Matt Maher’s Because He Lives (Amen)

I like Matt Maher. He has written many incredible songs, for the service of trying to stir up today’s youth (and older) to a life of faithful discipleship and radiant joy. I saw him perform last year and he gave a great performance while also being humble about his craft.

And he is a Catholic—a rarity in CCM circles.

I also like Contemporary Praise music. I have followed such for many years, and have even subscribed to CCLI’s semi-annual Top 2000 chart, to help me discern what new songs are coming down the pike. I expect to be getting a new list shortly.

So when friends of mine started buzzing about the new praise song Because He Lives (Amen), I was excited too. Who doesn’t want to hear a new praise song?

When I listened to it, it was pretty good, until it kicked in with an update of the old Bill & Gloria Gaither chorus:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, Every fear is gone.
I know He holds my life my future in His hands.

And I sighed.

Modernizing Hymns

There has been a very positive trend over the last decade or so, of updating classic hymns for contemporary congregations. The goal of such is to bridge the gap between traditional and new, of old and young, of taking the best elements of both and complementing their strengths together.

And while it had been done for many years beforehand (most notably in those Promise Keepers conferences), it really came unto its own the moment Chris Tomlin reworked When I Survey the Wondrous Cross to The Wonderful Cross. Since then, modern worship songsmiths have delved into their old hymnals and reworking great standards, from Aaron Shust (I Am Not Skilled is now My Savior Loves) to Kristian Stanfill (Jesus Paid It All) to, yes, Matt Maher (Down In Adoration Falling, Crown Him With Many Crowns, etc.)

Now, this has been done for over a decade and a half, and the vast majority of such hymn-reworkings have been from a pool of familiar classic hymns, about three dozen of them. The bigger question is what to do when the hymns have already been covered… how many different renderings of Amazing Grace can we stand?

There are two directions: either it dives deeper into discovery, or it starts rehashing lesser (but more popular) songs. Maher has chosen the latter.

Opportunity Missed

Note that an average hymnal has far, far more hymns than those three-dozen of which keep resurfacing in CCM circles. The vast majority of hymnals have well over four hundred hymns in their pages, covering every liturgical season and subject matter, from writers as vast from the early ancients, to the plethora of 17th-to-19th century standard-bearers, to even some modern hymn-writers of the last century.

And for those songwriters with Catholic sensibilities (like Maher), you have the opportunity to continue to do what he has done… taken a classic prayer or ancient hymn and breathe new life into it. His song Alive Again is a perfect example of such, taking the words from St. Augustine and bringing it into a modern context.

I anticipate the many tremendous hymns or prayers or Psalms, written over vast centuries, that are waiting to be unearthed again, to be brought into a contemporary, but singable, context.

So when Matt Maher instead decides to write a song that unearths the treasure of… Bill and Gloria Gaither, and when his record company pushes that song to radio and YouTube, I become disappointed.

This isn’t an unearthing of a great lyrical treasure. This is a reworking of a 70s-era Southern Gospel song, nothing more. This is a cynical attempt to reach out to those who still resist CCM worship, but are more into Southern Gospel than traditional hymns.

Why Rework A Southern Gospel Song?

As far as I can tell, this breaks new ground, but not the kind I anticipated. Nobody was clamoring for an update of 20th-century Southern Gospel. There is a tone of Southern Gospel that speaks to many people, but their strengths are a precursor to the contemporary praise movement, not a complement. The music is built upon personal emotions, not the exactedness of poetry intermingled with theological complexity.

The strengths of older hymns and prayers is that their lyrics are generally rich, poetic, and theologically deep. They help one worship with the mind. The strengths of contemporary praise songs, is that they are emotional powerhouses, and easily catchy. They help one worship with the heart.

Combine the two, and you have a catchy, emotional powerhouse with rich, poetic, and theologically deep verses. The best of both worlds.

Because He Lives (Amen) doesn’t do this. It combines a catchy, emotional powerhouse with another older, catchy, emotional powerhouse, and it becomes lacking in theological depth. It becomes me-centric, overdosing on sentiment.

The Original Song’s Strengths

While I am not a fan of the original song, I can say that it had some doctrinal integrity. It does explain who Jesus is, and tell the Gospel story:

God sent His Son, They called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal and forgive
He lived and died to buy my pardon
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Maher’s lyrics, by contrast, strips the original of this necessary context. The results are jumbled. It presumes you already know the Gospel story. The worshiper fills in the details that the song itself lacks, which was a cohesive synopsis of what the Gospel entailed. It bounces around from Creed “I believe in the Son” to Testimonial “I’m alive I’m alive…\I was dead in the grave”, to a Scriptural allusion “He rolled the stone away.”

What’s not there is a lucid, big picture understanding of Who Jesus is, Why He came, and What we have to do. The name “Jesus” isn’t even mentioned. It’s not that it’s erroneous, it’s just less complete than the original. It opts instead for a personal reflection approach, rather than one that is rooted in doctrine.

Concluding Thoughts

I greatly anticipate Matt Maher’s next full release. In it, I expect that he has delved into the great writings of the Saints of old, and that he has rendered them relevant for today’s youthful congregations.

But I resent the Becky-centric Christian radio propelling the use of this song over the abundance of far better worship songs. I resent that it is doing so just before Lent starts, as this song is as Easter-specific as they come. Nobody puts a gun to my head to say that I have to learn any song promoted on radio, but this creates a rift between worship leaders and the tidal wave of passive-listener congregants, dictating that emotional uplift trumps everything.

Now excuse me… I have to learn this song.