What You’ll Learn:
- Why 30-40% of Psalms are laments while only 5-15% of modern worship songs address suffering
- Three revealing truths about contemporary Christianity hidden in this discrepancy
- How consumer-driven worship culture avoids honest expressions of doubt and pain
- Why neglecting lament may expose our disconnection from global suffering
Here’s a truth: the Bible is full of lament, but modern worship setlists aren’t.
The math is striking. Nearly half the Psalms wrestle with suffering, doubt, and unanswered prayers. Yet flip through contemporary hymnals or scroll Spotify worship playlists, and lament barely registers. What’s behind this massive gap?
First, lament doesn’t sell. Upbeat songs inspire. Songs about suffering don’t. “Positive, encouraging” worship keeps people coming back and record labels profitable. String together five celebration anthems and people leave feeling great. Lead with raw, honest lament? Not so much. The ancient psalmists expressed unfiltered emotions to God. Modern worship is a polished product designed for consumption.
Second, we’re terrified of messy faith. The Psalms don’t shy away from brutal honesty: “How long will you forget me forever?” “You have taken my loved ones; darkness is my closest friend.” “Break the teeth of the wicked!” Good luck finding those sentiments in today’s top worship songs. We prefer our faith packaged neatly, our doubts kept outside the sanctuary where they won’t disrupt the “worship experience.”
Third, we’ve insulated ourselves from global suffering. Theologian Walter Brueggemann contrasts the “haves” and “have-nots.” Those suffering develop theologies of survival, worship crying out for deliverance. The comfortable develop theologies of celebration, rejoicing in a world that’s been good to them.
If lament is absent from our worship, perhaps we’re selfishly celebrating our blessings while ignoring brothers and sisters who have nothing to celebrate. Bonhoeffer reminds us: “Even if a verse is not my own prayer, it is nevertheless a prayer of another member of the community.”
Modern worship offers incredible celebration songs. But neglecting lament means missing what it truly means to worship as God’s family.
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