Over at starke Kirchenlieder, Pastor Starke wrote a review of the “modern hymn” In Christ Alone awhile back (I just recently found it).  Starke notes that the “text has much to commend itself and a depth that is so often absent in much of the genre of contemporary praise and worship.”  I’d encourage you to read his review of the text’s strengths and weaknesses.

If you’ve never heard In Christ Alone, you can listen to it here.

Starke’s post reminded me of a post at Boundless Line (a Focus on the Family blog for young adults) entitled Modern Worship: All About Me.  In that post Thomas Jeffries provides a reflection of the songs being used in evangelical churches.  Jeffries admits “that many evangelicals today have unwittingly embraced songs about themselves at the expense of those focusing their gaze upon Him.”  The solution he provides is the need to consistently focus on Christ in their song and hymns.

In a recent interview in the Leadership Journal, Keith Getty (co-author of In Christ Alone) and Kristyn Getty provided this refreshing perspective of church music:

If I’ve got non-Christian friends coming to church, I’d far rather give them four verses of comparatively heavy theology with some theological words which explains the gospel, than give them twenty repeated words that could be said about your pet horse or your girlfriend.

I would qualify his comment to include that as Lutherans, Lutherans should be singing texts that reflect and are in harmony with Lutheran theology.  Other Christian groups may have “heavy theology”; it just might not be compatible with Lutheran theology.