Music in the Church: How Special Should We Make It?

Jim Eliff with an interesting post on music in the church. His conclusion:

All I’m really saying is that, like a child in the park, we have run off in all directions related to music without consulting our Father for His wishes. For 60 years my uncle faithfully and lovingly brought his sister chocolate-covered cherries for Christmas. Only in her late 80s did she tell me privately that she never liked chocolate-covered cherries. He had never consulted her, but assumed his taste was hers. What if we like what we do for God, but God doesn’t like it at all? When our practice, as sincere as it might be, almost totally disregards the body-life design of God for the church spelled out for us in great detail in the New Testament, we surely are working against His intentions. Even if arriving at His view of the church means that we make major structural changes, would it not be right to do so?

The main lesson, summarized, is that early New Testament believers purposefully abandoned choreographed, professional and elaborate musical presentations to the shadowlands of the temple age, and moved forward into the simpler, more fluid and flexible, leadership of the Spirit. Although I’m not sure exactly how all of this is accomplished, I would rather be attempting to go His direction than assuming I know better than God what He likes. With careful attention to the body language of the New Testament, and authentic trust in God, surely we can take steps, gradually if necessary, to return to this glorious simplicity, beauty and balance.

Read the whole thing.


My take:

Church Leaders, use who you have.  Let them use their gifts to the best of their ability to best facilitate the passionate singing of God's people.  This will probably look different from church to church based on the diverse gifts God has given to differing musicians.  That is a good thing.  Musically speaking, just be who you are.  DON'T (and I repeat DON'T) try to be who you are not.  "Who you are" is based on who you have.  Thus, enable those who you have who are serious about music and seeking excellence as you define it.