Monday, October 17, 2005
A Visit with Keith and Kristyn Getty
On Friday our staff was delighted to sit down with Keith and Kristyn Getty during their visit to Calvin’s campus. Keith shared with us their mission of “creating hymns for the modern church"—writing worship music that has depth and lasting value, and reflects “a wealth of wonder.” He said he and his wife (he writes music; she writes lyrics) have two aims in their work:
1. Content: increasing the breadth, depth, and scope of what is sung about. Keith commented that “90 percent of what is sung [in worship] is about 5-10 percent of [potential] subjects.” Since music is “a vital part of spiritual formation,” he said, writers need to explore in more depth the nature of God, how God works, liturgical history, and allusions to scripture.
2. Timelessness. “I don’t mean that in a pretentious way,” Keith said. But he posed the question of how this generation will write songs that do not just appeal “today, but in 20 years time ... what our generation holds onto when they’re 93, and lose their security, their health, their relationships.”
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