Sep 08 2009
Worship and Theology, Post 6: Mediocrity is Not Sufficient
To start off, I agree that our worship services have gone downhill. We have shifted our attention from truly seeking to glorify God through our worship to meeting the desires of the people that we want to convince to attend our churches. Ultimately, we have marketed Christianity as widely as we can, spreading our product out very thin to hit as many people as possible. I would contend that what passes for worship music today is a largely superficial attempt to put people in the pews and feel better about ourselves. It is one of the ways that we attempt to show ourselves that use one of my favorite clichés, “God is working.” Worship leaders today are hired for their image, more than theology or skill. These “gainfully employed” worship leaders, which Justin spoke of in his last post, tend to fall into 3 camps:
1) Under-Qualified and Over-Qualified Traditionalists: These are the organists and choir directors: you know, the old-school guys and gals. They direct their choirs, buy their arrangements in the choir section of sheet music stores, and play the organ on Sundays. They tend to either be your grandma, who is the only one in town that can play the organ (unless you are in Holland, Michigan where all organists look over their shoulders out of fear that another organist is going to jump them and steal their organist positions), or someone with a degree from Eastman or the University of Michigan in Organ Performance or Liturgical Church Studies, in which case they should probably be playing in a European cathedral where their art can be fully experienced and appreciated.
2) Extremely Talented Composers… : …who don’t give a crap about the music or more importantly, the Gospel and the mission of the church. They merely write worship music to pay the bills so that they can create what they actually consider to be “Good Music” in their spare time outside of the church.
3) Dudes with Guitars: Yeah, that’s right, I haven’t seen a girl with a guitar leading worship. Get angry, ladies, you should! The job market for these guys is flourishing. Churches also love these guys because the middle-aged moms are crazy about their effeminate voices, which “comfort the heart and lift the soul to worship” (while the dads stand there thinking about the game). They play poppy, “modern” worship music which is exciting and cool to the “youngsters,” and the church has to pay them about half as much as they would an educated musician with a advanced degree. They know 4 chords and have a capo, which together allow them to play every Contemporary Christian Worship song out there. I am equally convinced that they all hide a bottle of JD in their guitar cases. (Yes, even the Baptists.) How else would they all successfully get the same contrived tenor-esque rasp that seems to plague every one of them like a crappy tattoo of your ex’s name? Don’t get me wrong, I love you guys, but could you please learn a few more chords and get off the sauce, except for the guy that did it first!
More or less, most worship leaders tend to fall into these three categories. Of course, there are some exceptions to this assertion, but most church musicians in America generally fall into these categories. Ultimately, through these models, we can give people exactly what they are COMFORTABLE with, music that sounds like the stuff that they hear on the soft-rock radio stations that they listen to while they work. Most people love their jobs, so why not have the same music in church? We also give people hyper-emotional reactions so that they know “God is working in their lives,” and that things are happy and SAFE. Or in some cases, we can give people the same music that they grew up with in their childhood, organs and hymns. They dwell in the traditions that they have always known to be the norm so that nothing changes and everything is COMFORTABLE and SAFE. Since when is Christianity a wimpy, effeminate, soft-rock-loving, childish, safe, emotional, weepy, only-chasing-safety type faith? Does this model follow the Bible? Does it even resemble the rest of our culture around us? It doesn’t even hint that we have actually read the Bible and understand the severity of our faith.
This brings me to my next point, and I’m not ripping on Justin at all here, I’m merely trying to point out an inconsistency in the Church’s thinking as a whole. Justin states:
“What I mean by that is that we have sacrificed content for style. Our music is good. It is popular. There is little difference between U2 and some of our more popular worship groups. That is no slam on U2, it is a compliment. The problem is that we have focused so hard on the style and attracting people to worship that we have abandoned that which is just outside our range of vision, God.”
This statement is completely subjective and merely based on taste and one’s view of pop culture. Many people love U2. However, they gained most of their popularity by marketing through record companies. For the longest time being the only option for some sort of theological basis in pop culture for Christians to attach to, solid song writing, and one really, really, really lucky rhythm guitarist. (They’re on my iPod, though.) “Good” is being used as a synonym for “cool,” basically to say, “It’s cool and I like this.” Again I’m not picking: half of the music I listen to I get from Justin. However, this is a statement that can only be made by someone who cannot perceive the entire spectrum of what music has to offer towards the Glory of God through worship. A severely educated musician is needed in this case. Sure anyone could do it, and high level of theological education can provided a rich understanding of worship, but it is not until that is combined with the equivalent understanding of music that in general, the full potential that we have for worship can be achieved.
I’m going to jump straight to the point. Shouldn’t we be writing the greatest, most transcendent, artistic, thoughtful, simple and complicated (insert constructive duality) art through worship for the Almighty God of the Universe? Or is He down with hearing “Sanctuary” for the 1,986,520,374th time? “Sanctuary” works functionally, but what about expressing some metaphor that speaks on multiple levels about the mysteries of our faith?
The problem begins with the fact that people, who are cannot grasp what a professional musician looks like, are the ones hiring musicians to create said worship music for our services. Furthermore, they go as far as telling them how to play said worship music. This is completely backwards. For example, when you hire Stan the Roofer to put a new roof on your house, you don’t tell him what to make your roof out of and how to put the roof on your house. He comes to your house and tells YOU what you need to do to put a solid, protective, leak-free, and in some cases hurricane proof, roof on your house. Professional church musicians should be hired for their expertise in shaping worship music artistically and in ways that represent the theology in the music. As Justin argued, good theology is paramount here. Professional church musicians should have a vast understanding and discerning heart for the Bible. Suffice it to say I would hold an elder and the worship leader/pastor to the same standard. Worship leaders should also know how to do specific things like knit the theology and the text together musically, understand and be involved in the social needs of the Church. They should be knowledgeable and able to use the liturgy, church calendar, and lectionary creatively or choose not to use it and know why they are doing so. The list could go on. When all of these qualities/tools are in place, the church should then be asking these professional worship leaders, “What does the church and specifically our church need?” Worship leaders should be hired so that we can ask them questions about our worship.
However, church leaders have been hiring the pop culture worship leaders under the guise of “Well if I don’t, then the people will leave my church.” This exposes a whole lot more then which I am not equipped or even in a position of authority to discuss. However this does expose one of the biggest hindrances and cultural perversions of Christianity. This false sense of American Autonomy has potentially damaged Christian worship in America, more than anything else. That is to say that anyone thinking that they can have God their way, worship their way, and politics their way, because this is America and God is American and America (metaphor for for “I”?) is right, is completely false and at the root of the problem, as Justin pointed out here. Basically we haven’t fenced or protected our churches, our traditions, and our theology well enough. We let it be affected by culture way too much and probably let people affect it who had no business affecting it at all.
Returning to the original discussion, capturing the depth of our faith through art, creativity, music and worship is not an easy task. It is not a task for guys with guitars, or Grandma’s organ. This is a task for the people who possess the vision and ability to create and shape art for this purpose. I can hear most of you thinking now, “Those people are so hard to come by.” Yes they are. There is no doubt about that. But where do we find these professionals that actually feel this calling? Where do we find doctors or aeronautical engineers?
First off, we need to thank ourselves for this. The church chose the burger-flipping guys with guitars over the master chef talented composers. Burgers are fast, they get people in and out. Who doesn’t like a burger? However, it takes work to appreciate and understand the depth of all of the flavors of an incredible filet mignon. I’ll tell you what, walk into a fast food joint of your choice and give every person in the restaurant a filet mignon. Then take a survey of those people asking if they would prefer to eat the filet mignon or the food that they ordered at the counter. Let me put it this way, would you ask a roofer to fix the golden gate bridge or an engineer? “But then they’ll feel left out if they don’t get it.” Have your worship leader teach a few classes, write a statement for your church website, or heaven forbid, a blog! The seeker movement has brought quite a few bodies to church, but it is also plagued by an uncanny lack of discernment. And if you can’t find a candidate, hire one that has a desire to pursue music, theology, and worship and send him or her to school! This is what the Church did through the ages. What happened? So now that I’ve thoroughly ticked you off, lets look to the Catholic Church to take us one step further with this roof metaphor.
The Vatican, that is to say the Catholic Church, hired Stan the Roofer to put this roof on a chapel that they were building. After that went up, they hired this guy named Michelangelo to paint a picture on the ceiling, consequently causing the ceiling to go down as one of the greatest artistic masterpieces in history. To put this in perspective, after reading some Steven Hawking, and barring any alien invasions, we see that Michelangelo created something on a ceiling by the grace of God, for the glory of God on this tiny galactic booger called Earth that reaches through all of time and space to give glory to the God who is, and was and will always be. That is to say that there is no other ceiling like that in the entire universe. Think about that for a while and I don’t think you’ll ever be able to sing “Lord We Lift Your Name On High,” the same way.
In conclusion, to have great theology without great music is no better than a black and white Gameboy packaged in a Wii box (I borrowed that one). Both things disappoint you.
If you don't roll your eyes at this, please check for a pulse!
This is not the biblical model anyway. Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.” This doesn’t mean that if we have our mind in the right place that the other two will follow. Good music or theology as their own entities are multi dimensional. That is it say that sacrificing good music detracts from us loving through the heart, soul, and mind not just one of them and to simplify things this way is dangerous. I once read a quote from a random Scottish pastor whose name escapes me that went something like: “With God, the end cannot not simply justify the means, but the means must also justify the end.” This is to say that elevating theology above music or vise versa creates a dichotomy that just does not exist in God’s eyes. To draw a line and say that one is more important than the other is a cop out and just plain lazy. God create both for his glory. Yes, at times we are limited by means and situation. But at some point, there comes a time to stand up and say mediocrity is not sufficient.
Wow, Rich. You touch on some of the EXACT things about ‘contemporary worship’ (esp. music) at church that have been frustrating me for years to the point of crisis. It’s SO encouraging to know I’m not alone here. I simply cannot worship in that atmosphere. Rather than being ushered into God’s presence by ‘contemporary Christian music’, I am completely distracted and hindered by it. I am shut off from God by its: lack of substance; narrow range of emotion, thought, and expression of the full human experience; predictability; repetitiveness; superficiality; cuteness; imitation of secular pop acts (and by that I mean lack of originality); commercial assembly line formula; bankruptcy of basic musical technique (limited use of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, etc.). When I hear this music all I can think of is, “OK, here we go again”.
I purposefully emphasized emotion and de-emphasized intellectual elements here. I know some pastors will argue that in worship “the heart is more important than the mind”, to the point of calling intellectually stimulating elements in music distracting from worship. They may also call my argument intellectually elitist or say I’m biased from musical training. I have 2 problems w/ this: 1) the mind SHOULD be engaged as you pointed out, Rich, in Mat 22:37. And 2) this Contemporary Christian music itself, w/ its palette limited to expressing only a few emotions/thoughts/human experiences, fails to engage even the heart enough. If we use music that is more creative and engaging to the heart, soul, and mind, it will benefit the worship experience for all listeners, no matter their level of musical knowledge.
I completely agree Jeff. It’s so hard to deal with on a weekly basis. I play in my church’s worship band and we have been writing new music and arranging new pieces. The have commissioned me now to do so, but it is still slow going. Luckily now in our culture, people our age and younger are wanting more out of worship. We know that we can go to any church and get basically the closest thing to U2 possible and are consequently reacting to this. This opens the door in my opinion for composers, especially those schooled in Jazz, to step into these worship positions and create art in worship. It will be slower than we would like, but at this point we are so saturated in mediocrity that we’re just screaming and clawing and reaching for something greater. The older generation though is freaking out even more than they used to be. Previous to now, the “kids” just left and said, “We’ll start our own churches!” Then they looked at us and said you left. We’ll now instead of leaving, our generation needs to stay at the church and say, “We are here, and we want to be the church.” That’s even scarier, being that they will need to change and make concessions. We will see where this takes us, but I for one am sticking it out becoming mu church. Thoughts?
I’m a little late to commenting, but I’ve enjoyed the series! Thanks so much for this, Rich. It has resonated with me greatly, as discontent with lack of content in worship music has bothered me since my days at Hope.
One question comes to mind after reading this: where do avocational musicians fit into your model? One organ-playing grandma with a desire to please the Lord with her offering of worship is worth just as much in God’s eyes as a master composer with the same pure motives.
I applaud your reminder that corporate worship practices are not intended to fill pews or create warm fuzzies about our Sunday morning, and that this must be reflected in our music. I also agree that worship leaders should be held to the same standards of Biblical living and discernment as elders and pastors. But mediocrity in the church unfortunately reaches so much further than in our music, as you touched on in this post. We shut out not only our musicians, but also our poets, our dancers, our professors, scientists, doctors, and lawyers from the life of the church by telling them (directly or indirectly) that if they don’t speak the cliches, their contributions aren’t holy enough or even welcome. In doing so, we push them away or, equally badly, convince them that their gifts belong to a secular sphere and God sees them as of second-rate or no benefit to His church or His glory. Until we let them all back in and allow their contributions to enrich the life of the church, even fixing the music won’t bring lasting improvement to corporate worship.
WOW KATHY! I hadn’t even considered the possibility. You being s scientist AND musician gives insight that I regrettably do not have. I would say that dancers, writers, physical artist, are on the rise do along with the musicians due to the lack of depth and metaphor, but I had not thought of going beyond the fine arts to those that even I consider secular. I for one would love to hear a presentation from a scientist on the evolution and creationism debate from Francis Collins perspective. Controversial as it may be, It definitely has a place in the church as we should know personally what we believe and understand all viewpoints helps us to understand our own viewpoint more fully. I think it has a place in say a church class or something like that in the middle of the week or s Sunday school class or something. I believe Dr. Cronkite taught some classes like this at 3rd Reformed in Holland MI. Don’t quote me on that though. My question to youwould be, if I am understanding what you are saying correctly, is what are the specific skills of the lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other people that we label “secular” and is there a way to use their gifts in their fields in a corporate worship setting?
OH and to address Grandma and the organ. As I said, churches should use whom they are able to use. Every church is not loaded with professional musicians and worship leaders need to learn how to use whom they are working with. In a sense they are also teaching the musicians to create and step beyond where they are “technically” where they are with each piece and this requires the worship leader to invest personally, and heavily I might add, in each musician that has a desire to serve God in this way. If Grandma is the worship leader, then we have to ask is she hitting the mean of the group with our worship. The line to draw is in the content and not whom. To clarify, are we hitting everyone in the church with what they want to hear, or are we hitting them with what they need to hear and is this glorifying to God? This goes for any style. I would ask, “Are we giving them a false sense of comfort in their idolatry by surrounding the music that they like and prefer or are we also ministering to them through worship by not giving them a false sense of security in their traditions, or false notions of who God is. There is metaphor and should be metaphor in everything. Since when is God Happy Clappy all the time or since when is God Bach’ee organ and dark all the time? Our music does a very poor job of reflecting the entirety of God’s character and really only emphasizes small chosen pieces that we have decided we like. This is very narrow and we don’t seem to be trying hard enough to change this yet.
Ultimately I also realize that this is from a biased Urban, viewpoint assuming we are talking about a certain size of church. A small rural church for farmers will not look the same. However, the information age is changing this. The bar that I guess that I figuratively am addressing is not measured by technical proficiency. Some of the most simplest music has more richness than many symphonies. No, technicality is completely modernist. I would however, ask the question of how do I feel about this worship. How does it inform me about my faith and theology, and then how does it inform me to worship more fully and draw closer to God. When these three elements are fulfilled, then I would personally say, “There is something there. What is it? For what purpose is it there?” I’d then come back for more.
The contribution of “secular” skills to corporate worship is something I’m really not certain on. Corporate worship in most non-charismatic, Western congregations is rigidly structured, and the worshiper is largely passive, except in the elements of the liturgy (in those churches that use it) or in singing (which, unfortunately, can all too often become passive). Obviously, there’s no space for scientists to run experiments, or for doctors to treat patients! In other words, there’s not room (or even appropriateness) for the “secular” skills to be actively practiced in corporate worship.
Also, as you pointed out, a discussion of something like evolution and creationism - an example of evidence of what a “secular” skill contributes to the Christian life - is better suited to Sunday school than Sunday service. This is in part because it needs more time than it’s appropriate to give in corporate worship. A topic so large, specialized and in no way necessary to salvation is not wise or edifying to bring into corporate worship, to say nothing of the division caused by the visceral reactions that it inspires.
I think the contributions of the “secular” skills are much more ancillary to corporate worship. Scientists, doctors and lawyers know things about the workings of creation, the body, and the minds of people that can inform our understanding of the world around us and, to some extent, Scripture, which in turn, enriches our own praise. Knowing something about the biochemistry of the body, for example, can enrich our understanding of the body of Christ, and our awe at its very intricacy can bring us deeper into praise. In our rigidly scheduled, codified corporate worship model, these skills are difficult to take advantage of or to incorporate. They are likely better used in a small group setting, as I understand it right now.
I think this might lead into a bigger set of questions, far beyond the scope of what you set out to do here: what does corporate worship consist of, and what “skills” should we (worshipers and officiants) be practicing and/or contributing to it?
By the way, thanks much for your clarification on Grandma. I spent so long composing the last one that I didn’t see it until now.
I agree, that the lawyers, doctors, etc. can provide insight into the spiritual, but I also see your point that skills such as this don’t necessarily belong in the worship service specifically. However the arts when combined or inspired by this insight provided by these “secular,” positions and talents can be used in worship. The artist can physically express the the body of Christ, whether realistic or abstract, in a way that words cannot express. Futhermore, being involved in a community that is tightly nit to the point that the doctors and lawyers and artists can fully mingle and grow together will eventually lead to a lawyer directly affecting a musician, or a doctor influencing an artist to paint something. This is the beauty of community and shows the necessity of diverse community. Think about much the community can actually influence itself by being together. The thing is that we are not regularly looking or open to this influence. When was the last time a lawyer influenced someone to paint something let alone something for the church specifically? We need to open up our ears and minds and realize that not do only scripture and hymns influence us to create, but being in community enriches everyone. I was one of the “frozen chosen,” but for the past year and a half I have been going to a reformed/anglo/emerging/charismatic/non-denominational church. To clarify it is very Reformed but realizes that all of the the traditions and denominations offer incite to better understand God. Artists of all mediums flock to the church, but so do evangelicals of every other sort. I myself have been influenced by my community to write things that I otherwise wouldn’t have experienced. I have felt so blessed but we still are changing and going new places. Where we’ll end up I don’t know. I would love to have a piano player like you around though if a Job ever comes up in Tampa, hint hint!
After reading through this, composing a post, then revising it (very similar to how I write music), I’ve got a few thoughts to add to the ongoing discussion.
I’ve never experienced all three of your categories of church music, just number one and way too much of number three. However, it seems to me that this is indicative of a larger problem within American society that just happens to be hyper-accentuated in a worship context; to whit - playing to the lowest denominator in order to pack in the seats. However, there’s a tangential problem that is even more pressing; resistance to change.
In my personal experience as both a composer and a performer, it’s been particularly discouraging (and frankly, insulting) to be told by a guy whose not a trained musician or theologian to “tone it down and make it something that everyone can understand.” Admittedly, I’ve got a somewhat deserved reputation for pushing the avant garde envelope, but this has happened to so many people that I’m convinced it’s more of a visceral resistance to change than a reaction to anything the “crazy” trained musicians decided to do. And it seems that this idea of dumbing things down to a simplistic set of emotional platitudes is becoming the normal way of conducting business in the church. That body count is more important than quality, and that if you cheaply imitate Christian soft rock (itself a pretty lame imitation of soft rock), and wall yourself into the Christian media bubble (”Left Behind” anyone?), you’ll somehow make the Gospel more attractive.
However, the problem is that with a little examination, most people can see that this type of derivative media/message is just a shallow, temporary emotional high for the easily manipulated. Yet, this is culturally reinforced on a daily basis on TV, the radio, the internet, etc. Throw a quick veneer of Auto-Tune and Compression on it, and you’ve got a hit single, no matter how bereft of content. Furthermore, the uniquely American pathology of equating a personal opinion with fact only exacerbates the problem by fostering a sense of individualism that’s dependent on group-think and peer esteem as the sole method of validation - “I want to do what all the popular kids are doing so I’ll be popular.”
With all of that in mind, the question then becomes one of how do you change the system? Or, how do you challenge mediocrity without coming across as a threat to those who are comfortable with it?
Hey Ben,
Great to hear from you and always you blow me out of the water. I miss hanging with you in the library man. Next time we are both in MI we need to go kick someone out of that desk and sit there for an hour or two like we used to do!
Did you read the other post that Justin, the other person posting wrote a month or so ago?
http://futonreformer.blogspot.com/2009/06/wal-mart-is-killing-church.html
Question. You said: “Furthermore, the uniquely American pathology of equating a personal opinion with fact only exacerbates the problem by fostering a sense of individualism that’s dependent on group-think and peer esteem as the sole method of validation.”
I leaped for joy when I read that sentence. To the question, would you say that we are coming out of postmodernism, now that we have realized how stupid it is? In other words it appears that we seem to be realizing that absolutes do exist, though we can’t quite put our fingers on the specifics. We realize, though not many of us, that by pursuing our narcissistic self centered quest for autonomy we more or less shape God to be who we want him to be and not who he actually is apart from our biases and opinions. Discernment has taken a back seat comfort. “LIE TO ME JERRY!”
Hey Rich, did you get beat up by are guitar wielding hippy at a Phish concert?
and I posted a response here:
http://futonreformer.blogspot.com/2009/09/response-to-worship-and-theology-post-6.html
[...] will have a Response to his response in the next day or two. Until then, we are thoroughly enjoying the conversations that are going. Looking forward to reading and discussing more in the [...]
Rich-
I’ve read it… now - and agree with the majority of it.
However, I’m not so sure that you should dismiss post-modernism out of hand. The majority of the philosophers and artists (TS Elliot, James Joyce, Martin Heidegger, Jean Baudrillard, et al), were writing in response to World Wars I and II, and they’re effect in Europe. Indeed, how could you not question everything you were ever taught after living through something like that? (See Elie Wiesel’s books for much, much more).
And, indeed, the whole rejection of a single or set of hierarchical relationships based on formal elements, and the subsequent embrace of excess complexity characterizes many of the great post-serialist composers, such as Xenakis, Tenney, Ferneyhough, Roads, Manoury, and even (although this might be a stretch) Mihauld and Messiaen. I could even argue that this caries through into jazz, particularly in Coltrane’s “Ascension,” and in Coleman’s “Free Jazz.” In either case, classical or jazz, it’s essentially rejecting the concept of composition based on a strict set of rules grounded in traditional practice - some like Xenakis or Roads in favor of mathematics, some like Tenney in favor of psychological studies of perception, and others, like Zappa are in favor of “whatever sounds good, damnit.”
Yet in listening to one of these works, or reading a great post-modern novel (”Ulysses,” or “Gravity’s Rainbow” spring to mind), the audience is required to go beyond the subjective assessment of “I like it” or “I don’t like it,” and come up with a legitimate validation or complaint. Admittedly, these can be pretty flimsy (”I don’t like all the little sounds,” or “I don’t understand all of these metaphor things.”), but if it forces even a slightly more introspective critique of an aesthetic experience, it helps to further the audience’s understanding of their own subjectivity, which is never a bad thing.
To sum it up, post-modernism is a mirror that forces the observer to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices if they’re willing to put in any amount of mental effort. It’s the aesthetic sieve that can be used to pull out likes and dislikes in a given work, and it then gives you the opportunity to accept or reject them. To whit, the theory is strong, the people who are applying it are not admitting their biases.
I have wondered for quite awhile now how it is that so few notice that the “emperor,” read “worship music,” is wearing no clothes. We coo and ooh and ah as if something quite magical is going down in the shallow sunday morning musical groove, as it were.
Sucking up to your sensibilities here is not my intent. But on the one hand I’d love to have been able to take the “worship leaders” of North America to that IWS chapel service where you and Rodney and the bass player (whose name I’m sorry I don’t recall) led us in the singing of a medley of “Here I Am to Worship” and “We Fall Down.” The adventurous spirit of deconstructing the harmonic language of those songs and reframing it in chords that challenged as well as pleased the ear had me laughing out loud with sheer delight.
Even the arrangement derring-do of you and Rodney leaving melody behind for harmonic and melodic exploration, with unnamed bassist anchoring us with just enough of the original melody to keep it all tethered for those among us with less adventurous tastes
was generous, joyous and ingenious.
But then, on the proverbial other hand, I wonder . . . . if exposed to such bravado and delicacy without appropriate context and preparation, I wonder if many would not prefer the more boiler-plate fast food worship music sandwich from Burger Doodle.
I read once that the pastoral musician has two tasks: 1) to meet the people where they are culturally, and; 2) to stretch them beyond that point. I’m afraid we usually stop after #1, whether or not we even succeed there.
One serious problem is that the word “worship” has come to conote a particular breed of “contemporary worship music.” When you hear someone ask, “How was worship this morning?” The answer you will probably give or hear another give will have mostly to do with the music engaged in that particular worship gathering. There is seldom a mention of scripture, teaching, prayers, ingathering of funds or goods for those less fortunate, etc.
Music is an unspeakably wonderful, powerful and magnificent force and gift. But I suspect we are falling prey to some kind of an idolatry here.
Barna research shows that 92% of believers say that worship is the primary task of the church (providing a place, an occasion for and leadership for worship.) Yet 71% of those say they have never encountered Christ in worship.
Worship renewal is not just an interesting option. It is a full on five alarm emergency call. No wonder attendance is declining even in the one-time juggernaut of the Southern Baptists.
Right now the emperor is shamefully exposed. But the garments of praise Isaiah spoke of are available if we will but ask, seek and knock. It won’t be hard . . . but it will take hard work.
Thanks for including me in this invigorating conversation~
dh
[...] So one of my best mates from college (always wanted to say that. I need to move to London.) and fellow “Composer in Arms” has built a ukulele out of Legos from a youtube video of coarse. The thing is that Ben’s is much more aesthetically pleasing and thus I post! Plus check out his new site! Ben’s a great composer and you can count on him to push the boundaries of sonic painting. Look for some great music coming from this guy! Also, dig his comments in some of the posts on this site. [...]