Last night I got into a full on argument with one of the worship leaders at my church, during rehearsal. We were playing through 'The Wonderful Cross'. Our disagreement was over the number of syllables in the word wondrous. She was very adamant that the word only had two syllables, but I sung it with three (won-der-ous).
At one point she even looked it up in a dictionary, which clearly stated that the word has two syllables. But I didn't let that phase me, because I know great artists don't let little things like facts or truth get in the way of creativity.
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| Photo courtesy of Taymtaym at flickr.com |
"If love is who I am
Than this is where I stand
Reck-a-less-ly abandoned
Never holding back."
I always it's a little silly when I hear him sing that (not withstanding the fact that the song has an amazing message). But it's sort of hypocritical of me since I regularly sing the word grace with two syllables (ga - race). But I know it drives some people out of their minds. So here's what I want to know from you -
Does it drive you crazy when worship leaders and songwriters disassemble the English language? Please chime in with your comment in the space below.
's wonderful, 's marvelous.
ReplyDeleteHa! I love it Jim.
DeleteWorship is about Jesus. If you’re focused on grammar during a worship service, someone should hang a sign around your neck that says “Worship: You’re Doing It Wrong”
ReplyDeleteLol. Marcus, you could make one of those for every area of the Christian life. Apologetics, prayer, preaching, discipleship, etc. Ultimately we're all doing it wrong somewhere right?
DeleteThat's absolutely true. I think of worship as the gateway where we declare God's holiness, goodness and majezty. So, you're right, but worship is the last place in the world where grammar should be a thing because we should be taking the focus off of us and putting it on Him.
DeleteI couldn't agree with you more.
DeleteThis goes way back to old hymns too, cramming long words into short spaces, and giving short words lots of time. I don't think it's horrible if it happens every now and then, but if it happens all the time I think it is evidence that the lyricist should have chosen a different route. It's not really so much the worship leader's fault as that of the people who wrote the songs, right?
ReplyDeleteSometimes. the rest of the time, it can just be a matter of pronunciation. Like I said, sometimes I sing the word grace with two syllables. Since it's not an expressly moral issue, it's more a matter of whether or not it bothers people.
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