(For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song.) "My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the King; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer." Psalm 45:1 I am not an expert, but like the vast majority of church folk, I love to worship God in song. There is a small contingent of people out there who are not moved by music, so this discussion for them is a mute point and they believe we should just get over it and get along. I can understand that.
But I believe, for a large majority of the church, when devoted followers of Jesus prepare for Sunday service they have secret wishes that their type of music will be played. Some people will actually get frustrated and leave a place if they are not touched by the music week after week. I have seen this first hand. Is this wrong? Should we expect our feelings to be touched; or is wanting warm fuzzies a sign of immaturity? Is singing your heart out nothing more than the natural response of expression when you love someone? I think the core issue for many concerning worship and praise concerns this question: is it wrong to purposely try to touch people's emotions in our music on Sunday morning? Are musicians manipulators if they can get me to cry because they know how to pick the song and tempo that will strum my heart strings? Or are worship leaders hired to try to engage all of me into this experience called worship? Here is my take.... EMOTIONS AND PSALMS We all know that the bible exhorts us in Ephesians 5:18 to "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord." The question is not "to sing or not to sing," but rather how do we sing? Many people do not know that we have an 150 chapter song book in our bible that was specifically written for Old Testament choir masters and song groups to follow. It is called the "Book of Psalms," it is a great manual for worship. So let's look briefly at some of the Psalms and ask a couple questions: How were biblical leaders guided as they considered their approach to writing songs? Are they instructed to keep a tight check on emotions, or do they ask the reader to open wide their hearts? Did they write only mindless repetitive songs? Do they ask us to sing only thick doctrinal dissertations that get every point of the fall and redemption covered? Psalms does not present music as an "either-or" question, it is a "both-and." The mind is meant to be engaged: Let me choose a few Psalms that deal very specifically with doctrine: Psalm 18 presents a rescuing God that thunders, hides in clouds, discloses laws and decrees, notices sin, and is the only God. Psalm 19 teaches about the general and special revelation that gives theologians a lot to work with when explaining and teaching epistemology. Psalm 139 is as deep as you can get when you are discussing the eternality of the Father. The Psalms contain heavy, heavy teaching. The heart is encouraged to let loose: Look for a second at how emotional the Psalm writers get. Psalm 42 pants for God.When was the last time you panted for God in song? Psalm 45 is written completely out of a stirred heart. Psalm 61 wants God to hear their cry. Psalm 63 is very vivid with how the writer's soul thirsts for God and his body longs for God (pretty self occupied isn't he?). And Psalm 66 tells the whole earth to "shout" with "joy." When is the last time you shouted with joy in a church building? "Shhhhhh, quiet, baby Jesus may be sleeping?" And speaking of repetition, have you ever read Psalm 136? 26 times the Psalmist says, "his love endures for ever." Talk about a 7-11 song, Psalm 136 takes the cake! OTHER SIDE EMOTIONS The issue to me isn't the question if emotions are good or bad, but it is how they are used? There is a famous saying by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. when it comes to teaching that has always fascinated me as a preacher, "I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." He wants the simplicity that is found on the other side of thinking. The simplicity that people usually arrive at is before they think. I believe this to be a great maxim for emotions as well. I don't trust emotions on this side of thinking and doctrinal teaching; but I love and embrace the emotion that is derived from the convictions I have formed from teaching. Emotions do have the power to persuade, and if they are not rooted in true truth people can become suckers in the hands of master manipulators. To give you an example of this idea of emotions before thinking, I was talking to our worship pastor Jared about songs, and he said something really funny, "A lot of contemporary worship groups write 'Boyfriend Jesus' songs." That is all he said and it has really got me thinking. What is a "Boyfriend Jesus" song? After a few seconds it became obvious: They are songs that don't really ask you to think, or commit, or wonder, they just want you to feel...and often the feeling has a romantic flavor to it. It is not necessarily a warm fuzzy as much as it is a gushing heart of adolescent passion. And if the singers who are performing the songs have stunning good looks, all the better for creating the mindless vibe of "I love Jesus! Why, I don't know, I just love Jesus!" One song that comes to mind is a song that churches sang a lot in the late 90's called "Breathe." Here is the chorus: And I I'm desperate for you And I I'm lost without you And I I'm lost without you And I I'm desperate for you And I I'm lost without you I'm lost without you I'm lost without you Pretty deep stuff, isn't it? It sounds like Bella pulling on Edward as he leaves her to go fight the werewolves. Have you ever heard, "You Consume Me," by DC Talk back in the day? It is definitely a boyfriend song. I have also been a little weary of playing songs that use the cross for their own ends. Instead of causing people to pause and wonder at the great love and tragedy wrapped up on what the cross signifies; Christian artists and worship leaders will often use the cross as a spring-board to further their career and sell a product. Personally to me, this makes a mockery of Christ's spilled blood: "Hey, lets dance and party to Jesus dying on the cross?" For me, that is not consistent with the theology of the atonement. When I was a Youth Pastor I often told the students under my care that I would much rather listen to "Yellow Submarine" while we are having an "all-nighter" eating Doritos, than playing songs in the background of Jesus dying on the cross. Simplicity before complexity, emotions before doctrine, have the ability to stunt proper meditation, ignore real lament, and stop us from experiencing authentic gratitude. A QUESTION OF COMPREHENSION So then, do we only sing songs that have thick theology and give us a full sweep of biblical doctrine in one bite? I am not always for that either because I think there can be a point on Sunday morning when we reach comprehension saturation. Do you know what a saturation point is? Well, when a sponge has too much water, you can give it one drop of water on the top and out from the bottom will fall three drops because it is saturated. I think that happens often in church if you sing three or full songs in a row that are stuffed full of deep and heavy doctrine - - after awhile you get tired and give up thinking altogether. By a director's choice to teach heady stuff, sometimes they can actually cause people to become mindless and numb. So to keep stuffing us with more doctrine may just be counterproductive and nothing more than an illusion of thinking we are deep people...while our minds have checked out. Have you ever had a history or science teacher that used the "information dump" method in class? How much did you learn after they made you write down ten pages of notes for each class? Mental saturation happens quick. Have you ever read a wordy book and after one hour you only were able to comprehend a single paragraph - - mental saturation again. Sometimes this happens in church when you just sang 8 stanzas of high worded theology. For instance, look at the theology in this great new hymn "O Church Arise." As you read it ask yourself how many points of doctrine does this cover as you sing it? And honestly, how much of it do you actually retain as you sing it? O church, arise and put your armor on; Hear the call of Christ our captain; For now the weak can say that they are strong In the strength that God has given. With shield of faith and belt of truth We'll stand against the devil's lies; An army bold whose battle cry is "Love!" Reaching out to those in darkness. Our call to war, to love the captive soul, But to rage against the captor; And with the sword that makes the wounded whole We will fight with faith and valor. When faced with trials on ev'ry side, We know the outcome is secure, And Christ will have the prize for which He died-- An inheritance of nations. Come, see the cross where love and mercy meet, As the Son of God is stricken; Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet, For the Conqueror has risen! And as the stone is rolled away, And Christ emerges from the grave, This vict'ry march continues till the day Ev'ry eye and heart shall see Him. So Spirit, come, put strength in ev'ry stride, Give grace for ev'ry hurdle, That we may run with faith to win the prize Of a servant good and faithful. As saints of old still line the way, Retelling triumphs of His grace, We hear their calls and hunger for the day When, with Christ, we stand in glory. It is a great song, I love it, I really do. Now are you ready to sing another song about a royal diadem, a bulwark never failing or how about God being immortal, invisible, and only wise? You need to catch your breath and soothe your mind with a good simple song like "Mighty to Save!" or "How Marvelous!" Something simple and expressive helps digest the intricacies of the previous. Even more than that, isn't it O.K. to just emote after you have thought about deep and wonderful truths that are causing your heart to explode? And isn't crying also an expression of deep gratitude and wonder? We shouldn't be afraid of emotions, God gave them to us. So where do you stand, and what does music mean to you? This can be dangerous to ask because people often demand what they want after they think about it. My hope with this post is to get all of us to think about this more so we will be biblical and human at the same time as we approach music on Sunday morning. *Note: this post is dedicated to CK - thanks for the great talk yesterday!!!
2 Comments
Josh
3/25/2015 01:02:06 pm
Hi. I lead songs with emotion. I like it. :-) Sometimes, I even get excited and smile.
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chris
3/26/2015 04:09:54 am
i like it when you go Jim Croche style best!!
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