The Five Words of Worship
“Music is the handmaiden of theology.”
Martin Luther’s simple saying speaks volumes about the way in which a song can reveal the truth of God to the human heart more clearly and completely than any theological treatise.
At the same time, the Great Reformer provided a profound insight into the role of today’s worship leaders in shaping and directing the unique expression of that truth for individual church communities, from their hometown to the farthest corners of the world.
Simply put, and whether they know it or not, musicians, songwriters and worship leaders are functioning as teachers and theologians wherever and whenever their music embodies the unity of the faith within the rich diversity of Christ’s Body. Today’s worship music, in all its variety, gives voice to the many ways God reveals Himself within a church, a city or a culture.
In an age when information is transmitted and received through a myriad of different mediums, the stereotypical contrast between the scholarly, erudite and intellectual theologian and the emotional, instinctive and inspired musician has lost its distinction. Ready or not, worship leaders have become theologians, creating webs of meaning and connection through lyrics and melodies.
And, while music may encompass an encyclopedic array of styles and sensibilities, its ability to convey deep theological truth can best be expressed in five rich and resonant words, deeply rooted in the history of the church and continually relevant to its future.
Those Five Words Of Worship are the subject of this Worship Leader Resource Guide, a practical introduction to the way in which their meaning and significance is essential to any well-balanced worship experience.
Hallelujah
Hosanna
Abba
Maranatha
Amen
These five words together comprise the full range of worship music’s theological function and, by extension, all the devotional arts. Worship leaders who seek to understand and embrace their role as theologians can find no better place to begin than with a thoroughgoing study of these five words. Within them are the riches of worship as first expressed in Scripture.
And from that understanding arises our creatively distinctive expressions of modern worship. To say that the Five Words of Worship are the basis for music’s theological value is not to say that such value is expressed the same way in every place, at all times. Quite the opposite: the impact of worship is most effectively expressed at a local level, in communities bound by unique experiences and expectations. Authentic worship rises in that context and expresses universal truth in the words and music of that specific locality.
The role of the worship leader as theologian is simple but not easy: it is to worship in a manner pleasing to God and meaningful to the people. And it all begins with five powerful words.
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