"What on earth are you talking about?" I hear you cry. Simply, I think we remember what we pray and sing - much more than we remember sermons or Bible Studies. This emphasizes the importance of what we put in our songs. If it's shallow, that will begin to influence the depth of our theology. So you can understand how I feel about a repertoire that never addresses some issues; those issues fall away from our residual theology, so that we don't know good doctrine in those areas.
we remember what we pray and singNot only that, but the musical landscape we use doesn't have the variety or range to portray the majesty, glory and holiness of God, either.
Love songs to Jesus are fine in their place. Trouble is, we don't need a diet of love songs - we need a fully rounded expression of who God is and what God has done, and the musical vocabulary of today's church can't cut it. The best comparison might be with the musical vocabulary of the cinema. Can you think of any limits on the pallet used in film music?
Can you think of any limits on the pallet used in film music?Any producer or composer limiting his musical expression to the forces we use in church would rapidly fade into obscurity. Of course, we tend to limit our music to whatever can be played 'live' in our churches, and for some congregations that resource is very limited. But I still don't think we should let that parameter limit our imagination - my theory is that it actually limits our theology. We need to have our mind's eye opened, not constrained; and the uses of music in society are so much wider and more effective than what we do in church, it's obvious that we need to think outside the box.
To be clear - I think we need some songs with deeper meanings (as well as some that are light, or just fun) - and I also think we need to broaden the range of sounds and musical forms because the 'art-vocabulary' surrounding our conversation with God is a reflection of how we think about Him.
You have something there. There's something about the whole collection of patterns we follow in the regular expression of our Christianity that begins to box God in. Laziness contributes I think - and lack of current relationship with God - necessary to allow the rituals and routines to substitute for the reality.
ReplyDeleteTwo junctions in life have confirmed this for me:
1. Going to Canada for a 3 month secondment. This entailed leaving behind all of the church activity/ministry/leadership/involvement etc. and therefore getting to find out just how much real relationship with God was left after the 'stuff' was stripped away.
2. Current (facilitated) withdrawal from leadership service at CFC Kesgrave. Again, once the spectacles are removed and we look through a different lens we find that we may have inadvertently (and perhaps lazily) limited out thinking about God to the characteristics of the church we're worshipping in at the time.
So?
Well maybe two things... First, you're right - we should seek for wider, bigger expressions to help stimulate the expansion of our mental picture of who God is. Second, we should remain open and attentive to what others are doing and what we can learn from the differences. Third (so it was three afterall) maybe if we are in strong relationship with God, constantly hearing from Him, part of the let go & be caught way of life with Him, thngs get reversed: Our theology grows and out of that comes the new artistic extensions. 'Course, that can be a vulnerable and risky place to exist!
p.