In many U.S. churches today, worship musicians bang the drums for God and singers croon as if Christ were their boyfriend.
Bye-bye to Be Thou My Vision, a sixth-century Irish hymn with century-old English lyrics. Godspeed, Amazing Grace.
Nearly 50% of Protestant churches now say they use electric guitars or drums in worship, up from nearly 35% in 2000, according to the recently released Faith Communities Today study of 14,000 congregations.
False dichotomy. I’m in nearly 100 different worship settings every year; in the vast majority of them drums and electric instruments are regularly used. Among the top ten songs I most often hear are “Be Thou My Vision†and “Amazing Grace.â€
“Drums and electric instruments?” YECCHH!! Not in OUR church! Uh-uh! No way, Jose! What an abomination!
Amen, Cennydd13! And personally, if I never hear “Amazing Grace,” again, it will suit me fine. A fine hymn, but SOOOO over used, and when performed solo, almost invariably mangled.
I’m a firm believer that whenever a hymn is played or sung, it should, as a matter of respect for the composer and arranger, be sung or played exactly as it was written. I do agree that “Amazing Grace” is a beautiful and powerful hymn, and yes, perhaps it’s used too often, but who’s to say that this is true? It depends on the situation, and above all, its use depends on the lesson for the day. This is true for any hymn.
Electric guitars and drums might be appropriate for a rock concert, but most definitely [b]NOT[/b] for a church service, and especially for an Anglican service! Dignified and solemn, or joyous as the occasion calls for, yes. Loud and raucous, no!
Here are some thoughts about the purpose of music in worship from a priest whom I regard very highly:
As it should be.
Much contemporary music appeals to the mortal human senses in a way that stimulates the mind and/or body to respond in a mortal manner to think about (consciously or subliminally) and react to thoughts regarding various secular stimuli of our environment.
Christian worship is first and foremost a spiritual experience in which a congregation assembles to spiritually approach God through His Son Jesus Christ in praise, faith, obedience and love. Others may choose a different manner of describing Christian worship but I think that this, maybe ineffectively stated by me, is the essence of it.
Christian worship music should not act on us to affect our mortal minds, bodies and souls in such a manner that it distracts us from Christian worship.
And much contemporay music often does just that.
Oh my. The source article is so lightweight that it hardly merited attention. But now the attention it’s getting merits attention. 😉
The article quotes a pastor: “There is an intense war being waged today for the heart and soul of Bible-believing churches, and one of the Devil’s most effective Trojan horses is music.”
And Cennydd13 pontificates: “Electric guitars and drums might be appropriate for a rock concert, but most definitely NOT for a church service, and especially for an Anglican service! Dignified and solemn, or joyous as the occasion calls for, yes. Loud and raucous, no!”
So just to “live into the tension”, I will say that another of the Devil’s most effective tools is Pharisaism.
I currently lead with only a single acoustic guitar; we have no other musicians ready/willing to assist. I have in the past also been the electric guitarist in a larger group, back when we also had an organist. I like to think, and have been told, that I have a musical sensitivity for enhancing the musical worship (except that I also have to sing, but alas!) I have even accompanied the organ with my electric guitar (when we had an organ and organist.) On any given Sunday, we have a broad range of traditional music from the 1982 Hymnal and other sources, and also a selection of contemporary” songs. “Be Thou My Vision” and “Before he Throne Of God” happen to be my current favorite “oldies”, and “How Deep The Father’s Love” my current favorite newer song. “Amazing Grace” is, to my taste, one of the most perfectly crafted songs ever written. I discard a lot of the contemporary suggestions offered to me, because I recognize their mediocrity. But it’s foolish to set up artificial constraints based on the instrument or the copyright date.
In another thread here today, we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the KJV. What if the Church had taken a different perspective back then? “The English language might be appropriate for commerce and other vulgar uses, but most definitely NOT for celebrating the Eucharist!”
Finally, #7, you make valid points. The catch is that almost anything has the potential for distraction, so it’s unfair to single out a (vaguely defined) musical style. Incense would cause many to be distracted by their asthma! I’ve been distracted by preachers who can’t stay on topic. 😉
Here’s a fun game… can you tell which of these are REAL Anglicans, and which are just performing “abominations”?
http://youtu.be/Z4wyBheF3yc
http://youtu.be/SIz1ooE7mSk
http://youtu.be/FljUdQ5M_Cc
http://youtu.be/o2TdICpow18
http://youtu.be/UdjA3jhdhJs (OK, this one doesn’t purport to be Anglican!)
RE: “So just to “live into the tensionâ€, I will say that another of the Devil’s most effective tools is Pharisaism.”
Now how is people stating clearly that they wouldn’t have drums and electric instruments in their worship service some sort of “Pharisaism”? Nobody said it was *immoral* [unless you count the word “abomination” but I thought he used it in the sense that my Dad would use it when I announce I want to get a tatoo — not a moral judgement but a taste judgement.]
Just because people are ferociously opposed to contemporary instrumental music in worship doesn’t make them “pharisees.” It just makes them people who have very different taste from others.
I’d probably not attend, long-term, a church that used such instruments. Not only do I not appreciate or enjoy such music in worship services in general [though certainly I’m able to participate occasionally and have a little fun], but most churches that revel in contemporary instrumental music have other values and beliefs that I don’t particularly accept. Generally speaking, it all clusters together.
But that doesn’t make contemporary instrumental music immoral or wicked.
No, personal preferences do not constitute legalism or pharisaism; pronouncing unequivocally what is and is not acceptable constitutes legalism; particularly in matters of adiaphora.
I’m often both amused and dismayed by how the music used in worship services is generally the single most controversial topic in American churches, and that observation applies all along the theological spectrum, conservative to liberal, and Catholic to Protestant. It seems that music stirs our emotions as almost nothing else does, which illustrates why its great power must be stewarded wisely.
Rather than playing Devil’s Advocate or contrarian, as Connecticutian did above, I’ll make what I hope is an objective, non-polemical observation. The NT contains virtually nothing directly relevant to the “Worship Wars” over music styles, but the single admonition that seems most relevant is sadly also virtually ignored by all sides. I’m speaking of Col. 3:16 (paralleled in Eph. 5:19), where we are urged to sing “[i]psalms and hymns and spiritual songs[/i]” with thankfulness to God in our hearts.
That may be one of the most widely neglected or disobeyed texts in the whole NT. For starters, I note that it sure seems to indicate a bias toward “blended” worship, mixing the old and the new. It certainly looks as if Paul (or whatever members of the Pauline team may have written Col. and Eph.) is referring to three different types of worship music: first, the “psalms” are presumably the biblical ones, and secondly, the “hymns” were presumably traditional songs that may have included things like the Lukan Canticles (Songs of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon) or the praise songs mentioned in Revelation (e.g., Rev. 15:3-4), but thirdly, although there is no consensus among biblical scholars as to exactly what the mysterious “spiritual songs” might have been, the most likely possibility is that they were improvised songs, spontaneously made up on the spot (like jazz, or more precisely, the “singing in the Spirit,”). Personally, as a charismatic, I’m inclined to think that “spiritual songs,” like the “spiritual gifts” of 1 Cor. 12-14, included singing in tongues!
So, just to be provocative (as is my wont), let me pose the following incendiary question:
How many Anglican churches heed Col. 3:16 and sing all three types of music regularly in worship? Specifically, how many of them SING the psalms, by chanting them, or using metrical settings of them? How many churches that major in “contemporary” worship music also sing hymns? And above all perhaps, how many orthodox Anglican churches, so traditional in other ways, dare to include “spiritual songs” in their repetoire??
Methinks in this regard, there is more than enough blame to go around and that few of us should be casting stones, for “we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Just for the record, I’ll be forthright, in my usual fashion, and in the spirit of full disclosure of my bias, I’ll admit that [b]I love it all,[/b] everything from the most traditional Christian music (Gregorian chant) to the most contemporary worship music (by which I mean songs written and composed in the last several years). And I’ve pastored churches that spanned the whole spectrum.
As a priest who has specialized in interim ministry, I’ve moved around a lot. One of my former churches was the most Anglo-Catholic parish in Richmond (St. Martin’s), and during the entire time I was there we NEVER once sang anything not in the hymnals (and they used both 1940 and 1982) on Sunday mornings, although I did introduce some contemporary stuff at midweek services, especially on Alpha nights. And the choir sang mostly classical British sacred music (Tallis, Byrd, Howell, Vaugh Williams, etc.). Not least, we ALWAYS sang the psalms, usually to Gregorian chant. Instrumental accompaniment was always, and solely, done by the organ. And I always chanted the eucharistic prayer (as is my preference).
At the opposite extreme was a charismatic parish that I once served that did only contemporary Christian music, with perhaps a token hymn once a month as a sop to older folks. That flourishing church (which was a new church plant) had no organ, although they did have an electric keyboard and a full drum set. Indeed, that lively congregation is the only one I’ve ever served where the Sr. Warden was also the Drummer! Needless to say, they never chanted anything. But they did sing in tongues at times!
I’m flexible (and musical) enough that I felt comfortable in both places, as well as in many somewhere in between those extremes. I just wish that more Anglican/Episcopal churches took Col. 3:16 seriously and tried to do blended worship in all three styles mentioned there: psalms, hymns, and “spiritual songs.”
David Handy+
Provocative as ever
David Handy+, I must agree with you. For 28+ years, I sang in my parish choir, which was directed by a choirmaster/organist trained at King’s College’s RSCM (Royal School of Church Music), and I gained a deep appreciation of English Church music and tradition.
We performed just about everything ever written for the English Church, one might say, and also performed many Russian works, which in my opinion are some of the most beautiful pieces ever written for worship. All of this music, with a very few exceptions, excited within me a reverence for God and His works; the beauty and awe-inspiring poetry within each tends to do that within my soul.
Lately, partly because of my Welsh ancestry and love for the language of my fathers, I have been performing in Cymraeg (the Welsh language), and I have to tell you that these hymns, though not always approved for use in Anglican parishes, are some of the most powerful ever written. If you’re familiar with any of them, you might recognize the hymn written to the tune of “Blaenwern,” which was sung at the last Royal wedding. Awesome and inspiring…..especially in Cymraeg.
It is interesting to note that Christendom (a lot of Christian churches) revised their hymnals in the 70th. What they left out–what hymns are NOW in “the Public Domain,”–are the ones from the romantic era, those that sing about how wonderful I am because of what Jesus did for ME. The good hymns, like someone above said, tell about the Lord Jesus and what a wonderous God we have. They don’t extol my part of the work; they glorify the Lord.
I like #5’s outline for hymns. Our Anglican church encorporates a mix of modern and traditional but we do know the difference between a good hymn and a “praise song.”
And by the way, where did the concept of hymns/music as the form of “worship” come into effect? What does it mean when the leader says, “Now let’s worship the Lord and sing…”?
I’m really not opposed to modern music in church, as long as it is a) theologically correct b) well played and c) appropriate to the part of the service in which it is being played (e.g., “Open the eyes of my heart” is not appropriate in place of the Gloria). Oh, and d) not over-used to the point where we say “Oh, no, not “Open the eyes of my heart” again!!! If they play that ONE MORE TIME, I’m not coming back to THIS service!”.
Peace!
Jim <><