FEATURE
[ STOP THE HYPE | Tom Kraeuter ]
I have encountered a dilemma in leading mom in our area who shot her three daughters people in worship of God today. Perhaps you and then turned the gun on herself? Worse have, too. The problem is that it is becoming than millions of Jews dying at the hands of a The problem, then, is that we as worship leaders
increasingly challenging to describe God, or political leader gone mad? try to describe God using the same words. We
even heavenly things, in our culture. Let me
greater and more wonderful than the last.
say that the Lord is “glorious,” “awesome,” or
explain why I believe that, but I’m going to take I really don’t think so. In fact, it’s not even a “great.” But, based on all that the people have
a circuitous route to get there. close comparison. Yet we hear it regularly. heard in the last week, that means God is on
the same level as someone’s new car or the fun
I love my wife’s apple pie. It’s a Dutch apple The movie was epic. The experience was the pie with a crumb topping. Her mom was born absolute best thing that has ever happened. in Holland, so maybe the making of Dutch It was the funniest thing ever. The meal was It won’t work. We have gutted the words of
apple pie is inherited. I don’t know for sure. I glorious. their meaning. What a shame.
ride at the amusement park.
do know that the pie is out of this world. It is
unquestionably the best apple pie I have ever
tasted. Now, don’t get the idea that you can
just pop by our house and have some. She
doesn’t make it very often. It’s a special treat. If
you ever have the opportunity to try it, though,
you’ll immediately know what I’m talking about.
Did I mention that I love my wife’s apple pie?
Let me ask you a question. If, after that whole
apple pie story, I said, “And I also love my wife,”
wouldn’t that seem a bit strange? It could easily
sound as though I am putting my “love” for
apple pie on the same level as my love for my
wife. In reality, there is no comparison between
the two. (Just to be clear, I love my wife far
more than her apple pie.)
Hyperbole. We all use it.
A guy sitting next to me on a plane recently
told about a man on his last flight who was
Here’s my recommendation. Dial back the
[ We use
hype. When you notice yourself overstating
something, change the phrasing. Save the
grandiose terms
in trivial ways. In
doing so, such
words and phrases
become devoid
of meaning. They
lose all sense of
heavenly descriptions for heavenly things, not
earthly ones. No food – even the best chocolate
or the best bacon on the planet – can compare
to what we’ll enjoy there. No experience here
will be quite the same as what’s waiting for us.
No human being is even close to what God is
like.
So – especially for us as worship leaders – let’s
save the superlative phraseology for the things
that deserve such descriptions. I also make it a
pretty regular habit of calling people – especially
Christ-followers – on their overuse of such
words and phrases. I recently asked someone,
“Was it really the most awesome thing you’ve
ever experienced?” “Well, no,” came the
sheepish response.
relativity... ]
snoring raucously. “There’s nothing worse,”
Let’s give God His true due and keep other
he declared. In my mind I wondered, Nothing We use grandiose terms in trivial ways. In doing things – like movies, athletic events, food, etc.
worse? So, someone nearby snoring loudly – so, such words and phrases become devoid of – in their proper perspective.
maybe even extremely loudly – is worse than all meaning. They lose all sense of relativity. Each the people that ISIS has killed? Worse than the experience, event, or even trinket is somehow
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October 2017
WorshipMusician.com