The place of music in congregational life is an important one. Music is significant for most Christians. But it’s often a cause of misunderstanding. This is particularly the case if we’ve held long cherished beliefs that we’ve never examined. The purpose of this article is therefore to summarise the role of music in our regular church gathering.
In Psalm 150:3-5 the songwriter encourages the congregation to praise God with music. That’s a consistent biblical theme. The Bible resounds with music from beginning to end. Biblical authors and characters frequently put their words to song. They acknowledge the value of doing so and they encourage us to do the same. For example, in Ephesians 5 we’re told to address each other in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all our hearts. Colossians 3 makes a similar point. We don’t have to. Praise doesn’t cease to be praise if it’s unaccompanied. But the songwriter thinks it’s a good idea to wheel in a load of musical instruments. In fact he seems to want to throw the kitchen sink into it. Everything is there; wind, strings and percussion. I don’t think this list is meant to be exhaustive just comprehensive. We’re not being told that because the bass guitar isn’t mentioned it’s therefore inappropriate for our Christians gatherings. We’re being told to use whatever we can lay our hands on to accompany our words of praise. To understand the role that music should play in church we need to remember the following principles.
1. Music is a gift from God
Therefore we ought to be very grateful for it. But like other gifts of God including sex, alcohol or money it can be used for good or for evil. Therefore we ought to be careful to use it well and avoid using it badly. We mustn’t be naïve about music. We need to recognise that it can be a dangerous master.
2. Music is morally neutral.
Notes cannot be Christian or non-Christian. Personally I’ve always thought the minor key somewhat sinister! Words are what make a song Christian or otherwise. Therefore what matters most is the content of our songs not the melodies that accompany them. That seems to be Paul’s concern in Colossians 3. He wants the congregation to teach and admonish one another using different styles of song that positively drip with the word of God. Therefore we may want to use some of Wesley’s classics because the theology is good and we may not want to sing some of what’s popular today because the theology is so awful. However, if we can find great tunes with sound lyrics then let’s sing them to death! The number of good songs available seems to be increasing and contemporary songwriters should be commended for their attention to this matter.
3. Music cannot manipulate God
What I’m trying to say is that no musical style is inherently more pleasing to God. Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs describe the range of musical styles employed in the 1st century congregations. God doesn’t prefer blues to rap. Wesley’s 18th Century melodies are not more spiritual. Therefore there’s great freedom to use a variety of musical styles in our meetings. Consequently none of us should object to moving in a more contemporary direction and leaving some of our treasured tunes in the past. There’s freedom to employ the musical styles of the culture to reach the people we’re aiming at. Amongst middle class young men with a public school background I think there’s much to be said for the hymn played at a sprightly pace. Many remember some of the classics from school chapel. Therefore St Helen’s lunchtime meetings use this musical style to reach the city workers. Likewise we’ll want to employ music that appeals to the people we’re attempting to reach. For CCB I think the appropriate musical style is harder to pin down but we’d value suggestions.
4. Music can engage the emotions
It has wonderful power to excite, console or tug at the heartstrings. It allows us to express our emotions and engage our entire being with the substance of what we’re singing. We shouldn’t be scared of feeling thrilled, moved to tears, encouraged or challenged as we sing some of our songs. However, the flip side is that music has great power to manipulate. By itself it can be used to trigger an emotional response and therefore it must be used with great care. However, our music team is miles away from the rampant hype that some of us may have experienced in the past. Our musicians are responsible and they are not about to whip us into an emotional frenzy. Instead I wonder whether the danger CCB faces is a failure to engage our emotions and respond in an appropriate way to what we’re singing. When it comes to enthusiastic singing those of us who come from the UK can be more British than biblical. Of course we don’t want to do anything off the wall. I’m not suggesting we should introduce liturgical dance and ask us to clap our hands at every chorus. But enthusiastic singing is not only a massive encouragement to others but often an appropriate response.
5. Music doesn’t enable us to enter God’s presence
Music is not the medium to manufacture an encounter with God. Even if we’ve experienced an emotional high we shouldn’t think that this has sorted our relationship with God. It’s the gospel that brings us close to God. The gospel concerns the work of Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest who in his death and resurrection reconciles us to our heavenly Father. There is a danger of thinking that an emotional response to music is the same as meeting God. It’s not. It’s an emotion response and emotions can be triggered by anything. We mustn’t confuse our feelings with trusting the gospel. If we believe that music brings us close to God we can put our musicians under tremendous pressure. In effect we’re making them modern day priests. We’re asking them to pull the magic out of the bag each week and find the right emotional buttons to press. That’s not only a tall order for any musician it’s manipulative. It has no place in a Christian gathering worthy of the name.
6. Music fixes truth in our minds
Presumably that’s why the marketing people employ catchy tunes and attach phrases to them. Therefore songs can be more memorable than sermons [which at present are unaccompanied!]. It’s often been said that the music director may be the most influential theologian in the congregation. The intention at CCB is that we choose music so that our thoughts are then occupied by the ideas or theology of the song. At CCB the service leader chooses what we sing each week and they attempt to pursue the theme of the Bible passage through the meeting.
7. Music is an act of service
The music team serves the congregation at CCB in love. Those musical gifts are valuable and they should be employed and practised in order to encourage others. The congregation must value and appreciate the hard work of the music team. They are not self-absorbed. They are not self-promotional seizing the opportunity to parade their talents. We should praise their Christian maturity because it is not always that way with musicians. They set a fine example. With the gifts and instruments we have available to us they do a great job. It may be worth asking whether we’re as good as them in serving one another with our singing. No one is encouraged by a dirge of lifeless unenthusiastic singing so we all have a part to play in putting some commitment into singing. For some of us that may mean keeping quiet! For others it may mean putting a little bit more in than we have in the past.
This is not an exhaustive guide to the role of music in congregational life. I’m sure that there’s more that could be said. However, I hope it’s informed our understanding of what we’re asking our music team to do each week and the strengthened our resolve that singing is a great thing to do when we meet together.
Further Reading
The Church Musicians Handbook, A Practical Guide to Music and its Role Within the Church, Edited by S. Tretheway & R. Milne, (St Matthias Press, Sydney, 1994)
