Can a Song be too Creative?—part 2

Can a Song be too Creative?—part 2

            I am not intimating that our worship music should be dull, uncreative, mundane, banal, and uncreative.  I am simply saying that good quality; appropriate religious music should be about God and should support the aims and purposes of worship.  The music part of church music should be a vehicle for the Logos Christos to find lodgment in our hearts and minds.  As I have stated for years I my writings, sacred music should mirror the music of the Bible.  It should be a Melos (words and music written as a unit) as we now have evidence that the music of the Old Testament was. The melodies of the Bible (the te’amim) were always the handmaiden of the text.  The melodies of the OT were never in competition or in contradistinction to the meaning of the text as many melodies written and set to sacred texts are today.

            As Christian musicians we should always be cognizant of the fact that our religious music and musicing is “mother’s little helper” rather than the “star of the show”.  I suspect that many Christian musicians get caught up in the creative process and product rather than lifting up the God we are “advertising”.  I have contended for years that when it comes to church worship we need to keep the main thing the main thing. 

Thought for the day

Creativity in music, although appropriate for worship music, is not the doorway to the kingdom.  Although creativity is in no way contradictive or incompatible with public worship, the Lord awards his servants on the basis of being good and faithful rather than on the basis of being talented or creative.