When Conservatives take the Musical Exit Ramps-Part 2

When Conservatives take the Musical Exit Ramps-Part 2

It is not very much of a mystery that steeples are falling regularly when it comes to the process of staying conservative when one considers the actual choices musicians make when they music in God’s house.  Much has been said in recent years about staying conservative when it comes to matters of lifestyle,  but these churchmen and church musicians have often been stony silent about music and musicing in God’s house.  Churches that do not bother to make any philosophical statements about the types of music  they consider to be appropriate for public worship, are projecting what appears to be silent approval of the belief that when it comes to music and musicing in the context of worship—“all musical roads lead to heaven”.  One thing is apparent, time has proven that “deciding to not decide” where a fellowship of believers stands on what is right, wrong, appropriate, and inappropriate when music unto God in the context of public worship is a definite conscious decision. Such silence is not the answer to the plethora of problems that surround the use of music in the context of worship. 

It appears to me that the seeker and the worshiper who is looking for a church to attend should know from a church’s web site, exactly what to expect, musically speaking, when he or she attends a local church’s worship services.  Those who are looking for a church to attend should not have to “come see what mood we are in musically at this present time.”  It is a pity that they have to come see that we may not use punctuation when we project words on the screen because we desire to seem folksy and familiar or because those in charge of music are just to dilatory to add punctuation; we may have removed the hymnbook; that the daily musical fare could be, country, jazz, rap, CCM etc., or some disjunct amalgamation of traditional hymns, gospel music, traditional praise choruses which are fused with pop music styles, depending which mood we are catering to at the moment.  These styles of music will be performed with a rock backbeat whether such rhythm is appropriate for the style or not.  Why shouldn’t a church be transparent when it comes to matters of how it musics unto God?  Such upfront disclosure would be beneficial to people who are seeking a place to worship because they have been hurt by a church in which music became the war depart.  As a result of the worship war, they became persona non grata because they were offended and spoke out about the music that was being performed by the musicians up front who were “large and in charge” whether they were musically qualified or not.