Music and Church

Apparently the role of music and church was somewhat problematic from day one. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14, says,

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing [praise] with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

From this and the surrounding context we can deduce that some people were using some kind of unintelligible ecstatic utterance in their meetings, both while praying and singing. Paul says that this is fine in private, between a person and God, but in the gatherings of believers it is not helpful.

I find it interesting that Paul is one of the few people in the New Testament who mentions singing at all. In the Gospels, the accounts of Jesus indicate only one time where he sang — after the Last Supper. James mentions singing: “If anyone is cheerful, let him sing [praise].”

Revelation mentions singing a few times, and Romans and Hebrews quote Old Testament references to singing, but apart from James and 1 Corinthians 14 there are really only two prescriptive passages regarding singing in the New Testament, both by Paul:

• Ephesians 5:19: …addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart….
• Colossians 3:16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Here we notice something interesting and counter-cultural about Christian singing: it is word-oriented.

This confronts us with the question: What does singing and music do?

The answer is that it touches the emotions. Music seems to somehow directly access the emotions without necessarily engaging the mind.

Here we see how Paul’s instructions about singing become relevant. Because as Christians we want to be engaged with God at every level. The Biblle says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” As we sort out what that means we notice that it must at least mean both emotions and mind. So singing plays an interesting role because it facilitates connecting with God emotionally.

However, Paul emphasizes that emotional involvement alone is not edifying. There must be a connection with the word and with the mind. For Christians, singing and music can serve to connect our minds and our emotions.

For most of us, perhaps all of us at one time or another, our emotions and our mind are either at war or exist in an uneasy truce. Our emotions pull us one way and our mind pulls us somewhere else. Our wills are kind of trapped in the middle, perhaps swayed more by one than the other, perhaps switching loyalties like a Ferengi trader scenting profit.

Through singing and music, our minds and our emotions can be reconciled. This is clearly Paul’s view of things. He emphasizes that we must respond with our minds as well as our spirits (with regard to ecstatic experience). Heart and mind are aligned and brought into focus. As we sing, we speak the word of Christ to one another, and we make melody in our hearts with thanksgiving to God.

Given the above, how should we approach singing?

For those of us who sing, the following seems appropriate:

• Pay attention to the words. Think about them. Allow your mind to join in as you sing.
• Sing to one another. There is a kind of over-spiritualized view that we are supposed to sing to God. But clearly that’s not Paul’s view. We sing to one another because shared singing is a joyful bonding experience. We connect with one another as we sing, and we encourage one another.
• Be open. Understand that your preference for certain styles of music is emotional. Music is unfortunately quite divisive in Christianity because people expect a certain emotional experience and are not receptive to something different. But we have all had the experience of coming to like new songs that at at first weren’t that appealing to us. Allow this to happen with other styles of music as you sing with your fellow believers. It’s OK and inevitable to have preferences, but if those preferences wall us off from the treasures of other kinds of music — and from one another — then our preferences are our own enemies.

For those who lead music:

• First, take seriously the responsibility of putting words in other people’s mouths. You, even more than the rest, must think about the meanings of the words of the songs you play. If you don’t do this you should not be up there. It doesn’t matter how good a song sounds. If it is un-biblical or anti-biblical (yes, we sing songs that are anti-biblical from time to time) then they should be avoided.

• Remember that there is a proclamation element to our singing. If we are “speaking to one another” in our singing, the songs must facilitate that. Thus there’s a tendency to tell people to “turn this song into a prayer.” All well and good — sometimes. But remember that one of the targets of our singing is one another, and for that we must proclaim as well as pray.

  From time to time we should choose songs that simply give the word about God. For example, the song “A Mighty Fortress” is all about proclamation and encouraging one another, even exhorting one another: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also” etc. Regardless, keep the focus on Christ and not on our own experience. Be careful of songs that are all about how I respond to God and not about God.

• Remember that as a leader you are a facilitator. You are helping others to sing as the body of Christ. If the music is too loud, or there is so much instrumentation that the words get lost, or the song is too hard, you are not serving the function of facilitation. Being able to hear the person next to you sing actually matters! It’s important!

  There is nothing wrong with concerts, or what we call “special music.” They can build up believers. But understand that these aren’t the same thing as singing.

• Ultimately remember it’s about building up the body. As Paul says, “Let all things be done for building up.” Yes, this might seem to go against the grain of “singing for God,” but if its what He wants, isn’t He more pleased when we do it?