Dr. John Stackhouse Jr. has a thought-provoking article over at the Christianity Today website posing several things to consider in determining whether or not our worship music is too loud in church. Here is an excerpt which I found particularly interesting…
“…let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.
The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.
No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn’t a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation’s praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation” (emphasis mine.) (You can read the whole thing here http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=72863 .)
I’m sure we have all experienced this. But is this the way it is supposed to be?
Ephesians 5:18-21 (ESV) – 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Colossians 3:16 (ESV) – 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
One of the things I find such a blessing at the church my family is presently attending (Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Globe, AZ) is the involvement of the entire congregation in the worship of God. There is something which I find particularly encouraging when the room is filled with the natural sound of God’s people singing God’s praises together.
I am not trying to come down on any particular side of the “worship wars”… this is just something to think about…
Soli Deo Gloria!!!
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