Why I Can't Stop Singing in Church - Part 1

Why I Can't Stop Singing in Church - Part 1

I love the sitcom, “Everybody Loves Raymond.” In one of my favorite episodes there is a conversation about which brother, Raymond or Robert, moved their father’s records by the hot water heater which resulted in the records melting. It was believed that Raymond did it but Robert kept the secret for several decades that he was the one who actually moved the records.

The episode continues with both Robert and Raymond trying to replace the records. Raymond gets Frank a new CD player and CD’s of his favorites. When Raymond plays them for his dad, they are summarily rejected. Robert, however, walks in and hands dad records that were collected from garage sales and antique stores. Frank falls in love with the “high quality” of the music and smells them saying, “Ahh! American vinyl!”

The backstory of the episode is that Frank not only fell in love with the music but the senses tied to the music. He could not smell the CD like he could the vinyl. He could not hear the crackling sound of the needle against the record when the CD was played. Listening to his favorite Jazz music was a wholistic experience.

Conversations surrounding worship in the 21st Century Evangelical Church in America can get heated. We would do well to recognize that we are tempted to place into the conversation regarding music that which goes deeper than our conscious mind is fully able to comprehend. When we speak of our preference of the past we often do so with unspoken thoughts of sitting on our grandparents lap, the smell of the pew, the flannel board and hymn book with our family name on the inside cover. 

As we begin, let’s take a moment to embrace the realities that those of us who have been a part of the Evangelical Church since our childhood have a lot of great memories in our past. It is good to celebrate the past and to thank God for the emotional tranquility that comes with those wonderful memories. However, we live in a rapidly changing world and modes of worship are changing with it.

Recently those who have a disdain for what is happening in the evolution of church music have monopolized the conversation regarding the issue. From the popular and often quoted blog by Bill Blankschaen titled, “Why I’ve stopped singing in your church” to “Why would anyone sing in church these days” by Jonathan Aigner, we have heard people bemoan modern music.

Critiques often follow similar patterns such as

• Our ability to make music has been diminished.
• We don’t use printed sheet music so we can’t have harmony.
• We crane our necks to look up at the screen.
• It is too dark, loud, etc.
• It is too repetitive.
• It is theologically weak.
• Current worship music doesn’t teach music.
• We have given up our rich history of music dating back centuries.
• We have lost our beautiful and rich instruments
• We do music that isn’t meant to be sung by large groups
• Bands create tentative, muted congregations

It is not uncommon for the author of any particular blog to then quote a song or two that is repetitive, theologically weak, makes for bad congregational singing and uses one particular instrument to the neglect of others. If we are really “lucky” it may include a photo of a disengaged person in a worship service where the lights are low and colored lights abound in a hazy environment to drive the point home.

Let me say that I have seen examples of everything on the list above. Recognizing that some of the things on the list are subjective, such as volume, I have experienced all of them. I have said, “Is this song ever going to end?” I have said, “Is this song even about Jesus?” I have said, “This sounds more like a song to perform than a song for a congregation.” However, that has never caused me to draw conclusions about the morality of an instrument, light level, approach to music, the need for paper or to question the heart of a particular worship leader. I have never found myself concerned about the theology for the majority of the music we are singing in my congregation today. An individual song may not be particularly theologically strong but we don’t use songs that are theologically wrong.

Tomorrow I am going to share Part 2 of the discussion surrounding Worship Music as we consider the Biblical framework in light of the current discussions about music.