During a recent church service I attended, there was a distracting incongruity in the service’s conclusion. The pastor preached a thoughtful sermon on grace, after which the congregation observed communion. To that point, the elements of the service had evoked a solemn, contemplative spirit in the room — a spirit that was deepened by the first song following communion: Grace Greater Than Our Sin.

Had the service ended after that hymn, the lingering impact would have been powerful; unfortunately, the service concluded not with the quieter notes of Grace Greater Than Our Sin, but with the upbeat energy of Days of Elijah.

The congregation seemed happy to enjoy the final song; however, I was thoroughly distracted by the abrupt transition from the quieter spirit of the service to the fast-paced cheerfulness of the final song. After I had been drawn into deep spiritual contemplation, I was undiplomatically pulled right back out of that contemplation by a mismatched song; the dischordant upbeat conclusion served not to encourage me, but to disrupt me.

In this instance, the issue was not the song itself, but its misplacement. While Days of Elijah is a wonderful song, it was a major departure from the spirit the service had evoked on that Sunday; it was a contrast, not a complement. But that is a symptom of something more important.

The larger problem revealed by such song misplacement seems to be an unsettling trend among a number of modern Christian churches: forced joyfulness. Sadly, it is common for churches to habitually end services on a musically upbeat note, no matter whether the rest of the service is upbeat or solemn. There seems to be a belief — though in practice it may no longer even be conscious for many — that worship is best concluded on a cheerful note so that worshippers might go forth with joy.

At best, this is an artificial pursuit of an unnecessary goal; at worst, it is an attempt to make services more appealing by making the lingering conclusion a comfortable cheerfulness rather than a potentially uncomfortable contemplation. While the former may sometimes be forgivably well-intentioned and correctable, the latter is inexcusably consumer-oriented — and that is a dangerous focus for a church.

Worship services need not be a journey to an emotion; they should be open roads, not linear scripts. Some worship services will be joyful and upbeat, and concluding such services with upbeat songs is natural; other worship services will be solemn and contemplative, and those services should be concluded in a manner that allows and even compels worshipers to carry that spirit out the door.