Recently,
I read the following words regarding worship music in the church. My responses are meant to be tongue-in-cheek,
and some are not, so don’t take what I say too seriously, well some of it
anyways:
There are several reasons for opposing
it [this new music in churches]:
- ·One, it’s too new.
- ·Two, it’s often worldly, even blasphemous.
- ·The new Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style.
- ·Because there are so many songs, you can’t learn them all.
- ·It puts too much emphasis on instrumental music rather than Godly lyrics.
- ·This new music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly.
- ·The preceding generation got along without it.
- ·It’s a money making scene and some of these new music upstarts are lewd and loose.
These are neither new arguments nor are they shocking (to me
anyways). I’ve been actively playing
worship music a long time (close to 20 years now), and I feel like I’ve heard
every argument there is, whether for it or against it. The above list seems to pretty much sums up
the vast majority of what I’ve heard, so as opposed to trying to tackle these
comments as a whole, I’ll attempt to answer each one as a separate issue all
the while trying my best of avoid the ever-present semantics found when discussing
anything theological. Here we go:
One, it’s
too new.
I
guess my response to this would be in the form of a question: How old does it
need to be in order to be appropriate for a church? Mylon Lefevre wrote “Without Him” in 1963 and
has been featured in a wide variety of Baptist hymnals since then (Oh and by
the way, it was recorded by Elvis Presley).
Is this too new? How old does a
song have to be in order to be ok to sing?
50 years old? How about 100?
To
be totally honest, I’m pretty sure the author of this concern probably meant
“One, it’s too new…for me.” One can only
assume.
Two, it’s
often worldly, even blasphemous.
I’m
not sure I know what this means. Is this
speaking in terms of volume and/or instrumentation? There is plenty of scripture which speaks of
loud cymbals, playing with stringed instruments, etc. Read the Psalms. I don’t know what “worldly” means in terms of
musical styles. Maybe I’ve been doing
this too long.
The new
Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style.
If
this question was directed at modern worship instrumentation vs. piano/organ
instrumentation, I have to ask, do most people listen to music that solely
played on piano and organ? You may. I don’t.
Because
there are so many songs, you can’t learn them all.
Charles
Wesley single handedly wrote close to 9,000 hymns (8,989 according to http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1991/issue31/3100.html. To respond to the concern, in terms of
learning worship music, don’t feel pressured that you have to learn them all;
it’s probably impossible to do so. With
respect to hymns, I never bothered learning all of them, including “God of
Earth and Outer Space.” I’m ok with
that.
It puts too
much emphasis on instrumental music rather than Godly lyrics.
Instrumental
music? The only way I can relate this to
modern worship music is occasionally there is a guitar solo (but it’s more of a
guitar “break” as opposed to real “solo”); however, I fail to see where there
is an emphasis on the “instrumental” aspect of the question.
This new
music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly.
I
guess the author would have to go more into what is meant by “indecently and
disorderly.” If the author is against
the raising of hands, clapping, etc., then we will just have to agree to
disagree there.
The
preceding generation got along without it.
True. Preceding generations also got along without
electricity, the automobile, and Google.
It’s a money
making scene and some of these new music upstarts are lewd and loose.
This
is where I have to put on the brakes a little bit, and to tell the truth, I’m
not sure how much to share my own thoughts here because I am more of a realist than
an optimist at my core. With that said,
worship music is the only genre in which major Christian labels are making any
significant amount of money right now; therefore, modern worship music is
getting a lot of promotion and radio airplay.
Very few (if any) are “making it” right now purely writing
Christian-based music that’s NOT worship music.
Quick story: I was once in a band that opened for an independent band
(that shall go nameless) who was quickly signed to a major Christian label
shortly after we had the opportunity to play with them. Not only did they go on major tours, I’ve
heard they were the highest-grossing band on the label, but they were dropped
within a couple of years later because the label is in the middle of folding. I’m “friends” with this band on Facebook, and
one of their final posts was about how upon their disbanding, they have a
“significant amount of debt,” and they are trying to sell off their
equipment…including the mini-Winnebago and trailer they had to fund themselves
(no tour buses for this group even though they were a top seller for this
label). Things just aren’t the way they
used to be. Outside of worship music, if
I may be so blunt, the Christian music industry is dying. Here is an article that was put out in CCM
Magazine (which is no longer in print, by the way, if that tells you anything)
by Charlie Peacock about the state of affairs of Christian music (circa
2008). Although rather sad, this is
coming true.
If
you still don’t believe me, think back to the last time you heard about an
awesome Christian band coming through (whose emphasis was NOT worship music)
that was playing at a venue that WASN’T at least 1.5 hour drive away (this does
not include festivals). Can’t remember? Me neither.
Also, have you ever wondered why some of your favorite artists have
evolved to more of a praise and worship artist as opposed to songwriting? They probably aren’t doing this because this
is what they want to do; they are likely
doing this because this is what they have
to do in order to stay on the road.
(BTW,
all of these major Christian music labels of days gone by are actually owned by
one of the top 4 major companies: EMI,
Universal, Sony/BMG, and Warner Music Group.
For example, Forefront Records (think Audio Adrenaline, TobyMac, Rebecca
St. James, Big Tent Revival, etc.) is a subsidiary of EMI (same as Snoop Dogg,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garth Brooks, and a slew of others). Whenever you purchase any sort of Christian
music on a major label, you are supporting one of the top 4 companies which put
out (brace yourself) secular music! *Gasp!*)
I’ve
felt like I’ve had to say all of that to say this regarding the opening concern
which implies that modern worship is all just a money-making racket. The truth is, yes, labels and artists are
making a lot of money. I don’t think
that Chris Tomlin or Paul Baloche is worried about paying their power bill this
month, but you know, there’s nothing wrong with making a living (or even a good
living) doing what God wants you to do.
So,
is it a money-making scene? Yes. It’s a
business; that’s its purpose. However,
it is necessary because major labels have the knowledge and the skill to push
out modern worship music that, well, people actually want to listen to, use,
and enjoy. Even though it’s a business
model, God can (and does) still get the glory in all of it.
In
conclusion, when I first read this series of concerns regarding modern music, I
was neither surprised nor shocked. I’ve
had these conversations time and time again ad nauseum throughout my tenure as
a person who plays praise and worship.
HOWEVER…
This…
One, it’s too new.
Two, it’s often worldly, even blasphemous.
The new Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style.
Because there are so many songs, you can’t learn them all.
It puts too much emphasis on instrumental music rather than Godly lyrics.
This new music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly.
The preceding generation got along without it.
It’s a money making scene and some of these new music upstarts are lewd and loose.
Two, it’s often worldly, even blasphemous.
The new Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style.
Because there are so many songs, you can’t learn them all.
It puts too much emphasis on instrumental music rather than Godly lyrics.
This new music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly.
The preceding generation got along without it.
It’s a money making scene and some of these new music upstarts are lewd and loose.
…is
not about modern worship music in terms of what has come out since 2010. No, it’s not talking about worship music that
came out after the year 2000 either…or the 1990s, the 1980s, or even the
1970s. So when were these concerns
published?
These
concerns were actually published by a church leader attacking Isaac Watts,
writer of the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
In
1723.
Martin
Martin
