Memo to Worship Bands

I saw this editorial by John G. Stackhouse, Jr. in Christianity Today, and it really struck a chord with me. It's no secret that I prefer traditional music during worship, but I listen to contemporary Christian music on the radio and I love it. My preference is not due to the fact that I don't like rock style music, or that I don't think it's appropriate for church. It more due to the fact that I don't feel engaged in worship. The music is too loud and it feels like a concert instead of corporate worship. What do you think?

Memo to Worship Bands

Can you hear me? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day—I hope.

Why does everything every Christian musician performs nowadays seem to require high amplification?

I was at a Christian camp not long ago where we gathered to sing around a bonfire. Guitars appeared, but just before I could get nostalgic and suggest we sing "Pass It On," the microphone stands appeared, too. Apparently three guitars for 40 people were not enough. No, they had to be amplified.

I am not 110 years old, friends. I grew up in the 1970s with fuzz boxes, stacks of Marshall amplifiers, and heavy metal bands loud enough to take on Boeing 747s and win. I have played in worship bands for more than 30 years, and like lots of juice running through my Roland keyboard or Fender bass or Godin guitar. Furthermore, I'm a middle-aged man and my hearing is supposed to be fading. But even I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.

So here are five reasons for everyone to turn it down a notch—or maybe three or four.

First, I know it's breaking the performer's code to say so (the way magicians are never supposed to reveal a secret), but cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. The comedic film This Is Spinal Tap showed us all the absurdity of using sheer noise to compensate for a lack of talent. (The knobs on the band members' guitars and amplifiers were modified to go to 11.) Do not compensate for mediocrity by amping it up to MEDIOCRITY.

Second, when your intonation is not very good—and let's face it, most singers and instrumentalists are not anywhere close to being in perfect tune—turning it up only makes it hurt worse. If I hear one more "harmony singer" have trouble deciding whether to hit the major or the minor third and instead split the difference at a scalp-tightening volume, I think my head will split also.

Third, the speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy through their small, old magnets and cones, especially from piano, bass, and kick drum. So we are being pounded with high-powered fluffing and sputtering—which do not induce praise.

Fourth, consider that you might be marginalizing older people, most of whom probably do not like Guns N' Roses volumes at church. And if you suspect older congregants may be secretly delighted behind their tight smiles, ask them. I dare you.

Fifth, let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.

The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.

No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn't a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation's praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.

Now, I like Palestrina and I like good Christian rock. So, church musicians, if you want to perform a fine song that requires advanced musicianship, by all means do it. We will listen and pray and enjoy it to the glory of God.

But when you are leading us in singing, then lead us in singing. And turn it down so we are not listening to you—or, even worse, merely enduring you. I know that is not what you want to happen. But I am telling you that's what is happening.

Sorry, again, for shouting.

Praise and Worship

I miss singing hymns in Sunday morning worship. I miss the sound of four part harmony singing praise to God and the simple sound of a piano and organ guiding us along. It saddens me to think that in just a few generations, all of those old hymns have been lost. We sing along to the band now, complete with bass, electric and acoustic guitar as well as drums and keyboard. The music from the instruments all but drowns out the singing of the congregation and instead of feeling as though I am participating in corporate worship, I spend my time straining to hear my own voice so I can stay on pitch.

I know that this has become a rallying point for many people in churches around the country. I don't think that this is a reason to leave or split a congregation of believers. Sadly, music in worship has become a hot topic for debate and has been the source of many a split church. Don't we have more important things to tend to as the body of Christ? Is the type of music we hear and sing in church really that important? To that I have to answer yes and no.

Yes, it's important in the sense that we need to get the most out of our worship experience as possible. If the music is distracting to your praise and worship time, then what's the point? I've heard people say that it doesn't matter what kind of music is playing, what matters is that you are praising God. I wholeheartedly disagree with that philosophy. It matters a great deal if you can't open yourself up to true worship because of what's going on around you. Believe me, I have tried very hard to learn the lyrics to all the praise songs, and I sing them when I am in church. I don't stand there just refusing to sing because I don't really like the music, because that is just pure rebellion and we should be trying to fix our thoughts on God.

However, I just don't enjoy the music the way I want to and that makes me feel like I am not worshipping to the fullest on Sunday morning. The music does not prepare me for the sermon, it's just something that I have to get through and I hate feeling like that. I hate feeling like a complainer or that I am not willing to change, but it goes deeper than that. Those hymns that we used to sing contained important doctrine about our faith. It's a proven fact that we are able to retain information better if we put it to music. I can't tell you how many bible verses I know because I learned them in a song as a child.

"Victory in Jesus", "The Old Rugged Cross", "I Need Thee Every Hour"....the words to these hymns teach us something very important about ourselves and about the God we serve. I often laugh (on the inside, of course) during the praise and worship time in church, because I occasionally hear a phrase from a hymn in a praise song. I laugh because probably 80% of the congregation has no clue that they are singing part of a hymn. I think hymns have a bad reputation among the "new congregations" who either began going to church after hymns had been sort of phased out, or have never attended a church that sang them. They think that hymns are boring and preachy, but they sing phrases from them at the top of their lungs every Sunday without even realizing it.

One of the great joys of being a member of my family is that there is a overwhelming love for music and a talent for it as well. I can't think of anyone in my family (immediate and extended) who can't sing or play an instrument. Almost every time we get together, we gather around the piano and sing in four part harmony to all the old hymns. We pull out the Broadman hymnal and the Inspiration and sing "Mansion Over the Hilltop", "The Way That He Loves" and "Just a Little Talk With Jesus" until we are hoarse. It's a beautiful time of praise and worship and the lyrics help us to remember Who we serve. Those old hymns echo through my mind when I am in a dark and lonely place, and remind me that I am not alone.

On the other hand, I have to answer that no, music is not that important in the sense that our greater purpose is spreading the gospel as far and wide as we can. If the music draws people in and keeps them engaged and ready to worship, then we should carry on smartly and continue our ministry. Much of the praise music does reflect sound theology and doctrine, albeit a little "fluffy" sometimes. I would never leave my church because of the music program. If I was getting fed in other areas (Sunday School, small groups, preaching) then that one area that I was not entirely comfortable with would not be enough to send me packing. We could spend our entire lives trying to find a church home that aligns perfectly with what we want. What really matters is what God wants for us, and we have to keep that in mind.

So, having said all of this, the bottom line is that I miss the old hymns but not enough to leave the body of believers that I have come to know and love. I would suggest a more blended music service, but that is neither here nor there. I am content with the knowledge that my children will grow up knowing all of the old favorites and maybe they can teach me some of the new.

The God on the Mountain is Still God in the Valley

I was driving to work this morning listening to a CD of praise music and I heard this one by Tree63 and it just touched me all over again. Each time I hear it I am reminded that we need to praise God when it's good and when it's bad. Everything in our lives should be glorifying to God and we have to make a conscious choice to praise Him through our circumstances. Do I do that enough? No...not by a long shot. Am I convicted of it? Yes, and so I keep striving to praise Him every moment of every day.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say Lord,
Blessed be your name

Respect

Since this is my own personal corner of cyberspace, I can rant and rave about any topic of my choosing. I have dedicated entire blogs to the personal driving skills (or lack thereof) of my fellow commuters and to the concept of choosing the number of children you want instead of trying indefinitely for a particular gender. I have made my opinions known in subtle and "in your face" ways alike. Today I am choosing to complain and rant about the way people dress for church.....specifically Easter Sunday.

For as long as I can remember, I have dressed up for church. As a child, that meant a slip, ruffly panties, starched dress, frilly lace socks and seasonally appropriate shoes. Let's all say it together for any Yankees out there (or Southerners who ought to know better but don't)....no white shoes after Labor Day or before Easter. As a teenager and adult, it meant panty hose, heels or dressy flats, a slip and a nice dress.

Now I realize that times have changed. Panty hose are not particularly popular and I have actually embraced that particular fashion change rather readily, unless I am wearing close-toed shoes. Women do not feel compelled to wear dresses but wear pants and men (and some women) wear jeans and tennis shoes to Sunday morning worship. I have become accustomed to this type of dress when I attend church.

Having said that, I draw the line when I see teenagers in tight pants, halter tops, t-shirts with holes and short shorts. I cringe when I see adults in in shorts and flip-flops. Is this really what the modern day Christian finds appropriate for worship these days? I know that many would argue that it doesn't matter what you wear as long as you show up, and I can understand that to a certain degree. Not having the means for dressy clothing or for any clothing beyond work clothes should not be a deterrent for attending church. I am not suggesting that we should all go into debt to be able to purchase expensive, showy clothes for church. All should feel welcome in the house of God no matter how they are dressed, but there is a difference between not being able to dress up and choosing not to because you are too lazy to put a little effort into your appearance on Sunday morning. How many people out there would go to a job interview in shorts and flip-flops or hot pants unless you were applying for a life guard position or cocktail waitress? Not many, because you want to make a good impression...put your best foot forward. You are showing respect for the people that you are going to see.

Why do we treat the weekly opportunity to come together as a body of believers with less respect than we would a job interview? It's not that God expects us to dress a certain way, but I do believe that outward appearance should be a reflection of your inner heart. My inner heart wants to stand before God the Father in a respectful, modest way. He's the "person" I'm going to church to see. Tight pants that say "Bootylicious" across the bottom are not respectful or modest. Shorts and flip-flops scream, "I was too lazy to iron my pants and shirt this morning. I had other things on my mind". I think that it is a sign of respect, not vanity, to wear your best when you are coming to church to worship the Maker of the universe.

Now I realize that I am stomping all over the feet of many of my friends and fellow believers, but I am entitled to my opinion. If you are entitled to come to church like you are ready to go to the beach, I am allowed to vent about it on my blog. And please don't post and quote James 2:1-4 to me. I'm not suggesting that people who wear expensive clothing should be venerated and people who can't should be outcast and made to feel inadequate.

So, now we come to Easter Sunday morning. The Queen Mother of all worship services. The one day out of the entire year that you expect to see most people in new dresses or coats and ties. The day when we can pull out those white shoes and wear them proudly with no fear of being talked about over dinner. When I arrived at church yesterday morning in my new dress with children in tow wearing freshly ironed and starched dresses and sports coats, I was feeling all Eastery. I was struck (for the millionth time) how handsome my husband looks in a suit. Then I went inside. I saw only a handful of people that looked like they had even taken a second look in the mirror before they left the house. No sea of pretty spring dresses; no starched white shirts with ties and jackets. I saw a female member of the choir in an old button down shirt and jeans, the music minister was in a wrinkled button down shirt, and even the pastor didn't bother to wear a tie. IT'S EASTER SUNDAY!!!!!!!!! What are you people thinking????????? Are you from an alternate universe? Is the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord so unimportant that you would take no care with your appearance?

I love this quote by Phil Johnson: "To a certain extent, our attire in church reflects our attitude toward the significance of corporate worship and the holiness of the One whom we worship, and we ought to give some thought to that fact when we decide what to wear. The tendency toward making Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts, sandals, bare midriffs, and gold chains the standard attire for corporate worship is related to the very same mentality that is cheapening and trivializing every other aspect of our worship."

I know that sounds like I'm being shallow and that I should be more focused on the reason we come to church and less on what everyone around me is wearing. Like I said before...it's my blog and I can say whatever I want. I think that the way we are progressively dressing further and further down for worship is an indicator of our respect for God. We are commanded to keep the Sabbath holy....why doesn't that extend to our dress? If you truly believe that it doesn't matter what you wear as long as you show up, then why doesn't that extend to other areas of our lives? Would you attend a wedding in shorts and flip-flops? Would you attend a funeral dressed that way? Why not? Because you have respect for the bride and groom and you have respect for the dead. Do you not have respect for God? Do you really think it doesn't matter how we present ourselves to Him?

I think it matters a great deal (if you're still reading along, this should be clear by now). I think that it would do a lot of people good to start dressing like they care on Sunday morning. Dress like you are going somewhere special, because going to a place of worship is special. It's not to impress the people sitting in the pew next to you or to impress God. It's to show respect for the awesome God that we serve.

Led By the Spirit

This has been such a great day! We have a bible study at work every Wednesday at noon, and today was no different. We have been studying the book of John and today the topic was sin. What is sin? How do different religions define sin? The text was the story of the woman caught in adultery who was brought before Jesus for judgement. He simply knelt down and began writing in the dirt and told her accusers that the one of them without sin should throw the first stone. The obvious message is that we should not judge each other since we are in sin ourselves. The other lesson is that we should always remember that there are always consequences to our sin. We receive forgiveness when we come to God with a truly repentant heart, but we are still morally responsible for the choices we make. Forgiveness does not equal erasure of our sin.

We had a discussion about the differences between the Catholic faith and other denominations and how we deal with sin and forgiveness. It was a very interesting class, but the thing that was so wonderful to me was the conversations sparked later in the day by the subject of sin. I spent the rest of the afternoon talking to my coworkers about the definition of sin, how it relates to our walk in Christ and what the scripture says about a wide range of questions that were brought up. We covered divorce, justification by faith alone, election, predestination, confession in the context of Catholicism, the role of women in the church and a wide range of other topics. It was so great to just talk and share scripture with other people who had questions and issues that are so important to me. It was as though my bible was falling open to all of the right passages and God was putting the right words in my mouth.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for hearing our prayers and for enabling us through the Holy Spirit to be used for your glory.

Worship and Fellowship

Today is Sunday and it has been good. I woke up this morning to my youngest crawling into bed with Trevor and I. Resplendent in her candy cane pajamas and wet diaper, she snuggled down between us and started our morning with the most beautiful words in her vocabulary...."I love you." Shortly thereafter, I found myself all alone on the deck with a steaming cup of fresh coffee. In my mind's eye the day spread out in front of me like the vast expanse of sky over West Texas. It seemed open and endless at that time of the morning when the only sound I could hear was the cheerful chirping of birds in the woods behind the house.

We made it to church on time and I enjoyed reconnecting with my friends in Sunday School as we brought our concerns and requests to each other for prayer. The lesson was short since we spent so much time taking prayer requests, but fulfilling nonetheless. We were studying Abram and Sarai's decision to have a child through her maidservant Hagar, instead of waiting on the Lord to provide a child. As Ali taught the lesson, it was brought to the forefront of my mind that we have amazing power over our husbands. Even a man who is a strong spiritual leader and chooses a godly path more often than not can be easily led astray by a suggestion put out there by his wife. It might be a small thing, or it might not. It might be unintentional, or it might not. I realized that to put all the responsibility of spiritual leadership on my husband's shoulders was not really fair. If I am aware that he is sinning or if I encourage that sinful behavior then I am culpable as well. I am commanded biblically to be a helpmate to my spouse and that includes helping him be a strong leader in every way that I can. If I am enabling his sin or even causing it, I am not in line with what God has in store for me or my marriage.

So, I need to guard my tongue a little more often and be sure that my words and actions don't cause my husband to stumble. He has enough weight on his shoulders without adding to the load.

Then there was the morning worship service. The sermon was about the commandment to not commit adultery, but it turned into a sermon on the freedom and joy of sex within a marriage. We read passages from Song of Solomon and from the New Testament. I thought that it tied in neatly with the SS lesson because if we take our marriages to be the covenant relationship that God intended and we truly love and honor our spouse in all areas, then we enjoy true intimacy and closeness that marriage can bring. My favorite verse from Song of Solomon is 6:3 "I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine." Completely. Giving myself heart and soul to Trevor does not imprison me, it frees me to love fully. Part of that love is always being available to him to satisfy his needs. Now there was a lot of snickering and joking between friends after the service was over, but the basic truth should really hit home for all of us. If I satisfy his needs on all levels...physical and emotional.....it frees him to be the spiritual leader and provider for our family. Likewise, if he attends to all of my needs it makes it easier for me to be submissive to him and to help and support him.

There are some of you out there reading this blog thinking that I am caught in a time warp and obviously have not heard of woman's lib. My faith gives me guidelines and boundaries for what makes a healthy and happy marriage. Being submissive to Trevor does not make me a slave to him. Being submissive to my husband is a no brainer because I can trust that even if I don't agree with a decision he has made for us, I know that he only has our best interest at heart. This does not mean that I am not allowed to question him or voice concerns about an issue (just ask him about that one!). And often a different point of view will change his outlook on a situation, and that is where the lessons tie together for me. I only have to suggest something to him, gently point him in another direction and that will be all it takes to change his mind sometimes. I have a huge responsibility to temper my comments with biblical truth and direction in order to not mislead him be it intentional or not.

Then I had an entire afternoon with my enchanting friend Kellye as we shopped and chatting for a few hours We spend a lot of time during the week "talking" through Messenger, and it's always nice to spend some time face to face. So during our time together, I had a little thrill of anticipation because we were meeting up with our small group for the first time in several weeks for a new study. I had really been missing this fellowship and was looking forward to time together with my friends.

Chris brought our books to start reading (Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper). Although I let everyone know that my own personal hell is being read aloud to, read aloud we did......the whole first chapter! I'm a teacher's pet so I had actually read the first 2 chapters before we met, but it was good to read it again, even if it was out loud. I am really motivated and excited about this new book and I can't wait to discuss it the next time we meet.

So now I am sitting in my comfy chair with the computer in my lap as I finish up my day with a Coke Zero and the prospect of a little reading before bed. Thank you Lord, for ministers and teachers who remind me of my purpose as a Christian wife and mother. I need to do a little more encouraging and a little less nagging and tearing down. Thank you for giving me the tools for a beautiful and fulfilling marriage.....now I just have to use them.