Musical and Social Meaning…part 12

Musical and Social Meaning…part 12

Understanding the total fabric and landscape of the religious music that a worship leader utilizes in the context of public worship is essential.  What the music is made of is important. The ingredients of music (the fabric of the music) matters, and so do the associations that surround it giving it an unavoidable landscape.  Two brands of medication that help control gastric reflux were recently pulled from druggist’s shelves because they both contained a carcinogen.  Thousands of people took this cancer causing chemical because these users blindly trusted without understanding what the medications contained.  Uninformed church leadership and  worship leaders often proceed with the same blind trust.  Ministers of music should not use music simply because they found it on the shelf of some music store or on the internet.  Remember that the powerful musical discourse in Ephesians chapter 5 is prefaced by the admonition in verse10, “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:15 also warns, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise…”

As was mentioned earlier, a host of current and former music philosophers in the past and now believe that all musicing is unavoidably done in community.  When it comes to composers, arrangers, performers, and worship leaders, no musician is an island and no musician stands alone.  Christian musicians, who believe that if one ignores these theories they will go away, are naive and short-sighed.  Christian musicians should remember Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”