Seated upon the throne, He is the Lamb of God


So yeah, as I said I just don't get writers writing dud songs and so many today just letting them...

Another thing I don't get is SLEEP! Going to work on that problem now hahahahahha

 

what about this one for a modern song (with an old-fashioned tune)?

In A Moment

God gave us a promise, it's written in His Word
When the angel blows the trumpet the saints will leave the earth
We shall meet our Savior as we rise up in the air
He'll take us to His home above where His glory we shall share.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye
The graves will burst open and the dead in Christ will fly
Then those that are alive in Him will be caught up in the sky
We'll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

Jesus said, 'In this world, you'll suffer many things'
But no matter what the trial, kiep trusting in His name
One day He's coming for us, what a joy that will be
When He shall change our mortal lives to immortality!

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye
The graves will burst open and the dead in Christ will fly
Then those that are alive in Him will be caught up in the sky
We'll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

 

I have the same opinion. I remember the first time I heard it in a Baptist church I was visiting. The worship leader started playing his bass and singing it, and they put the words up on the screen, and I'm thinking "what is this?"

I look forward to a time of praise and worship during a church service. I'm one of those weirdos (so some folks might think) who likes to close my eyes, lift my hands, and experience the presence of God.....and a good worship song seems to help me get to this place. But a song that sounds like something I should be singing to my wife just doesn't do that.

Shout to the Lord, When I Think About the Lord, It Is Well With My Soul.....songs like those are good worship songs in my opinion.

 

Only the word "gonna"...could we change that to "going to" for us grammatical purists? :laugh:

 

I’ve heard people say that
Too much of anything is not good for you, Jesus
But I don’t know about that
As many times as You've been here
We’ve shared love and fellowship
It doesn’t seem to me like it’s enough
There’s just not enough, Jesus
There’s just not enough
Oh, oh,
Uh-uh

My Jesus, I
Can’t get enough of your love, Jesus
Jesus, I don’t know, I don’t know why
I can’t get enough of your love, Lord

Oh, some things I can’t get used to
No matter how I try
It’s like the more you give, the more I want
And Jesus, that’s no lie, oh, no, Jesus

Tell me, what can I say, what am I gonna do
How should I feel when everything is you
What kind of love is this that you’re givin’ me
Is it in your presence or just because you’re sweet

Jesus, all I know
Is every time you’re here
I feel the change
Somethin’ moves
I scream your name
Look what you got me doin’

Jesus, I
Can’t get enough of your love, Lord
Jesus, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know why
I can’t get enough of your love, Lord, oh, no, Lord

Jesus, if I can only make you see
And make you understand
Lord, your love for me is all I need
And more than I can stand, oh, well, Jesus

How can I explain all the things I feel
You’ve given me so much, Lord, you’re so unreal
Still I keep loving you more and more each time
Jesus, what am I gonna do because you’re blowin’ my mind

I get the same old feelin’
Every time you’re here
I feel the change
Somethin’ moves
I scream your name
Look what you got me doin’

Jesus, I
Can’t get enough of your love, Jesus
Lord, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know why
I can’t get enough of your love, Jesus

Oh, my Jesus, I
Can’t get enough of your love, Jesus, oh, Lord
Lord, I don’t know, I don’t know why
I can’t get enough of your love, Jesus

Jesus, I
Can’t get enough of your love, Jesus

 

I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of Charlie Hall's music. But I cannot and do not question his sincerity or love for the Lord. I didn't mean to imply to anyone that Charlie is shallow... merely that the song is lyrically and musically shallow.

Actually, Charlie wrote one of the simplest and best songs I've ever used in my personal or in corporate worship. It's one of his older songs, but still powerful.

Give Us Clean Hands
Charlie Hall
Copyright (C) 2000 worshiptogether.com songs

We bow our hearts, we bend our knees,
O Spirit, come and make us humble.
We turn our eyes from evil things,
O Lord, we cast down our idols.

Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts,
Let us not lift our souls to another!
Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts,
Let us not lift our souls to another!
O God, let us be a generation that seeks;
Who seeks Your face, O God of Jacob!
O God, let us be a generation that seeks;
Who seeks Your face, O God of Jacob!


Oh, and Mike, thanks for the remix Barry White song. You made your point already, don't you think this is overkill?

 

What's funny is that I posted it in another forum in a thread about worship music and nobody could tell that it wasn't a real worship song.

 

Mike,

I about spewed Cherrios and milk all over my computer reading your "worship" lyrics!

Thanks for the laugh.

 

Thanks. If I can't edify, I at least hope to amuse.

 

1) Songs are by nature more expressive than philosophical. There is a difference between knowing God is around and experiencing his presence. Is God omnipresent? Yes. Do we always feel the presence of God? No. I know that this "remix" obviously isn't a worship song, but I've seen similar concepts in actual worship music.

2) I do enjoy songs sung directly to God rather than just about him. I feel like they help me worship more than others. BUT...the "in love with Jesus" style songs really disturb me because it feels like the songs are getting progressively more sexual. Let's be honest. Not many people talk about being "in love with" their best friend, their mother, their father, or their children. Most usages of the phrase refer to romantic (i.e. at least potentially sexual) relationships.

3) From a male's perspective, I think we need to be aware of this persistent romanticizing/feminizing of Jesus. I don't want to sing songs about how Jesus gives me butterflies in my stomach. I love Jesus, yes, but not in THAT way. The only person I love THAT way is my wife. The love I have for Jesus is not romantic at all--it's a love of commitment to him--the kind of commitment that involves taking up your cross, not being starry-eyed.

/rant

I really enjoy a lot of contemporary praise music; I just have serious problems with some of it.

 

I take it you don't listen to Way of the Master. They've been going nuts about this very issue ever since the Presbyterians decided that God is now our "mother" the other day.

 

I don't listen to WotM, but I have heard of the Presbyterian thing.

 

Yeah, they're pretty upset about that. Can't say that I blame them.

 

Sources I surfed across said Steve Fee wrote it. Doesn't bother me either way who wrote it, just WHY And how did it ever catch on once it was written? (Apart from the use of the holy chords Dsus & C2 that is...)

Just did a little experiment with the calculator...Here are 4 batches of 21 words taken from 4 songs (in chronological order):

Charles Wesley's Rejoice, the Lord is King:
Jesus the Saviour reigns, the God of truth and love
When He had purged our stains He took His seat above...

Greg Volz's (Petra) Praise Ye the Lord:
Praise the Lord for His love
His everlasting love
Praise the Lord for His kindness
Praise the Lord for His Son...
(HAHAHA yeah, I tried soooooo hard to use 21 words from Lucas McGraw...)

Geoff Bullock's This Kingdom:
Jesus the expression of God’s love
The Grace of God
The Word of God
revealed to us
Jesus, God’s holiness displayed...

from Madly:
And I'm madly in love with you
And I'm madly in love with you
And I'm madly in love with you...


.....and I've been typing things and deleting again for a hour or two here. Maybe I'll just let the calculator say that part for me instead


Mike, I was a bit slow, it took me until half way through the first verse of the song you posted to wake up. Don't do that again, falling off chair laughing really hurts

Not exactly a guaranteed method of identification that one. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 Geoff Bullock songs (Let Your Pressence Fall, Holy Spirit Come & Oh Holy Spirit) that can (and should) be written off with same criteria. A big collection of Hosanna/Vineyard/etc catalogue would fail on that one too.

 

For those of you who liked the Barry White thing, I posted it on another board to see if they'd know the difference between that and a real worship song.

Here are a couple of comments from that thread:

I don't know who Matt Redman or Casting Crowns are, but I'd love to know what they'd think of this.

((Just so you know, lest you think I'm being dishonest, I'm going to let them off the hook and explain my point to them after I get a few more comments.))

 

Listening to the Barry White original with the "remix" lyrics up there takes it to a new level of funny.