Bad Worship Songs: Center - Bethel Music & Abbie Gamboa

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned?

We think an excellent worship song should contain the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• Lyrics that do not create uncertainty or cause confusion
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness
• Not excessively metaphorical
• Not excessively repetitive
• Jesus is not your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with this song, Center.

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Video link.

Lyrics:

Verse 1

Maybe we've made this complicated
More than it was ever meant to be
Hasn't it always been about the same thing
Lord bring us back to simple things

Chorus

You, be the center of it all

My heart belongs to You
My Savior all in all
You're the One I hold onto
For the beauty of Your Name
My soul will live to say
Jesus I love You

Verse 2

Teach us to discern the moment
When to serve and when to sit here at Your feet
Keep us awake to what's important
Just like Mary chose the better thing

Interlude

Oh how I love You
Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You

Bridge

And my whole life for Your glory
My whole world for You only
Everything for the honor of Your Name
And if my days tell a story
Let it be of You only
Everything for the honor of Your Name

Overview

This song is is an enigma for us. As we listened we found many of the elements of a good worship song: God-honoring lyrics, lots of production, good musical performances, and some interesting musical elements.

But from the opening chords the song just didn't feel right. It wasn't the little-girl voice of the lead singer, although that was a continual irritant. It wasn't the swaying worship of the band, although that seemed contrived. It wasn't the cookie cutter presentation, which we've seen a million times.

We expected to find a song extolling the glories of Jesus as the center. That is not what the song is about. We will explain below.

The Music

There's several people with mics in the video, but we hear nothing but unison singing. Towards the middle of the video we noticed there's also a small choir in the shadows, presumably providing even more unison vocals. The acoustic guitar player doesn't make it into the mix, either. By the time the song has ramped up all we hear is vocals, drums, something that vaguely sounds like a bass guitar, and a wall of sound that might be pads, backing tracks, /and/or electric guitars. We're not sure.

There's a nice, simple introduction with real violins and cellos, plus a piano pad on the lead. The intro chords are I - IV - vii - IV, which are the same as the verse chords.

As the song proceeds into the chorus the chords change to IV - vii - I - V, repeated, then iii - vi -IV -V. We don't often see the iii chord in worship music, which is a refreshing element. In fact, the songwriter almost did a 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1 turnaround here. Missed it by that much.

The interlude is vi - iii - IV - V, and the bridge is IV - V - vi - iii - IV - E - vi - iii.

There are some minor chord variations as the song proceeds through its repetitions, but we will not note them here.

The melody is generally singable, though rhythmically a bit disjointed in the verses. We also don't like the uncomfortable jump up on "the one I hold onto" in the chorus. And picking the high note out of the air in the interlude might be a bit difficult for most congregants. 

The Lyrics

The song is entitled "Center," and the ostensible theme is that Jesus is the center. But the song is primarily about the songwriter's responses, feelings, and intentions. The word "my" appears seven times in the above lyrics (we've pared that down from the seemingly endless repetitions of the lyrics in this nearly eight minute song), along with various other self-referents. 

In fact, they dominate the lyrics:

• We've made this complicated
• My heart belongs to you
• I hold on to
• My soul will live to say
• Teach us
• Keep us
• How I love you
• My whole life
• My whole world
• My days 

We should be clear that it certainly isn't wrong to reference one's self in worship music. David did it all the time: 

Ps. 4:7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.

Ps. 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

Ps. 57:7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

But again, this song is called "Center." It certainly seems possible to write a song that is all about Jesus if He is the center. But in the entirety of this song we never learn what Jesus is the center of, apart from the songwriter's passions. The center as it relates to "my" life. "My" desires. The object of "my" love. Not the center of mercy, redemption, salvation, forgiveness, power, grace, victory... there are so many ways Jesus can be celebrated. But no. Instead, the songwriter chose to engage in multiple solipsisms.  

Conclusion

This is a Bethel song, which always requires a song-by-song examination to determine orthodoxy and appropriateness. Some are very good and some are heterodox. This particular song completely biblical, but is in our view hopelessly self-oriented. 

We cannot recommend it.