How Ecclesiology Affects
Sacred Musicing—part 3
What I believe he was saying is that a fellowship of
believers should not think of the church first and then Christ and the Spirit. Colossians 1:18 states, “And he is the head
of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Christ must be preeminent because He said, “I will build my church”. Christ is not the chore boy of the church
but rather the “chief corner stone”. Therefore the whole of church music and
musicing must be aligned (congruent) with Christ’s teachings. In our sacred
musicing Christ must have the preeminence.
Preeminence connoted something being surpassed by the quality of having
greater excellence, distinction or prominence.
In order for a Christian musician’s music and musicing to
give Christ the preeminence, it must be congruent with the excellence that
represents the moral nature of the trinity. Remember that without Christ and
the Holy Spirit there is no authentic Christian Church. The window through a Christian musician views
the structure of the church will be the deciding factor in the development of
that musicians musical paradigm. A
musician’s musical paradigm will be the bell-weather of that musician’s music
philosophy. A Christian musician’s music
philosophy will strongly influence that musician’s music praxis. We are not the ones who were charged with the
responsibility of building the church with Christ’s help and the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. As Christian musicians
we are Christ’s little helpers who assist Him as He builds His Church.
