Please listen to the music player on the right hand column or search through the resources and links.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

The value of hymns and what they teach the Christian.

One of the many benefits of children growing up with a hymnal and singing from it, is that it allows to continue Christian education. In addition to reading from Gods word, doctrine-filled hymns instill biblical truth in a way that makes it easier to remember.  Words are always easier to remember when set to music, and if those words are biblical doctrines and scripture, a lot of the bible could be memorized.  Bible truth forms the Christian's world view, thoughts, and actions.  Bible truth that is set to music----- God-honoring music---- forms a good portion of the life of the Christian.

Creating a Visible Identity

From our modern vantage point, some see hymnals as outdated accessories of a worship service, but the doctrine filled hymns of the faith serve a larger purpose. These hymns are a great way for congregants to apply a sermon, a way for families to instruct their children, the start to appreciating great poetry, and the way that individuals become the worshiping people of God.  Hymns help to bind the people of God together and hymns in worship nurture a biblical unity in truth.  Author Christopher N. Phillips in his book "The hymnal: A reading history" traces the history of this sacred genre and its use in three sacred spaces: the church, school, and home.   It is not simply the content of hymns sung, read, or memorized that informs our thinking and spiritual appetites, but the hymn-tunes themselves—and even how they’re read and sung,—shape us. To put it quite simply, we are formed, not only by what we read but by how we read, sing, and regard what we read and what we hear.  We must consider what Christianity has lost by neglecting the timeless and doctrine filled hymns, and the music of that sacred genre.  But what is our experience of worship? Are we being formed into the family of God with the Bible on our phones and words on the screen in most evangelical churches, are we being molded into the church by the feelings and emotionalism created by worship teams singing the Christian top 40?  Perhaps it's that way because it is too easy to be a group of loosely networked individuals, where devotional practices and worship are experienced in such an individualized manner, isn't that what the Bible says is taboo?  The Bible says to walk by FAITH.  Basing the filling of Holy Spirit, or an act of obedience on feelings, isn't very wise.  Abraham's flesh did not FEEL like obeying the Lord's commandment to sacrifice Isaac.

The Furniture of Worshipping Christians

Hymnbooks were so well-worn prior to 1820 that many haven’t survived—they were touched, held close, and their covers, spines, and bindings show what Phillips, quoting another scholar, calls “hand piety.” The hand piety we exhibit most often today manifests in sore pinkies from holding our phones and hunched backs from staring at screens. It might seem easy to harken back to a “golden age” of hymnals or pews only on special occasion, but instead, believers today should begin to consider the larger questions about how the truths found in hymns inform us. After all, there is form and content, both in the music and in the lyrics that teaches a message when properly married to the other. 
I wonder if such a concept to have furniture, so to speak, to disciple Christians into worshipping Christians would be so welcomed into churches today?  Would the reciting of scripturally specific prayers, like the apostle Paul, or returning to doctrine-filled hymns, and responsive readings grow repetitive and monotone? Or would they create a texture and tapestry to faith that grew in resonance the more we returned to them? How would the weekly flipping of pages, with a “small brick of a book” (Phillips) nestled in one’s hand, inform my spiritual practices? Would faith become more solid and more assured with timeless, perhaps more scriptural, practices? These practices may have been the “furniture of worshipping Christians” a century or two ago, but perhaps today, what we have lost can once again become what can be gained by trading out our new furniture and "hand piety" for the old "hand piety" of ages past.

Monday, July 2, 2018

What worship music is not

As this blog's title states, this blog will be about worship music.  To be clear, the bible does not use "worship" and "music" interchangeably, or even in the same verse together.  Music is not worship and worship is not music, but that concept has been ignored so much that, it seems to be lost. This is mainly due to all the Christian bands that promote their music as necessary in worship and therefore convincing the Christian that worship does not take place without their music, or any music. The Bible, of course, mentions both worship and music, but never together in the same verse.  Why?  Well, worship and music are 2 different acts.  In today's church culture however, music has been made so prevalent in worship services, that it seems that some churches exalt music more than the preaching of God's word.  So, for those that see using music as their worship, let's look at 5 things that worship music is not.

It is not music theory

The purpose of our worship is nott to teach musicianship or make great music. Learning to sing parts, follow a melodic line and internalize rhythms are all skills that can enhance our worship. But those skills are a means to the end, not the end.  The theoretical study of the elements of music including sound, pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, time and notation can enrich our worship, but understanding those elements isn’t necessary for worship to occur. So worship service music that focuses on theory alone without moving to the application may be great music, but not worship.

It is not necessary

The sole emphasis on music as our only worship offering may have actually hindered our worship understanding and exacerbated our worship conflicts. Music and worship are not exclusively synonymous. One is mandatory, the other is not.  Music is an artistic expression given to us so that we might offer it as a gift to God. But it is not THE expression. So considering the examples of worship in the Bible or concentrating more on the Lord's table, or fellowship, or other practical ways to express worship could alleviate the pressure on music to serve as the primary driver of worship.

It is not a substitute

Biblical text must be the foundation from which our songs spring forth. Prayer is not just a song connector; it is a divine conversation that gives us a reason to sing in the first place. And two relationships we try to create with our singing are available at the Table: the vertical communion with Christ and the horizontal fellowship with each other.  So music is an addition to, not a substitute for these relationship moments.

It is not an inviter

He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light that we may declare His praises (1 Peter 2:9). If God is calling and we are declaring, then the invitation to show up is from Him not us. Our music can acknowledge His presence but it can’t generate it. It can respond to His presence but it can’t initiate it. It can celebrate His presence but it can’t create it.

It is not a starter or stopper

If our worship starts when we sing the first song and stops when we sing the last one, then what are we doing the rest of the week? Loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength and also loving our neighbors as we love ourselves means worship must be continuous. The Greek translation of John 4:24 strongly indicates that the Christian must continually worship in Spirit and in Truth.  Worship can not be contained in singing, a single location, context, culture, style, artistic expression or any vehicle of communication, so it doesn’t matter how good we think our worship is when we gather, it is incomplete until it continues when we scatter.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

More than a blog.

Did you know I have another blog and a facebook page for my book?

Please feel free to check out my bible study blog, and follow my book's facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/PleasingDeceiving/

www.ablogblessing.blogspot.com