the way out . You couldn ’ t really hear it on Top 40 Radio , and worship records followed suit a few years later . The guitar was becoming more and more of a texture instrument , relegated to the background .
But today ? Things are changing . We ’ re hearing lots of guitar again , and there are more complex and nuanced voicings in hit music than at any time since the 1970 ’ s .
The kids are playing jazz . On TikTok .
And this is good news for worship songwriters , because people in churches hear that music too . It ’ s becoming normal , accessible even - which means you can probably feel at ease taking more risks with the music you present to a congregation . I see younger people celebrating far more interesting chord changes than my fellow millennials did just a decade ago , and I love it . I love anything that broadens our creative palette .
I love anything that challenges our self-imposed limitations and reminds us that we always have more colors to paint with .
THIS HITS HOME FOR ME Six years ago , I was asked to write a song for a Christian college ’ s new worship album . The album was to be rehearsed and then recorded live , and the song I submitted - which began from a short prayer written out by my Dad - turned out to be something I was really pleased with . It was a reimagining of the Lord ’ s prayer and would be sung over the gathered congregation as both blessing and exhortation near the end of the album . It was a song of focus for the present moment , looking forward to a promised future , with the intent to see it manifest here and now .
A “ Your kingdom come , your will be done ” sort of song .
And it worked .
But then , during pre-production , the leader sent word to me that my song was no longer being included . The reason I was given was that there was a chord at the end of the chorus that he and others had deemed “ unchristian .” And while that reasoning was mentioned as something of a lighthearted joke , it also wasn ’ t expanded upon . It seemed that he genuinely meant it as his rationale , though he didn ’ t know a more tactful way to say it .
What was clear was that my song had been deemed too divergent for the project over a single chord change .
And it was the best chord in the song .
It was disappointing to me , to say the least . The chord wasn ’ t even difficult to play . And to have put that much work into something good , only to see it dismissed over a chord ... I couldn ’ t understand it . I still don ’ t . When I heard the leader ’ s statement about the chord I ’ d used being “ unchristian ,” what I understood that to mean is , " We don ’ t want any interesting or novel musical moments to happen on this album ."
( Sure enough , there weren ’ t any .)
This sort of thing both frustrates me and breaks my heart . Such thinking is why the churchgoing public continues to view its sacred music less and less as an actual art form , and more and more as a mere commodity . Something safe , interchangeable , and dispensed for quick and easy consumption before being discarded .
Selah , my fellow musical poets . Selah .
My chord was crucial to the song . The verse and chorus ascended to it , and it let the constant upward trajectory finally head back down . It made it possible to land the plane . It expressed the depth of what the song was praying for . It held all the beauty and the longing and the mystery together , as if to say to the congregation , “ Wow , all of this that we ’ re singing ? It ’ s a lot .” That chord was like the music assuring you that it understood the lyrics
it was meant to accompany .
And it served this function by providing a moment of musical tension . Tension longs for resolve , so resolving that chord was especially satisfying .
These moments of musical tension in songs are like the liminal space between earth and the infinite . To write songs which aspire to bring heaven to earth , and to then refuse that threshold of tension and mystery and complexity , is to write contrary to our own stated aim . I think we should be finding places in our music where we ’ re purposefully drawing out moments of suspension , so that the moments of grounding carry more weight . We should be celebrating the place from which our music develops its sense of gravity , not avoiding it .
We ’ re singing about a lot of big things , after all .
But I ’ ll let you be the judge . This month , I ’ m trying something new . I ’ m including a chord chart for the song in my story , “ Kingdom Shine ,” along with the original demo I sang straight into the sketchy built-in microphone of my laptop .
Maybe the scandalous chord ’ s moment will seem “ Christian ” enough to you .
To me , it ’ s moments like those that often make the song .
Kevin MacDougall Worship leader , published and recorded songwriter , musician and podcast producer . macdougall . k @ gmail . com
Kingdom Shine