"In a world where every dissertation is supposed to unearth a new discovery and in a church culture where sparkling new insights and dubious parallels always jazz the crowd, it's good to remember that simpler is usually better."Read his post to see his support for this claim.
When I was in Nashville working in the music industry, the common phrase that was tossed around in the studio was, "Less is more". Musicians that are very talented often have a tendency to "overplay". They have a lot to say, musically speaking, and oftentimes want to say it all at once. This usually is not conducive to the song being a great sounding song. Having a simple part to play in the song often causes the other parts to shine brighter and serves the song better.
Thought often true, the phrase, "simpler is usually better", certainly needs to be qualified. Simple can be profound or simple can be just lazy. Simple can cause people to be roused by the truth or it can cause them to "check out" since they have heard it a thousand times before.
Usually the glory of simplicity is that it is also deeply profound. The Gospel is example #1 for this. Simple enough to be understood by my 7 year old and complex enough to contain implications worth pondering for a thousand lifetimes.
2 comments:
Thanks for the timely reminder. I'm preparing to share for my first time at an event for women. God has shown me so much about who Moses' longing to know God and asking to see His glory; there are so many things I want to share, just like the young musicians. I need to step back and simplify what I will share that night...so God's voice doesn't get drowned out by the noise.
I remember hearing Nate Nockles talking about getting the most out of your worship band. He told the story of one piano player he had who had toured with huge names like Billy Joel and could blow the roof off the church. This talented musician was asked to play keys, and Nate essentially told him to hold 1 or 2 notes down for the whole song, and he said "OK. No problem." He wasn't offended because he understood that such a simple part was what best served the whole.
I try to remember that every Sunday when I am leading the congregation in worship.
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