Music

I love music. I love playing it. Listening to soft melodies come alive by piano key strokes. I love listening to all sorts of music.

But I also have a side of me that is nervous about the power music has over us. A few friends and I at Houghton dived into this conversation on a consistent basis - should lyrical phrases or musical progressions be used to get reactions out of people? That conversation has been playing in my mind with avengence while I have been in Texas. Some of the phrases in songs that I have been learning have rubbed me the wrong way theologically. Others have just been unbiblical. But people don't realize what they are singing because the melody has erased their attention to words.

I have also been struggling with the use of CDs in church. I understand the purpose, but the choir at the church I'm attending cranks up the CD volume and then tries to sing over it. Each of them has a beautiful voice, but you would never be able to tell. When will be confident enough to sing acapella again? Confident to rely solely on our own voices so we can reflect on the words.

And may we remember the rules of singing set out by the Wesley's:

1. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.

2. Sing lustily, and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of it being heard, then when you sing the songs of Satan.

3. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, as to be heard above, or distinct from, the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

4. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before, not stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can. And take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

5. Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve of here, and reward when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.