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"If
you saw a burning bush, would you a) call 911, b)
get the hot dogs, or c) recognize God? A
vanishingly small number of people would recognize
God."
(Mary
Doria Russell, The
Sparrow)
Sing It Again
Music
is often a battleground in the church.
The
tensions between traditional and contemporary
music continue in many congregations. Some folk
facetiously call the music department
"the devil's playground." Traditionalists
often dislike the "inane repetition," the "shallow
lyrics," and the "secular beat" of contemporary
music. Contemporalists find much hymnology tedious
and
irrelevant.
Feelings
rise high and conflict
develops.
But
often the clash is not really about preferred
musical styles, though we may try to reduce it to
such. A deeper issue may underlie our differences,
whether we have identified it or not. What
motivates many of us, and makes us almost
incorrigible, is our view of the purpose
of
music.
Some
folk see music as simply a teaching tool. They
study the words for theological content and
accuracy. Music is about message. Lyrical
substance is everything. This attitude views music
as the packaging, not as the gift
itself.
Such
analytical approaches to art and music are rarely
satisfied. It begs the question, "Why sing at
all?" We might more easily (and with much less
conflict) speak rather than sing. Congregational
responses rather than congregational singing would
be simpler and
safer.
But
music is not primarily about message. As
Eugene Peterson notes: "Song is heightened speech
[not in the sense of more words or louder words,
but heightened in function]. Song does not
explain, it expresses. Song is more than words ...
and is one of the two ways (silence is the other,
ironically) of giving witness to the
transcendent."
This
special gift we call music is not merely another
way to speak, but a transcendent gift to
experience; not just a means to communicate, but a
way to
connect.
The
medium of music is more about mystery than
message. Its essence is not to teach the
head but to touch the heart. And where the spoken
word instructs, the sung word transports and
elevates. Such is this divine gift. And it has
always functioned this
way.
Perhaps
musical preferences are less central than
musical ideologies . We might find more
common ground if we realized that music plays a
vastly different role from preaching and teaching,
as it lifts us into the presence of God in ways
that the spoken word cannot ... ways that He has
ordained.
Sing
it
again!
In HOPE
-
David
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