Singing in the first person: on “I” and “we” in worship
Posted: 19 Mar 2015 11:52 PM PDT Recently I went along with a friend to a Hillsong worship service. I was reminded again that one of the distinctive marks of Pentecostal worship isn’t just the style of music but also the prominence of the first person singular. In mainline Protestant worship, the prevailing trend has been to replace the worshipping “I” with the communal “we.” The “I believe” of the creed is changed to “we believe.” The newer hymns are all about “our” needs, “our” lives, “our” relationship to God and one another. When older choruses are sung, the pronouns are often updated to reflect the plural preference. I have been in a service where the deeply personal Geoff Bullock song, “The Power of Your Love,” was amended, from: Lord, I come to You Let my heart be changed, renewed Flowing from the grace that I’ve found in You And Lord I’ve come to know The weaknesses I see in me Will be strippe