Utilizing Great Music in Worship

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship  

               More and more Christian musicians seem to not make much distinction between mediocre and great religious music.  Although a Christian does not worship the greatness in music, most of the time great music is a greater vehicle to represent the message of our great Savior. However, philosophically speaking, the Earnest Christian musician values the use of excellent music with the excellent message of the gospel. It is one thing to give lip service to the appropriateness of the sacred classics but it is another to actually utilize them in public worship. The Christian musician who never includes the sacred classics in his or her repertoire is making a philosophical statement about the awesomeness and solemnity of worshiping the high and lifted up triune God. 

              As I have often said, the music part of music does not always have to be complicated or esoteric in order to be a proper vehicle to use in our musicing unto God.  However, there are auspicious religious occasions when great sacred music is without doubt a better choice than some trite, predictable, and mundane musical composition that is obviously the work of a musical hack.

              There is a reason why some sacred music is great and other music is either mediocre or actually so poorly constructed that it is not a good vehicle for musical worship.  The best sacred music throughout the centuries has been produced by composers and arrangers who were able to skillfully organize melody, harmony and rhythm into a composition that would properly represent the awesomeness and solemnity of worshiping the triune God.  This has been accomplished by utilizing a number of appropriate musical styles that were and are “better vehicles” to represent the moral nature of God.