I sat perched on the end of my bed, cassette player in hand. 90.5, WCRH was on the radio and I was waiting, oh so patiently, for my new favorite song to come on. Eventually I heard the first few familiar notes and immediately mashed down the “record” button of my little cassette player. As a girl this was a great way to rip songs right off the radio, saving me the $17 it would cost to purchase the CD with the same track. Yes, it might take hours for that specific song to come on, but my cassette player never failed me!
Over the past couple of decades, advances in
digital technology and streaming services have rendered the game of scanning
radio stations searching for favorite songs obsolete. We can largely listen to
whatever music we are in the mood for, whenever we want!
These days in my family we have a different
musical game we play called “Jukebox.” We take turns on car trips calling out
favorite songs to stream via our Spotify account. Selections range from Bruckner’s
8th Symphony to VBS songs to The Mandalorian theme song to Stevie
Wonder. We love Jukebox, because everybody gets a turn to hear what they love,
and nobody has to wait for the radio.
As a music and worship director, I’ve observed
people bent out of shape over the music of a worship service more than any
other element. I’ve watched people leave church communities because they didn’t
like the music anymore, or “church shop” until they find a church with music
they did like. I’ve been privy to countless tidbits of “feedback” that often
boil down to personal preference. “Too old! Too new! Too loud! Too soft! Too
simple! Too complicated! Too many instruments! Not enough instruments! More
cowbell!” Our culture increasingly values preference, choice, and individual
freedom. But consumer preference doesn’t work in a corporate worship context! I
think the church has too often forgotten the purpose and role of music in
corporate worship. What incredible things would happen if we could agree on
some principles here and live into them? The beauty of having Music as a
Worship Value at Perinton Presbyterian is that it provides us that very
opportunity.
Here is the definition of Music as a Worship
Value at PPC:
We
value Music that Resonates with Body and Soul with a universal
language, emotional engagement, and theological soundness.
Music
serves to worship our Lord through praise, joy, confession, lament, and
thankfulness. We value music from all ages and cultural
expressions. Music is a form of worship that serves in a unique way with hearts, voices, and musical instruments,
enabling us to praise the Lord as a rejoicing body.
I’m about to make an honest confession here. Brace
yourselves. I was initially skeptical about music being one of our worship
values. And I’m the MUSIC DIRECTOR. But I think--Biblical value?
Absolutely! Sacramental? Yep! Intergenerational? All aboard. But…music? Why
music and not sculpture or basketball or bricklaying?
I think the key is in the verb: music
serves. Music serves in a unique way.
Constance Cherry, one of my favorite worship
theologians, is professor of Worship and Pastoral Ministry at Indiana Wesleyan
University. She writes in her book, The Music Architect,
“The role of music in worship is to facilitate
the proclamation and celebration of the story of God… Music cannot operate
independently from the ultimate purpose of worship, a purpose that it should support
in every way. It does not play a role until itself. In worship, music cannot be
employed for music’s sake. Music, therefore, is placed in service to
worship, not the other way around.”
When we view music as a unique, beautiful tool
to communicate God’s truths, to join our voices together to praise our Creator,
to confess and lament and give gratitude…it places it in a healthy context. Just
as an example, look at how music SERVES our other worship values:
Music serves Biblical Worship
·
We hear more of God’s word through
excellent worship music! And music is a wonderful memory tool!
o VBS
songs/armor of God, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, books of the Bible.
Music serves Sacramental Worship
·
Music brings emotional engagement to
the holy sacraments of Communion and Baptism. And if you think of some of the
other sacraments in other traditions—weddings and funerals—it’s almost impossible
to fathom these ceremonies without the universal language of music bringing us
together.
Music serves Intergeneration/Ability-Inclusive
Worship
·
Corporate worship through music is the
single time of the week when we lay aside our style and genre preferences to
sing with our family. And it fosters this gorgeous, amazing sense of community!
Look around you this morning—what can be more beautiful than seeing multiple generations
of the same family singing together in church?!
·
Music gives us unique ways to include
those with differing abilities. Remember Matthew Kulp up here just a few weeks
ago, sharing “Jesus Loves Me” with us singing? That was a powerful moment!
Music serves Responsive Worship
· We
do this ALL THE TIME. Gloria Patri, Doxology, Go Out and Serve Him, Sermon
response. God initiates and we cannot help but respond in song!
· You
should know that your pastors and music director are extremely intentional when
we select songs each week to ensure they respond to what we have heard from
God. Sometimes this comes at the cost of familiarity, but it’s because we
believe strongly in the alignment of song serving scripture.
So, to sum up this first point. Do we want old
or new? No, we want Biblical! Do we want loud or soft music? No, we want
sacramental. Do we want simple or complicated music? We want intergenerational and
ability-inclusive. Do we want lots or few instruments? No, we want responsive. In
our worship, consumer preference is laid aside for music that serves.
The second key principle I want to lean into
this morning is that music is a corporate undertaking. Music is corporate.
It is for all of us.
Some of you LOVE music and you LOVE to sing—in
your car, in the shower, into your hairbrush. And some of you go the entire
week without singing a single note—and the thought of doing so on Sunday
morning around a whole lot of other people is pretty terrifying. That’s OK! You
are perfectly fine and normal to feel that way! But, know this--corporate music
is not just for people who like singing, or for me, or for Ivanka, or for our
choir. In fact, the role of the church choir is to model and encourage the rest
of the congregation to join in the song! Did you know that? It really is! We
practice and pray every week that the Lord would use our voices to lead the
week’s music clearly and effectively.
This morning’s scripture passages highlight
the call to corporate singing across the entire Biblical record.
Psalm 100
1 Shout
for joy to the Lord, all
the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with
gladness;
come
before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It
is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we
are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his
faithfulness continues through all generations.
This
is a corporate psalm. The psalmist is exhorting a GROUP, an intergenerational
group I might add, to come before the Lord with joyful songs!
Ephesians 5:19-20
19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from
the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
It’s hard to sing to
one another when you are by yourself, or if you “don’t sing.”
Revelation 5:9-12
9 And they
sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to
take the scroll
and
to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and
with your blood you purchased for God
persons
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom
and priests to serve our God,
and
they will reign[a] on
the earth.”
11 Then
I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon
thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They
encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In
a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the
Lamb, who was slain,
to
receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and
honor and glory and praise!”
We see in the Psalms, in Ephesians, in
Revelation—throughout the entire arc of scripture, groups of people compelled
to sing God’s grand story for creation. And if you think that 100 million angels
in Revelation all knew how to carry a tune or keep a steady beat…doubtful! And
yet, this is our model for magnificent corporate worship!
Now, I want to be clear here—you do not have
to be in the choir to participate in corporate worship. Lest you think this
entire sermon is a big advertisement to “join choir”—it is not. What I want to
challenge each of us on is to examine our current relationship with corporate
music—are we all contributing in healthy ways from wherever we are in this sanctuary?
Consider, if you will, my husband. Just this
summer we were gifted some amazing Red Wings baseball game tickets from Bill
and Jill Hammond. We experienced a lovely evening at the ballpark together. We
held hands. He put his arm around my shoulder. We watched the game, breathed in
the fresh air, shared some great food, and enjoyed a child-free evening out on
the town. We were spectators consuming a very pleasant experience.
Now, consider, if you will, my same
husband…but this time, consider him at a Buffalo Bills home game. In December. Against
the Patriots. There is no food-savoring, there is no fresh air, there is no
hand holding, there is no casual “watching.” No! There is nail biting and
breath holding, there is hollering, there are high fives and chest bumps. There
is no casual spectating. But, let me tell you, when Roy’s yelling and urging
joins 72,000 other rabid, screaming fans, and when they draw the Patriots
offside with all that crowd noise, to them it’s ALL WORTH IT. They might not
have been on the field making the tackles, but they didn’t just watch either.
They participated, they contributed, and they made a difference.
My hope for Perinton Presbyterian is that
those of us who are “already in the game”—who sing in the choir or play
handbells or participate in other musical ways—would continually and
intentionally strive for the Spirit’s guidance and servants’ hearts in our
ministry. And I also hope that those of us who may be pleasantly observing a
nice experience on Sunday mornings will be willing and ready to get in the
game. Let’s sing like it’s third and long!
Soli deo gloria.
