One of the things I really enjoy is playing music. I got that from my mom. She was an excellent pianist and organist. I miss hearing her play at church on a weekly basis. But I now get to play at church when I have time and am on the schedule. I played piano a couple weeks ago and electric guitar this week. It is an honor and pleasure to help lead God’s people in worship. One thing that I am still trying to get accustomed to is that I am on the older side in terms of age. In fact, I currently qualify for Social Security, which just blows my mind. I still feel much younger in my heart and mind, which can also get me in trouble. My family doctor is fond of telling me, “Steve, you aren’t 16 years old anymore.”
This comes into play some when I play guitar for church. There are some songs that lend themselves to a little more edge on the guitar, and I was told once to give it some more. I was a bit nervous about how the elders would handle that. But after church, they came up and said it sounded great. It was then that I realized, they are all the same age as I am, or even younger in some cases. We grew up with much of the same music, and adding some of that style to the songs in church was fine with them. Some even said I could do more.
Then after church this week, I was talking to an older couple in church, and the husband said, “It just looks like you want to let loose at times up there, but you are holding back.” A couple of things came to mind. The first was that, I would need to practice a lot more to “cut loose” and have it sound right. The second thing that came to mind, and what I told him was, “I could, but it isn’t about me.”
When I was in charge of worship at another church, my rule was that the music should never outshine the message. The music is there to carry the message and make the message memorable. I think this is where the controversy over modern music in church really needs to be argued. Music over the ages has changed significantly. There are times that I would love to go back in time and listen to the parents of the distant past complain over what their kids were listening to. I mean, if you were to go back and listen to the Psalms as they originally sounded, it would be much more Middle Eastern in style. Paul did not travel around with a pump organ playing Amazing Grace. So all of those old hymns and songs were new in style at some point in history. And when some of our hymns were first sung, they were to tunes that originated as drinking songs. Not many, but some. I would think that the parents of that time would be complaining.
Wherever you land on this issue, I firmly believe it is a matter of the heart as to whether someone is worshipping or performing while they play. And my heart has been on both sides of this. There have been times I have felt like I was performing more for the assembly, and times I have been wholly worshipping, yet the music sound roughly the same. The Bible does say that we are to play skillfully for the Lord. I think the reason is so that we don’t become a distraction from the worship of God. This can be done by being too flashy so as to draw attention to yourself, or by missing so many notes that you also draw attention to yourself. I think both of these are wrong. A worship band that can carry the message without distraction is a great asset to the church, but is harder than it seems. It requires a strong faith and a heart for worship, but also good skill at your instrument, your voice, and leadership skills. Music is a powerful thing for the very reason that it makes things memorable. Ever go back and see what the first song recorded in the Bible was? You should go check it out.
Psalms is one of the biggest books of the Bible for a reason. Music is a very important part of the church worship service as well. And we are to address one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with our heart. In other words, this should be a natural thing to sing to the Lord and with each other.
I’m not sure why I got off on this today, but it does fit some of the things I have been reading in the Bible. I am one book away from the New Covenant right now. But in the last of the minor prophets, it was made quite clear that only the Lord can make something holy, but man can certainly make about everything unclean. I believe music one of those things. God ordained it for worship, and man made a lot of it unclean and for other purposes, such as worship of self. But God will make all things right, and all things new. I do believe there will be lots of music in Heaven, and I’m guessing that it won’t be all us us sitting on clouds in robes with wings plucking away at harps for the rest of forever. Not sure that would be heaven, actually. But being able to worship God in song without any interference of ourselves is going to be absolutely awesome, whatever it entails. Making perfect music that perfectly praises our God. THAT would be truly heavenly.
Amen
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