Brain Twitch

Yesterday a pastor friend posted on Facebook that he wondered about the trend in a lot of new worship music toward long repetition. He noted that pastors are taught to be concise and quit when they have made their point instead of rambling on. He wondered if that wouldn't be good advice for song writers too. Of course I disagreed with him.

First let me say that from what I know of my friend he probably has a well rounded view of worship. But he also likes to push buttons and if ever there was a place to push worship buttons it is Facebook. In other words, we probably agree a lot more than it may seem. He's just a troublemaker. :)

But it got me thinking about how annoyed I get with the worship wars. Every year it seems that some Christian university is adding a "Worship Arts" degree so there is a ton of stuff written on worship now days. I've read and listened to a lot of it and in my view the scope of opinions is still a cluttered mess. Maybe in time there will be more consensus.

For this post I want to stick with the music we sing on Sunday mornings at church and call worship. Yes, that is only a fraction of what worship is. Yes, there are a multitude of aspects to worship. Yes, even our work is worship, or should be. But I am just talking about the music on Sunday.

For me, that worship is simply giving honor and glory to God through an art form that a lot of people can participate in. I do have a friend who can't sing or keep time to music and this worship does absolutely nothing for him. But for the most part the majority of our society does engage in the art form on a regular basis.

That makes music a great form for worship. It allows us to engage with God in a way that we can express ourselves beyond what we can with words alone. It involves not just our minds but also our emotions. It can push us to raise our hands or fall on our knees. It helps us express our gratitude to our Lord and Savior.

Sometimes I think the Wesleys did a disservice when they came up with the idea of using music to teach theology. It was brilliant, of course, because it works. Even in primitive cultures music is still used to teach. But teaching is not what worship is about for me. I don't mind that we learn while we worship but that is not even close to its primary purpose. Go ahead and use music to teach, just don't call it worship.

One of the keys to worship music is recognizing that it is an art form. We engage with art differently than we do oral communication. Unfortunately, a lot of people try to engage them in the same way. Art is something we soak in over time. I love to read but I have read even my favorite books only 5 or 6 times. Most books I read only once. It's not the same with music. I have listened to my favorite songs hundreds of times. Henry Nouwen wrote a book on Rembrandt's painting "The Prodigal" and he spent days looking at it in the St. Petersburg museum as he wrote, soaking in all the details and nuances that are missed with a brief glance. That is the nature of the art form.

So I get annoyed when I hear people say they don't like all the repetition in worship songs just as I get annoyed when I hear people complain about our classic hymns. I get the feeling they are not considering the art form. They are just basing their opinion on what they like. Yes, we do that with popular music too. But I think that if most people put some effort into it they could learn to appreciate a wide range of musical genres, even if they aren't their favorites. I think we can do that in worship too.

I can appreciate the complex orchestration of some of our greatest hymns of the past. But I can also appreciate the repetition of a deep, heartfelt, expression of praise. We need to learn to engage in worship in a way that allows us to soak in the art form and let it help us offer up our sincerest honor and praise to God.

Saw a beautiful sunset the other day. Absolutely stunning. I was reminded of how incredible God is. It was a very worshipful experience as I humbly felt overcome by his magnificent presence.

I know that there is a scientific explanation for sunsets like this. I suppose it has something to do with light, water droplets, and fine grains of dust, and maybe a few other things thrown in. I don’t believe that those players in the masterpiece have any feelings at all towards God. They are simply objects of his creation. But that doesn’t matter. To me it is all God. They play a part in his revelation whether they like it or not.

Sometimes I hear people say that they are worried about how we approach music in churches today. “It’s not worship, it’s a performance. We shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves, we should focus our attention on Jesus. It’s not about us, it’s about him.”

Well, yes and no. If you have the right attitude, isn’t playing or singing with all the ability God gave you an act of worship of the highest order? Isn’t watching someone perform like that very similar to watching that amazing sunset?

And what if the performer isn’t a follower of Jesus and couldn’t care less about God. When that performer performs at a very high level aren’t they still revealing the magnificence of God anyway, just like the water molecules and light?

Sure, there will be times when inappropriate use of talent occurs. But that works both ways. Failing to use the talent God gives us is just as bad. When people fail to play or sing to their highest ability what is that saying about God? Yeah, it might be excellent technically speaking, but unless it is inspired playing it really is tepid. Does that really reveal God’s magnificence? Or is it just a false humility that really says that the really good stuff we can do is all ours and God has nothing to do with it.

So I don’t care how people participate in worship as long as they participate. If that means they sing along, fine. If it means they sit and enjoy the show, just as good. In either case I’ll be praying they have the focus on God.

As for me, I just want to be mindful of his great creation whether it is a beautiful sunset, awe inspiring mountain ranges, or someone’s virtuoso performance. And the next time I see someone pick up a Stratocaster I’ll be rooting for them to play the hell out of it. Pun intended.