Monday, February 10, 2014

Changing Church Music

It seems like we spend a lot of time talking about what to do about the music in church. When I did my stint as music director at a small church, I’ll say that I thought it was hugely important. I aimed for newer songs and always put a slower song right before the sermon, so people would be ready to listen. I had this idea that we could change our music and our attendance would increase. Well, our attendance did increase during that time, but it had nothing to do with the music. If anything, the people who came would’ve liked different music than the stuff I was giving them.

Our thinking can get really messed up. We start saying things like, “If it will draw in more people, we can put up with music we don’t really care for.” It isn’t that there’s anything wrong with having newer music, or older music, or whatever kind of music. We run into a problem when we start making assumptions about what other people want. “If we want young people, we’ll have to have contemporary music,” we say. But is that true? I know of people younger than me that enjoy music that is older than me. And I know people older than me that like contemporary music.

But look at television shows like American Idol and The Voice. What is it that makes these shows popular? The music they use isn’t limited to the most popular time periods or genres. Instead, they have a wide variety of music styles from different time periods. The most important factor with these shows is the quality of the performances. If someone who doesn’t sing well gets on American Idol, they’ll get laughed at, but they don’t stay on the show very long. On The Voice, they don’t put anyone on who can’t sing.

Consider Psalm 33:3, “Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.” There are a couple of things to notice here. One, God wants us to “play skillfully.” Good music for worship is music that the musicians have practiced. Another thing to notice is that God wants a new song. But don’t assume that means the contemporary style of music. If you read the rest of the Psalm, you see that the new song the psalmist sings is the oldest story of all, the story of creation. A new song comes from the creativity God has given the musician.

Look to the musicians. What is it that they know how to play? What is it that they enjoy enough to practice? What have they created in their hearts? I don’t know that we’ll ever find a style of music that draws people in. Most people are looking for something other than music, but music is important to put us in an attitude of worship. What we don’t want is for people to suffer through the music service. We especially don’t want the musicians to suffer through the music. If they don’t like the music they’re playing, they won’t practice, and if they don’t practice, everyone suffers.

While church musicians have a responsibility to follow the music director, they are also artists in their own right. Ask them to sing or play too much stuff that they don’t enjoy and they’ll quit. That makes me think that what we ought to be doing is looking at the musical talent God has placed in the church and using what we’ve got. If we’ve got a lot of singers, have a choir. If four or five, then a praise team might be the thing. If we’ve got people who can play strings, then an orchestra might be the way to go. Brass? How about a brass band? Guitars? Find a way to use them. The style of music and the tempo of the music may be driven by what the musicians can accomplish. But that’s okay. As long as it is skillfully done, people will like it.

I’ve Been un-Brothered

The other day, I posted a link to a Wikipedia page as a comment to a post that showed up on my news feed. The person who had shared the post saw the link as disagreeing with the post he’d shared. He sent me a message saying as much and “I’m removing you from my friends list.”

For the most part, I don’t care if someone removes me from their friends list or not. But this is a person that I see frequently. He isn’t someone I’ve spent a lot of time talking to, but our paths cross in Christian ministry. We exchanged several messages, with me saying I didn’t see why he thought it was such a big deal and him saying that he was concerned what his non-Christian friends would think. Personally, I think non-Christians seeing that Christians can disagree with each other and still get along has a greater impact than seeing them pat each other on the back and say, “Good job, brother.” But neither of us seemed to be persuading the other.

What really got me, when I thought about it, was the words in one message that said, “I don’t know you well enough to call you brother.” My first thought was that it is true that he doesn’t know me very well. I don’t suppose we’ve known each other for a year yet, and though we are involved in similar activities and see each other frequently, our circles are somewhat different. But then I started questioning, “How well do you have to know someone to call them brother?” and “What is a person saying if they decide not to call you brother?”

The words of the song Family of God come to mind. “You will notice we say brother and sister ‘round here. It’s because we’re a family and these folks are so near.” In the Bible also, we see the term “brother” used frequently when referring to fellow Christians. In some cases, it is used for people with whom we wouldn’t expect to be on the best of terms with. “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3) And that may be why God chose “brother” as the term for fellow Christians to use. You see, brothers aren’t bound together by how well they know each other or how much they like each other. Brothers are brothers because of blood. For Christians, the blood that makes us brothers is the blood of Jesus Christ.

For someone to say, “I don’t know you well enough to call you brother,” what they are saying is, “I don’t know you well enough to know if you are a Christian.” We don’t always know if someone is a Christian, even if they tell us they are, even if they are church members. But there are some things that give us a good indication. Are they bearing fruit? Are they serving the Lord? Are they telling others about Jesus? Do they love the brethren?

One of the problems with social media is that it is easy to upset someone by doing something that wouldn’t bother you at all, if the shoe were on the other foot. And when people are upset, they say some things that are not nice. They might even un-brother you. But it is our choice whether we take offense or not. I won’t say that I enjoy someone suggesting that I’m not a Christian, but I choose not to take offense. (At least, not for long.)