Keeping Religious Musicing Christian—part 3

Keeping Religious Musicing Christian—part 3

          Worship leaders must remember that everyone who attends a worship service brings to the worship experience previous memories and associations.  Therefore, the worship experience is never done in a musically sterile “bubble”.  Some worship leaders use music that has previously been clearly associated with situations that were anti-Christian and are averse to “universal principles” that are congruent with the separated life of a born-again Christian which are taught in the Bible. Some musical art forms are simply not appropriate for the purposes of worship because of the way the formal properties have been arranged.  When the formal properties of a piece of music form a congruent (or incongruent) whole that is not an appropriate concomitant to the awesomeness and solemnity of worshiping a high and holy God and is clearly antagonistic to the purposes of worship, it is not Christian music.  Sometimes, because of the manner in which religious music is performed, it is no longer distinctly Christian because it has been fashioned in a way that makes it not compatible with the purposes of worship. Whether or not a musical composition is a developed quality art form is not the proper criteria for accepting  it as a worship vehicle.

             Because of the understandable meaning that the music part of some religious music being performed today in the context of worship communicates to an audience, it is not a Christian art form. This is true even though it may be considered a “great art form” when evaluated in terms of what the world considers greatness.  When the music part of music is so closely identified to music that is clearly anti-Christian by its construction, enactment, association and its moral implications, it loses its Christian identify.  As a matter of fact, much of the music that is now used in public worship is more antagonist to the principles of the changed life of a Christian taught in the Bible than it is favorable, congruent or identifiable with biblical Christianity.

Thought for the Day

Worship leaders should remember from Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:21 that the lord said to his servant,  “…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Ministers of music should concentrate on being “good and faithful” rather than on being popular or trendy.