There is another great artist who is a heavy hitter in black gospel music of the contemporary kind. His name is J.J. Hairston. I just discovered this artist when being contacted about possibly leading a worship service for a church in Pomona. His song “You Are Worthy” with all its organs and various pyrotechnics of instrumentation is just beautiful. Talk about being almost envious for the praise of the Lord.
I had the distinct pleasure of playing a church service in a part of Pomona that is old town Pomona. My version was a keyed down version of the song in D major. The original G-flat major version is too high for me in the chorus. I loved the way of simplicity in the way that it was very easy to sing. The repetitive lyrics are easy enough for everyone to sing along to.
I often feel as though I don’t measure up. He doesn’t just deserve our hallelujah. He deserves my whole life. There is a certain part of the Gospel that says that we can't earn grace. We can’t even work for our salvation. Salvation is in us now. All we can do is lift up our voices and worship the true and living God. That's the gist of the song. It is very simple and straightforward. There is no need for fancy pyrotechnics, fancy light shows, or even complicated lyrics. This song is the purest form of contemporary worship. This song is good for gospel groups of all types and abilities. There is a little side portion that simply says, “Hallelujah, hallelujah,” over and over again. A normal thing with these black gospel songs is they start out simple, work up to a mid-pitch, and by the end they are on fire for the Lord. The whole texture opens up. Hearts are set ablaze that used to be broken. That is the true essence of worship. It is the come just as you are with no shame, no resentment, no impurity at least that you could see. We can't be righteous in our flesh, but we can for sure offer our praises to God in true and honest worship. That is as simple as honest as it gets. Any of the songs that are simple enough to be sung should be the entire gospel message at its core—in fact, it is. Gospel simply is awesome. The gospel is simply the Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose the third day according to Scriptures. The simple songs like this one carry that home.
