<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d23471396\x26blogName\x3dSome+Pages+Turned\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dTAN\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://leard.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://leard.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-6106880572367722318', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

I Love Lucy

Thursday, September 13, 2007
I have a new puppy! Everyone please meet Lucy Bleard.

Labor Day 2007 028

She is a CKC pug. I got her from a breeder who lived down the street from my parents in Garland, TX. She brings me lots of joy even though I no longer can ever sleep in. I'm sort of obsessed with her pooping schedule too. It's like a game. So far she is winning.

Labor Day 2007 025

Blue eyes

Labels: ,

Thoughts on Worship

Tuesday, September 04, 2007
I wrote this a couple of weeks ago. It's not meant to be comprehensive, but just some things I was thinking about.

------

A friend from college and I used to fight about worship music. We would basically agree that content was mostly non-negotiable. Content always matters. Content is cross-cultural, because the content has to do with actual truths of the gospel. It has to do with your theology and who you are saying God is and what you are praising Him for.
Style is another matter. How do we think about the style of music used for worship? What is appropriate? What is better? Is there a better? (Aside: I wonder what the psalms sounded like when sung in their cultural context. What did the music sound like?) My friend would always argue the point that it would be ridiculous to say that Western music styles are necessarily the best style for any music. There seemed something wrong about taking A Mighty Fortress is Our God as written and sung by Luther and telling a tribe in Africa or a rural town in Peru that this was the way they ought to worship at church. Once she said this, I didn't know what to say. I didn't think she was wrong. But somehow I don't think the point she is making means that we can sing whatever way we want when we worship (whoa lots of w's). If anything, she is essentially establishing the idea that there necessarily ARE categories for what should and should not be sung in worship. So here is what Annie and I (mostly Annie) came up with last night.

The style of worship music should be two things: appropriate and excellent.
Appropriateness is measured within the context of a given culture. It isn't appropriate in American culture to take the words to a psalm and put it to the music of Britney Spears, 50 Cent, or Linkin Park. This is because that style of music in our culture is not categorized as worshipful music. When I hear that style of music I am being entertained. I would say the same for tango music or something in Argentina or yodeling in Swiss music; neither of these are worshipful styles of music according to their respective cultures.
I want to read more of his book, but I was scanning Michael Horton's, A Better Way. In it, he talks about how all our worship should be weighty with the glory of God. God takes worship seriously, so we should also. So I would say worshipful music style would be music that is weighty with God's glory. So how does this play out? One way it plays out would be that our worship music should be always heading towards excellence.
Excellence in music is not the same thing as one's taste in music. I can like country music and you can like rock. Usually we are talking about what we enjoy being entertained by. But just like in art or literature, there is an objective standard of excellence. One way God's glory can be manifested, represented, or reflected in our worship music would be by picking music that is excellent.
There is a limit to excellence though. Annie brought up the important point that if the expense of excellency in corporate singing is a melody that is too difficult for the congregation to participate in, that music is inappropriate for corporate worship. The same would be said of an oversimplified style of music. This could also apply to content. Singing a song that has only one verse and one chorus repeated over and over again is too easy for most adult congregations, and will not lead them into further worship, but instead let their minds wander as they mindlessly chant. And a song with complex, intricate phrases and melodies will distract meditation and engagement with the praise they are rendering to God because the congregation is struggling to sing the correct notes. Often, this happens with me when I try to sing a harmony line to a hymn; I get caught up in making up in my head the harmony to the melody and pay no attention to the words I am singing. However, you can train a congregation to sing more difficult music over time. Example: Christ the King has a hymn of the month.

"One problem that we need to take more seriously is the extent to which style not only reflects but actually shapes content." -Horton

------

What do you think?

Labels: ,


About me







I'm Brittany Smith
From Mesquite, TX
Christian
Runner
Coke-a-Cola Lover
Puerto Rico Player
Bride-elect 8.2.08
Covenant Seminary
Former RUF Intern
University of Texas Alumna
bleard@gmail.org
Brittany Leard's Facebook profile

Archives

Previous Posts

Links

Powered By

Powered by Blogger
make money online blogger templates