Where Is Our Focus?

Critics of what has become known as the Modern Worship movement (already an archaic term) say that it’s all about getting people emotionally hyped up. Unfortunately, there are enough “consumers” of the Modern Worship movement who make that accusation true by their own personal approach to worship. I recall a conversation with a friend in the ministry who told of one of his choir members who has to find a Beth Moore conference to attend every year. “I love the teaching, but I just have to have my Travis Cottrell fix.” Not a verbatim quote, but that was the gist.

Fix is an interesting word to use in the context of worship, having its origins in the drug scene of the late 20th century. The broader usage has tamed the word a little, but it still carries the connotation of addiction. Some say the addiction is OK, because in their minds they see themselves as addicted to Jesus. But there is reason to suspect that the addiction is actually to the feelings and emotions surrounding a certain type of worship experience rather than to the Lord of all creation. And it’s not just “Modern Worship” that produces such. I know people who are that way about Southern Gospel. Others think worship can’t happen without a majestic pipe organ. Does anybody need more examples to get my point?

I was reading this morning in Inside-Out Worship, a collection of essays on worship by some of the movers and shakers in the Modern Worship scene compiled by Matt Redman. Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion worship movement, wrote this:

Songs alone don’t change people. It’s the truth that sets us free. As lead worshippers, it’s essential that we immerse ourselves in His Word and allow His Word to reshape and contour our hearts. In fact, God only has one ultimate goal for us all – the goal of being conformed to the image of His Son (see. Rom. 8:29). To be conformed is a tough and arduous task, a journey that leads us to the anvil and the altar, moment by moment. It’s a process of transformation that results from consistently renewing our minds by God’s truth (see. Rom. 12:2)

If we’re not careful, we can quickly inhale the feelings and emotion we experience in corporate worship, only to go away with little lasting and substantive change in our souls. In other words, we are prone to joyfully utter the words of praise, while continually dodging the sword of the Spirit. As a result, our worship becomes a counterfeit shell while our hidden heart fails to embrace His truth for our lives.

So the question is whether we love God more than we love the way a certain type of music makes us feel. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Community of Faith Is Family

How wonderful, how beautiful
When brothers and sisters get along!
Psalm 133:1 (Msg.)

I have a friend from seminary -- an extraordinary musician, composer, arranger, producer -- who decided a couple of years ago to disassociate himself from "the institutional church." My friend grew up just as deeply immersed in church life as I did ... perhaps even more so because his dad was a minister of music whose career path led him to work in the Church Music division of the Sunday School Board in Nashville (now under the broader, more marketable name of Lifeway). He also served in church staff ministry positions, and has many published keyboard arrangements (many of them also with Lifeway). He wrote an extensive blog about his top 10 reasons for saying goodbye to "the institutional church," and though I have not studied it in depth, I have skimmed it deeply enough to know that his decision involved an extended period of prayerful study. While I understand most everything he wrote in the blog I would have trouble arriving at the same conclusion on the "what does this require me to do" front. I tend more toward the Augustinian quote about the church that I have heard Steve Brown repeat often on his "Steve Brown, etc." podcast. And, no, I'm not going to repeat the quote, but the gist of it is that for all her imperfections, I love the church ... even with her "institutional" distractions ... because she led me to faith in Christ.

I couldn't help thinking about my friend and his decision as I read the following from Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction yesterday morning:

We can no more be a Christian and have nothing to do with the church than we can be a person and not be in a family. …

There are Christians, of course, who never put their names on a membership list; there are Christians who refuse to respond to the call to worship each Sunday; there are Christians who say, “I love God but I hate the church.” But they are members all the same … (p. 175)

But of course, the fact that we are a family of faith does not mean that we are one big happy family. The people we encounter as brothers and sisters in faith are not always nice people. They do not stop being sinners the moment they begin believing in Christ. They don’t suddenly metamorphose into brilliant conversationalists, exciting companions and glowing inspirations. Some of them are cranky, some of them are dull and others (if the truth must be spoken) a drag. But at the same time our Lord tells us that they are brothers and sisters in faith. If God is my Father, then this is my family.

So the question is not “Am I going to be a part of a community of faith?” but “How am I going to live in this community of faith?” God’s children do different things. Some run away from it and pretend that the family doesn’t exist. Some move out and get an apartment on their own from which they return to make occasional visits, nearly always showing up for the parties and bringing a gift to show that they really do hold the others in fond regard. And some would never dream of leaving but cause others to dream it for them, for they are always criticizing what is served at the meals, quarreling about the way the housekeeping is done and complaining that the others in the family are either ignoring or taking advantage of them. And some determine to find out what God has in mind by placing them in this community called a church, learn how to function in it harmoniously and joyously, and develop the maturity that is able to share and exchange God’s grace with those who might otherwise be viewed as nuisances. (pp. 175-6) …

Living together in a way that evokes the glad song of Psalm 133 is one of the great and arduous tasks before Christ’s people. Nothing requires more attention and energy. It is easier to do almost anything else. (p. 179)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Blogger's note: Most of my blog audience (and I appreciate all 7 of you, even though you rarely comment) knows that my almost weekly blogs consist mainly of an upload of what I hand out to my people at my Wednesday night rehearsals. For those who encounter this post on facebook, the original posts are at www.momosmusings.blogspot.com. I can't remember how I got that automatic link set up, but it works ... and more people probably read it from facebook anyway.

My Wednesday evening hand-out did not include the introductory paragraph about my friend's decision, but I did talk about it in the portion of my rehearsals where I try to teach on the spiritual implications of what we do. As I did so, I included some things that you need to know him ... specifically that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves Jesus, that his spiritual walk is one of active discipleship, and that he seeks to find and cultivate Christian community in non-"institutional church" ways. I deliberately omitted his name so that he may be as anonymous as he desires to be, but it would not surprise me to see a response from him on this point. It will be interesting to see what kind of dialogue (if any) this post may elicit. I've said enough (for now). Now you talk.

Music and Christian Snobbery

Chip Stamm is Director of the Institute for Christian Worship and a professor in the School of Church Ministries (the tattered remnant of what was once one of the finest graduate Church Music degree programs in the nation) at Southern Seminary in Louisville. His Worship Quote of the Week blog is one that I visit from time to time. Last week he featured a quote from Dr. David Peterson, head of the Department of Ministry at Moore Theological College and Lecturer in Theology at the University of Sydney (Australia). The quote, to which Stamm gave the heading MUSIC AND CHRISTIAN SNOBBERY, could not possibly be closer to my heart in the debate over what kind of music is appropriate for worship.

We all know that music is a great encouragement to snobbery. You can either be a classical snob, or a rock snob, or a folky snob. Basically, what we do with our music is we say, “I love this kind of music; this is what really excites me, and I can’t bear that other stuff. I am not going to listen to your stuff.”

The sad thing is that Christians fall into this same worldly trap. We become so familiar with and comfortable with our particular styles of music that we end up saying, maybe overtly sometimes, “I am not willing to listen to your kind of music. I am not willing to sing one of your silly songs.” We get even more intense than that. We say, “Your music is not true worship. Your music is not honoring to God.”

This is one of those areas where Christians feel at liberty to be quite unrestrained and quite ungodly [emphasis mine, RMD] in the way in which we position ourselves and talk to one another when it comes to music. So if music is going to be a meaningful and effective part of our church life, we need to submit it to the Scriptures. We need to apply the Scriptures in a very rigorous fashion from the pulpit about this subject. It is not just
something for musicians to consider. I believe that as pastors of churches and as theological teachers, we have a responsibility to bring this, as with everything else, under the Word of God.

One of the biggest traps in this debate is the false assumption that God shares our preferences for musical style. Ryan Forbes, Pastor of Music and Worship at FBC, Decatur, GA put it this way: “One goal is always musical excellence, but we are kidding ourselves if we think we can impress God with a certain style of music or how wonderful we sound.” I have heard people on all 16 sides of the debate make judgments in favor of or against a variety of styles of music. When we look at Scripture, though, we find that one of the strongest statements God makes about music is found in Amos 5. There God essentially says that if we can’t learn to treat each other with dignity and respect, He would prefer for us to shut up.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.