The UMC evaluates the CCLI Top 100

Do you worship in a congregation that includes a CCLI number in its bulletins or on the slides of its projected lyrics? Ever wonder what it means? CCLI stands for Christian Copyright Licensing International. It is an organization that licenses music to congregations so that they can legally sing and duplicate lyrics of popular contemporary worship songs. Back in the days when Christians only sang out of hymnals (or from memory), churches did not have to worry about copyright

infringement. If you bought enough hymnals for everyone to sing from, then you were covered by law. These days, when churches want to use new songs -- ones that are composed and distributed more quickly than they can be published in a book, the temptation is to simply copy the words in a bulletin or put them up on a projector screen. Unfortunately, doing so without the permission of the composer (or owner) is against the law. CCLI offers a service (for a fee, of course) that lets churches use the lyrics of many songs, published by many different companies, all through one single licensing agreement. This allows churches to live within the requirements of the law, and it provides compensation to the folks who compose and produce new worship music.

By keeping track of which songs all these congregations sing from week to week, CCLI provides valuable insight for those who study trends in church music. Each year they release the most popular songs that were reported to them, and this gets distributed as a "Top 100" list. Recently the United Methodist Church decided to assess all 100 songs on this list, thereby helping church leaders discern which songs might work best in their congregations by working through a consistent vetting tool. The committee of musicians and theologians evaluates each song according to three major categories:

• Wesleyan theology
• Terms used for God
• Singability of the tune

The results are published here, listed according to "green" and "yellow" categories, to match the "go" and "caution" signals of a traffic light. Here is an example of each kind: "Shout to the Lord" from the Green list, and "How Great is Our God" from the Yellow list.

Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech received a cumulative score of 3.37583 (out of 5). Its strong biblical connection to the Psalms is noted by the committee, especially in its descriptions of God's love. It lost some points when it comes to language for God, because there is no mention of God the Father or God the Spirit. In terms of musical qualities, the melodic range of this song is a bit broader than most amateur singers can handle. No song is perfect, but according to this committee, Shout to the Lord could probably be used most places with very few reservations.

How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin did not fare so well, with a score of 3.35. While this song actually mentions all three persons of the Trinity (a rare feat in contemporary worship music), it did not score as highly in theology because it never mentions God's love. The committee was also concerned that "darkness" might imply racism in some situations. In spite of these concerns, a "yellow" score means that committee would still use the song, with some caution.

I love that this committee has published its rankings and comments. Our local churches can learn a lot from these categories, even if they don't agree with these assessors' conclusions. This tool from the UMC's Discipleship Ministries provides a framework for how a worship team could work through some of the important issues concerning their own song choices. The process of discerning which songs to use in your worship service should involve more than deciding whether or not the musicians are able to perform them.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost is the only Christian holiday mentioned in the Bible. That's because it had already been a Jewish festival before the time of Jesus. Unlike Christmas, Epiphany, or Easter -- holidays which were instituted years after the events they are based on -- Pentecost had already been going on for centuries.

The Feast of Pentecost by He Qi

Pente- is a prefix that means 50, and this Jewish festival occurred every year on the 50th day after the Passover Sabbath. It was originally a celebration of the spring harvest known as the Feast of Weeks, and it was also a time to remember the giving of the law to Moses. On this occasion many pilgrims -- some of whom had been dispersed to far-away countries -- returned to Jerusalem and worshiped at the temple. On the particular Pentecost day described in Acts 2 -- that is, the 50th day after Jesus's resurrection -- the disciples were gathered there according to the Lord's instructions. It was then that the Holy Spirit came in power, manifested by signs: the sound of wind, visions of flames, and the speaking of many various languages.

One of my favorite worship components from Pentecost is the use of the color red, which represents the images of flames (Acts 2) and fire (God's presence when Moses received the law on Mt Sinai). Church altars and pulpits are often decorated with colorful linens known as paraments, usually with two reversible sets that allow for four different colors throughout the year; purple (Advent and Lent) and green (times after Epiphany and Pentecost) come up a lot, but white (Christmas and Easter) is seen less often. Red is rarer still -- in some churches, Pentecost is the only day of the year that it is displayed.

The speaking of various languages is one of the most remembered events from that Pentecost in Jerusalem. Since the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, humanity had been dispersed and scattered across the world, unable to communicate because of their many different languages. On that day of Pentecost, everything was reversed. The people had come from around the world back to one city, and God's Spirit enabled them to hear and share with the same understanding. This is the work of the Spirit through Christ -- to break down cultural barriers and reconcile us together as one (Ephesians 2:13-18). Modern-day Pentecostals put a priority on reenacting the speaking and understanding of strange languages. But the unity that was on display through this hearing and understanding -- the bridging of barriers that separate us -- is the work of the Spirit that all Christians embrace. This unity has been a part of the church's make-up from the beginning -- beginning at Pentecost, which is sometimes called the "birthday" of the church.

Note: You may know Pentecost as Whitsunday, which is a variation of the English words "White Sunday." No one is quite sure why the English started using that name, but its history goes back about 1000 years. If it was up to me, it would be Red Sunday.