Personal Pronouns in Worship

I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. I'm accepted; you were condemned. I'm alive and well; your Spirit lives within me because you died and rose again.

- You Are My King (Billy Foote)

I'm trading my sorrow. I'm trading my shame. I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord.

- Trading My Sorrows (Darrell Evans)

Who am I that you are mindful of me? That you hear me when I call? Is it true that you are thinking of me? How you love me...it's amazing. I am a friend of God. He calls me friend.

- Friend of God (Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor)

For most of us, the term personal pronoun doesn't come up in our everyday conversations, much less our conversations about Christian worship. However, personal pronouns are essential to setting the tone of our worship services.

Let me explain.

As you may have noticed in the excerpts above, many modern worship songs use personal pronouns called first-person singular (me, myself, I) rather than first-person plural (us, ourselves, we). On the surface, this doesn't appear to be a very serious issue. But let's dig a little deeper, shall we?

In Colossians 3:16, Paul gives these instructions to the Ephesian believers: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." When we examine the early church, we see that almost all references to worship are in a corporate setting. And this makes sense, doesn't it? We gather together on Sunday mornings to worship our God as a community of believers, not just as individuals. How foolish it is to stand among believers on Sunday mornings without lifting up our voices together. We are the body of Christ; we are the church.

To be fair, there is most assuredly an aspect of worship that is individual. We choose to worship God. And our relationship with the creator and sustainer of all things is deeply intimate. But on Sunday mornings, we collectively lift our voices in worship to the King of kings. We do this as a sign of unity. And we do this because we are "thankful... in [our] hearts to God."

To conclude, there is nothing theologically wrong with songs of worship that use first-person singular pronouns. However, when we (as a congregation) sing these songs on a Sunday morning, we do not accurately reflect the appropriate mode of corporate worship. Thus, let us strive to lift high the name of Jesus not just as individuals, but as a community of believers devoted to our Lord and Savior.