There is a song we have been doing at our church for the last couple months that has sparked some curiosity.  I’ll be honest, I was caught by surprise when I started hearing the questions and receiving the feedback.  For the most part it is like any other song we do.  Same style music, same basic content, but there is one word in the song that has ignited, for some, a bit of unsettled attention.

It’s a four letter word.  We say it all the time when we are away from church, which might be one reason why it’s hard to sing in the middle of a church song.  But we do say it often in real life…

When something huge happens, like a game winning touchdown, we say it.  When something surprising happens, like an unexpected pay raise, we say it.  When something overwhelming happens, like holding a newborn baby for the first time, we say it.

The word is Whoa.

But in this specific song it’s more like, “Whoa, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, Whoa, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh…”   (You get the idea)

Now, these are the types of questions I heard in response to singing the word “whoa”…

• What is the theological or scriptural support for singing this word? (suggesting it’s weightless)
• What is the purpose of singing a word that is unintelligible? (suggesting it’s mindless)
• Isn’t there some sort of immaturity in singing that word? (suggesting it’s childish)

The few who were asking these questions found it disconcerting that the worship team and I would even be calling the people to sing the word over and over again.  They said that they found themselves just standing there, not doing anything, while we “whoa’d”.

So, why do we whoa?  Why do we mindlessly remove ourselves from “worship” and childishly enter in to a weightless vocal exercise? Or, does the previous question even come close to describing what is happening when we “whoa” in our music?

– To WHOA is weightless –

What is the theological or scriptural support behind whoa-ing?

Well… before I address whoa-ing in the Bible let me ask these questions:

• What is the scriptural support behind playing an electronic keyboard in church?
• What is the scriptural support in taking communion with grape juice?
• What is the scriptural support for watching television?
• What is the scriptural support for stoning someone to death because they’ve been gathering sticks on a day they should be in church?

Only one of those questions has scriptural support.  I’ll let you decide which one and how you will apply it to your life.

You can support almost anything with your interpretation of the Bible and you can condemn almost anything by how you interpret it as well.

Assuming that “whoa-ing” is weightless because you are unable to find scriptural or theological support is a little backwards because the question itself is weightless.  To claim something is Biblical or not, is far too easy to do and unfortunately we do it often. It’s probably not the best way to approach whether or not we should “whoa” in our twenty-first century modern day worship experience.

Having said that, we can still try to address the curiosity by applying some parallels to what actually does happen in the Bible.  The closest comparison is probably the practice of SHOUTING. The Old Testament and the Psalms especially are filled with people shouting or calling people to shout to God. (Notice I said that the people are called to shout).

As a worship leader I’ve never asked people to shout out with a loud voice in a service. Someday I might.  I can see it now…  1… 2… 3… YELL!  (crickets)

Some church cultures do shout.  I truly believe they do this in part because the scriptures “command” us to do so just like they call us to “sing to the Lord”.  More than anything the shouting occurs in the context of celebrating salvation or victory.

Psalms 20:5 “May we shout for joy over your salvation…”

In our present day culture our “whoa’s” in worship music are very much a shout of celebration arranged in a musical way.  We are responding to the truth of what we’ve been singing and raising our voices together in a proclamation of victory. There is a lot of weight in this.

– To WHOA is mindless –

What is the purpose of singing a word that is unintelligible?

About a month ago I was driving my daughter to school with the radio off.  I noticed as we headed down the road there was no need for talking or music.  All I needed was the melodic “la la la’s” coming from the backseat.  I don’t know the tune she was singing but I couldn’t help but notice a clear melody and how it coincided with her intense stare outside the side window.

Since the topic of mindless “whoa-ing” was fresh on my mind I thought it was interesting how my daughter was deep in concentration while humming the melody of an unknown tune.  In my opinion, words would have gotten in her way.

Think about that for a moment.

I believe this is an important reality to consider when given the opportunity to “whoa”.  When we are in that moment in music it is not a mindless exercise – in fact, it is the complete opposite. We take a break from the lyric of the song and mindfully engage with an enthusiastic vocal melody in response to God.

Moments like this in music are empty pages in which we script our own personal story of gratitude and celebration.  This can be done quietly or with a shout but it is certainly not done mindlessly.   We will be mindful of something!  We will reflect on the greatness of God, or, we might wonder why the worship leader is asking us to whoa.  Either way, we won’t be mindless.

– To WHOA is childish –

Yep.

If there is one thing we don’t need any more of in our worship is a “too cool for school” mentality.  Let me take a moment to encourage everyone to loosen the limbs, move the feet and stretch the vocal chords as we become more child-LIKE in our corporate worship gatherings.

When you think about it, it’s pretty childish to watch grown men run around in tight pants tackling each other to the ground.  Yet we have zero issues “WHOA-ing” when our team scores the game winning touchdown.  I confess that the last time I watched a football game with my son we were both jumping up and down whoa-ing like nobody’s business after a touchdown.  If I can be childlike in the midst of a game I can surely celebrate my salvation in Jesus Christ.  In this there is an even greater purpose to my whoa.

—

The next time you are given the opportunity to whoa in a worship song consider how you might respond to the God of the universe with a weighty shout of praise, mindfully engaged with the enthusiasm of a child.