Doxology

In the emotionally charged society in which we live, it has become central to the church music lexicon to use language consistent with emotions.  Yours truly has also, in the past, been subject to those inclinations.  However, recently (in the past eight years) I’ve come to the conclusion that our language needs to change in this regard—moving primarily from speaking to emotions during singing to speaking of affections.  “What’s the big deal?” “Isn’t it just semantics?” you may ask.

Not at all.

I’ve struggled as how to express that change.  That’s why I’m so thankful to have come across this little article at Justin Taylor’s blog.  It says in a few hundred words what I would try to say in thousands.  Let this begin to alter the way you think about emotions and emotionalism.

As Gerald McDermott explains, Jonathan Edwards saw affections as “strong inclinations of the soul that are manifested in thinking, feeling and acting” (Seeing God: Jonathan Edwards and Spiritual Discernment, p. 31).

A common confusion is to equate “affections” with “emotions.” But there are several differences, as summarized in this chart from McDermott (p. 40):

He explains why affections are different than emotions:

Emotions (feelings) are often involved in affections, but the affections are not defined by emotional feeling. Some emotions are disconnected from our strongest inclinations.

For instance, a student who goes off to college for the first time may feel doubtful and fearful. She will probably miss her friends and family at home. A part of her may even try to convince her to go back home. But she will discount these fleeting emotions as simply that—feelings that are not produced by her basic conviction that now it is time to start a new chapter in life.

The affections are something like that girl’s basic conviction that she should go to college, despite fleeting emotions that would keep her at home. They are strong inclination that may at times conflict with more fleeting and superficial emotions. (pp. 32-33)

Here is how Sam Storms explains the difference in Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’ “Religious Affections:

Certainly there is what may rightly be called an emotional dimension to affections. Affections, after all, are sensible and intense longings or aversions of the will. Perhaps it would be best to say that whereas affections are not less than emotions, they are surely more.

Emotions can often be no more than physiologically heightened states of either euphoria or fear that are unrelated to what the mind perceives as true.

Affections, on the other hand, are always the fruit or effect of what the mind understands and knows. The will or inclination is moved either toward or away from something that is perceived by the mind.

An emotion or mere feeling, on the other hand, can rise or fall independently of and unrelated to anything in the mind.

One can experience an emotion or feeling without it properly being an affection, but one can rarely if ever experience an affection without it being emotional and involving intense feelings that awaken and move and stir the body. (p. 45)

I’m not saying that emotions are bad or evil.  I’m just saying that the scriptures may be dealing with a realm higher and deeper than emotions only.

Brother Music Minister, begin to re-think your view on emotions

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Too many times have I sensed in Music Ministers/Worship Leaders/Lead Worshipers/Psalmists/Song Directors….the mindset of someone who is out of balance on the casual side of things.  I’m not speaking of outward appearance, i.e. clothing, but of the heart.  Does the scripture tell us that in Christ we now have an intimacy with God?  Absolutely!  However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t treat our Father without respect (forgive the double-negative).

In Spurgeon’s book “Lectures To My Students”, he has a worthy thought in this regard that, even though he is speaking primarily to public prayer, would apply to leading corporate singing:

Jacob wrestling

It is delightful to hear a man wrestle with God, and say, ‘I will not let thee go except thou bless me,’ but that must be said softly, and not in a hectoring spirit, as though we could command and exact blessings from the Lord of all.  Remember, it is still a man wrestling, even though permitted to wrestle with the eternal I AM.  Jacob halted on his thigh after that night’s holy conflict, to let him see that God is terrible, and that his prevailing power did not lie in himself.  We are taught to say, ‘Our Father,’ but still it is, ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’

Familiarity there may be, but holy familiarity; boldness, but the boldness which springs from grace and its work of the Spirit; not the boldness of the rebel who carries a brazen front in the presence of his offended king, but the boldness of the child who fears because he loves, and loves because he fears.  Never fall into a vainglorious style of impertinent address to God; he is not to be assailed as an antagonist, but entreated with as our Lord and God.  Humble and lowly let us be in spirit….

Brother Music Minister, effort to not give off the signal of being presumptuous or brazen before our Father when you stand before His People.

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The primary argument that hard-lined Regulative Principle folks use is that no where in the scriptures do we see instruments used in corporate worship.  They dismiss the Psalmists’ references to instruments (although numerous) as in a non-corporate context.  But what about this from 2 Chronicles 29?

²⁰ Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹ And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. ²³ Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them, ²⁴ and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸ The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹ When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. ³⁰ And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.  (Bold mine.)

King Hezekiah

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Not much time to write a blog entry as I’m at our Students Summer Camp this week.  Here’s an older article written by Bob Kauflin and I thought it worth your time:

Kevin sent in a question after attending two conferences. At one, the corporate worship times were about 90% congregational with a few special songs that everyone sat and listened to. At the other, the attendees only sang about 40% of the worship time. The rest was choirs, special numbers, and soloists. Here’s his question.

Is one “better” than the other? I lean quite heavily toward the participatory level; I want my people worshiping together, participating together, not simply watching (they can do that at home on TV or video). This topic has come up a few times within our Worship Ministry Team meetings and I’m quite interested in your input.

Here are some principles I’d think about in processing this question.

1. There are examples in Scripture of people listening to others singing God’s praise. The Levites at the temple were responsible for ministering to the Lord with sung and instrumental praise (1 Chron. 16:4). Singers, choirs, and instrumentalists were appointed to praise God while others listened (Neh. 12:46).
2. The purpose of gathering together is not simply to fulfill external actions like singing, but to see God’s glory in Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), to build one another up (1 Cor. 14:12), and to spur one another on to good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25).
3. Congregational singing seems to be the norm in Scripture, especially in the New Testament. We’re commanded numerous times in the Psalms to sing to the Lord. Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, the two passages that directly address singing in the New Testament, say we’re to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. In Revelation, all of creation joins in to worship God in song.
4. Col. 3 and Eph. 5 don’t specify that everyone has to sing at the same time. Singing to one another could mean taking turns, a solo or group singing to everyone else, or singing antiphonally.
5. We live in the American Idol, iPod, downloaded MP3 culture, where music is everywhere and its primary purpose is to keep us entertained.
6. Our own sinful hearts tend to like it when others notice us, think we have a great voice, or comment on how much they loved our contribution.
7. A large part of a how a song is perceived is the way it’s done. When I see a musician move erratically or excessively, I’m more aware of them. If instrumentalists never sing the words, I’m more aware of the music. But if musicians move naturally and seem engaged with the words, I tend to think about what they’re singing.

All that to say, in congregational settings I’d lean towards mostly congregational singing. We meet as God’s people to proclaim his praise, not only listen to it being proclaimed (Ps. 40:5).

But listening doesn’t mean that people aren’t participating. If we can worship God while listening to a message being preached, we can probably worship God while listening to a God-honoring songs being sung. Solos can be used effectively if they’re done humbly, presented wisely, and direct people’s hearts to savor Jesus Christ. We’re giving folks an opportunity to hear God’s word in song, so that they’ll be encouraged to worship him with their own songs and lives. We often project the lyrics to any special song that’s being sung. That’s one more way of directing people’s attention to the truths they’re hearing.

Another way we can help people in this area is to tell them what they should be doing while a song is being sung. Something as simple as, “Let this song you’re about to hear remind you of how merciful God has been to you.” We can also emphasize the right things when a song is over. It’s fine to say, “Let’s thank the choir for a great job and all the hard work they put in!” It’s better to say, “Let’s thank the choir for reminding us of how great a salvation God has given us in Jesus Christ!”

As leaders, we want to do everything we can to remind the church that every part of our meeting, whether we’re speaking, listening, singing, or playing, can be an act of worship to our glorious God, made acceptable through Jesus Christ.

As far as my input goes, I agree with Bob wholeheartedly.  In defense of doing specials, many times I have been the most moved and edified when listening to someone else sing rather than singing myself.  That may have something to do with the amount of singing that I do.  I can’t be for sure.  As I have said at this blog before, I also love the idea of using specials to teach future congregationals.  Most of the solos that are sung at GLC are ones that I hand-pick and assign to specific soloists to work to that end.  I also have our choirs and praise team teach future congregationals.

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This isn't spirituality

This quote by John Piper says it very well.  I’ve often said that a hyper-somber mood and carriage in congregational worship draws as much attention to the worshiper as does hyper-emotionalism.  Let us give evidence, in a manner worthy of the gospel, to the great joy and treasuring of Jesus when we congregate together.

Unbroken seriousness of a melodramatic or somber kind will inevitably communicate a sickness of soul to the great mass of people. This is partly because life as God created it is not like that.

There are, for example, little babies in the world who are not the least impressed with or in need of our passion and zeal and earnest looks. They are cooing and smiling and calling for their daddies to get down and play with them. The daddy who cannot do this will not understand the true seriousness of sin, because he is not capable of enjoying what God has preserved from its ravages. He is really a sick man and unfit to lead others to health. He is, in the end, earnest about being earnest, not earnest about being joyful.

The real battle in life is to be as happy in God as we can be, and that takes a very special kind of earnestness, since God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.

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Does he look like Robert Downy Jr?

“There is such a thing as a good church split” my pastor has said.  It’s a radical thought.  However, because we’ve almost only seen unbiblical church splits (over non-essentials) we tend to think immediately that all church splits are bad.  Not so says Paul (1 Cor. 11:18-19).  In the same way, we have only seen bad “worship wars” with congregations splitting over non-essentials as music styles, volume, etc.  But in this article by Russell Moore, he challenges us much in the same way as the Apostle in that we need to be fighting FOR each other rather than AGAINST each other.  Enjoy!

I have the worship music tastes of a seventy-five year-old woman.

There I admitted it. That’s because a seventy-five year-old woman was picking out the hymns and gospel songs in the church where I grew up. My iPod playlist is really eclectic—ranging from George Jones to Andrew Peterson to Taio Cruz. But, when it comes to worship, nothing gets to me like Fanny Crosby. And, if “Just As I Am” is played, I’m going to want to cry, and probably walk the nearest aisle (even if it’s on an airplane).

I’m left cold by what people call the “majestic old hymns.” I tried to like them, to fit in with the theological tribe into which I was adopted, but I just can’t do it. They sound like what watercress-sandwich-eating Episcopalians from Connecticut might sing (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

And, though I like a lot of contemporary music, much of it sounds to me like many of these songs were written by underemployed commercial jingle writers, trying to find words to rhyme with “Jesus” (”Sees us?” “Never leave us?” “Diseases?”).

But the more I reflect on what I like, and why, the more I’m convinced that my preferences are almost entirely cultural and nostalgic.

I’m not saying aesthetics don’t matter in worship. The Spirit equips God’s people to sing and to play and to write music. So when music is not good this is often evidence of, at worst, disobedience, and at best, misappropriation of talents. And the Scripture commands us to worship in “reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28).

Worship is directed toward God, yes, but worship arises out of a specific community. The psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are teaching ( Col. 3:16). They build up the rest of the Body. That’s why we’ve got to care about what, and how, others hear when we are “addressing one another” (Eph. 5:17) musically.

What I am saying is that most of our varying critiques of musical forms are often just narcissism disguised as concern about theological and liturgical downgrade. That’s why I think we need more, and better, worship wars.

Thankfully, we don’t hear as much about “worship wars” these days, but I wonder if that’s because of growing maturity or if it’s simply because we’ve so segregated ourselves into services and congregations that reflect generational and ethnic and class-oriented musical commonalities. Maybe we need to reignite the wars, but in a Christian sort of way.

What if the war looked like this in your congregation? What if the young singles complained that the drums are too loud, that they’re distracting the senior adults? What if the elderly people complained that the church wasn’t paying attention to the new movements in songwriting or musical style?

When we seek the well-being of others in worship, it’s not just that we cringe through music we hate. As an act of love, this often causes us to appreciate, empathize, and even start to resonate with worship through musical forms we previously never considered.

This would signal a counting of others as more significant than ourselves (Phil 2:3), which comes from the Spirit of the humiliated, exalted King Jesus (Phil 2:5-11).  It would mean an outdoing of one another, in order to serve and show honor to the other parts of the Body of Christ. And, however it turned out musically, it would rock.

Okay, so I exaggerated a little about my old woman tastes. In the time I’ve been writing this article the background music has included both Conway Twitty and Christian Hip-Hop artist FLAME. But I know myself; you turn on “To God Be the Glory,” and I’ll get misty-eyed.

When I insist that the rest of the congregation serve as back-up singers in my own little nostalgic hit parade of back-home Mississippi hymns, I am worshiping in the spirit all right. It’s just not the Holy Spirit. I’m worshiping myself, in the spirit of self-exaltation. And it’s easy to be a Satanist when you can get your way in worship planning.

Let’s declare war on that, in ourselves and in our churches. Which reminds me: “Onward Christian Soldiers,” what a song…

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Today, I would like to share a quote from Jonathan Edwards and then speak to how it relates to congregational singing.  The quote is from Edwards’ Religious Affections:

“For although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affection, yet true religion consists so much in the affections that there can be no true religion without them.  He who has no religious affection is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of the Spirit of God upon his heart.  As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affections.

If the great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart.  The reason why people are not affected by such infinitely great, important, glorious and wonderful things, as they often hear and read of in the Word of God, is undoubtedly because they are blind; if they were not so, it would be impossible, and utterly inconsistent with human nature, that their hearts should be otherwise than strongly impressed, and greatly moved by such things.”

Several points to make from the excerpt:

1.  Affections are more than just emotions.  They are the inclinations of the heart and the will.  They are the mind and the thoughts.  They are an expression of our entire nature and being.  They are the outflow of the inner man, the truest self.  This may sound like semantics.  However, there is a huge difference between an emotional response that any and all may experience and a true affection that can only come from a heart that has been born-again.

2.  Affections are not all there are to expressions of faith.  I’ve met plenty of folks and have myself had seasons of time in my life where expressed affections in corporate worship where thought to be one and the same as the entirety of our commands to obedience.  In other words, we are easily fooled into thinking that because we have worshiped on Sunday—which IS a good thing, by the way—that we have fulfilled all of our responsibility to God’s word.  That is simply not the case.  The part does not make the whole.

Unfortunately, by living in the “Worship Age” we’ve got lots of folks who fall prey to that mindset.  (Note:  The idea that the church has entered a “Worship Age” where music is the primary way the gospel is presented would be a sinful veering away from the biblical imperative to the centrality of preaching as the means to present the gospel—see Romans 10.)  The commands of scripture go far beyond just making sure we’ve always got praise and worship playing in the background.

3.  Expressions of faith must include affections.  On the other hand, I also see folks who refuse to communicate deep affections during congregational singing and preaching.  It’s like a switch turns off.  Before and after a service, these individuals will be very expressive in one-on-one conversations and discussions but once the service starts, they stop.  Edwards warns us that such behaviors should be a “red flag”.

If such behaviors are cultural, they must be repented of.  Just because a person was raised to be overly pious during congregational worship is a poor excuse.  If such lack of affections are natural, they must be noticed as one evidence of an unregenerate heart and should serve as a red flag.  If an individual finds it habitually impossible to experience affections during a song service or the preached word that person should do some serious searching in the Word of God concerning their spiritual condition.

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In my last post, I began looking at an insightful article written by Mike Harland the director of LifeWay Worship.  I will conclude by looking at more of the article today and then make some comments. You can read the entire article here.

They Can’t Sing The Song.
Often newer songs have rhythms that don’t lend themselves to congregational singing and rather than struggle, the worshipper will just quit. They may love the song – they just can’t sing it – especially if they barely know it. As they become more and more familiar with a song, they can handle harder rhythms. But we often don’t give them a chance before moving on to a new song. If a certain song is vital to the worship because of a unique message you might make an exception and use the song. But the reason many of our people have stopped singing is these type songs have become the rule in many places.

I’ve said it before at this blog and many other places and I will say it again:  If they ain’t followin’, you ain’t leadin’!  There may be a song that I deem as a “can’t miss” congregational.  But I’ve got to consider the musical aptitude and ability of the congregation.  It may be that a particular song is best suited as a special where the congregation worships through listening rather than singing.

I rarely, if ever, ask a congregation to sing on a new song unless they have heard it as a special 2-4 times.  The heart cannot be engaged in worship if distracted by trying to learn a song.  I’m not saying that it’s wrong to teach new songs—God forbid!  Mus Min just must be very considerate and strategic in how a new song is integrated and then kept in the song list.

They Can’t Hear The Room Singing. The typical person in the pew is not in love with their own voice. But if they can be part of something larger, where their individual voice is not distinguishable they will sing their hearts out. In today’s rhythm driven worship so dependent on sound reinforcement the decibel level often gets pretty high. When that happens the individual worshipper can hear only two things – the sound coming through the system and their own voice. They cannot hear the sound of the congregation singing – the part they can “hide” their voice inside. So, they stop singing.

I’m not sure that totally agree with Harland on this point.  I do believe that an individual will sing out even if the sound system is at levels that some would consider “high”.  However, if a individual never gets to hear the congregation during a song service then something is wrong.  Why have corporate singing if each individual is isolated by sound levels?

There’s also another element to this:  sometimes the sound levels can be so low as to isolate a congregant to where they also feel exposed and will withdraw from singing.  Balance in this area is key.  Again, it is our philosophy at GLC to give a wide range of experiences.  We
might sing one song that thunders the choir and orchestra (and any soloist that may be fronting) and then follow that up with a song sung a capella.

Be keyed into how your congregation engages.  Be observant of times when the Body seems to “punt” on singing and when they seem to engage wholeheartedly.  A Mus Min’s job is to encourage singing not to stifle it.

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Mike Harland is the director of LifeWay Worship which is markets lots of music to churches to sing congregationally. He has written a book (that I’ve yet to read) called Seven Words Of Worship. I just read a provocative article written by Harlan which can be read in it’s entirety here. I will highlight several things from the article and comment afterwards:

In many of our churches today our worship has become very produced with visual enhancements and top sound re-enforcement. That’s not a bad thing – it fact it can be a great thing! But when the stage lighting effects dominate the experience, the leaders on stage cannot even see the faces of their congregation. It amuses me when a leader has to put his hand over his eyes to try and see his people. Hello? Is something wrong here? Add to that a highly produced sound mix with in-ear monitors and a full stage mix in the floor monitors, and, well, they can’t hear them either. So, if we cannot see or hear the congregation, how would we know that the people have stopped singing? It would do any pastor or worship leader a world of good to spend a service just watching the people. They might be surprised – and disappointed.

This is spot-on.  It is very important to understand that bells and whistles are not evil in themselves but if a church is depending upon those things to create atmosphere for worship, then it can be evil.  Here’s the rub—I’m quite certain that no one who uses such “enhancements” would say that they are depending on them.  My test would be this:  if you take away those “enhancements” can you function biblically and effectively?  If the answer is “no” then there are dependency issues.

They Don’t Know The Song. In many churches, there is such a focus on the latest new song that the familiar is overlooked. People like to sing songs they know and songs that resonate with them. I recommend using new songs, but slowly and deliberately. By the time a worship leader brings a new song to the church, he or she will have lived with it for weeks and grown in their familiarity with it. The worshippers in our churches should have the same opportunity before springing it on them on a Sunday morning.

I can identify with the fear of presenting music that is “stale” and sung apathetically and mechanically.  But it is important for Mus Min to step out of themselves and see the repertoire from the perspective of the congregant.  That’s why Harland’s input here is so valuable.  He is now getting that perspective.

Congregants generally don’t have as much singing ability as Mus Min.  Congregants don’t generally learn music as quickly as Mus Min.  It usually takes fewer songs to satisfy a congregant’s palette than it does a Mus Min.  These are items that I have to constantly remind myself of.  Especially when suggestions for new songs come at about five a week!

I’ll continue looking at Harland’s article soon!

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I know Dr. Wirt wasn’t necessarily reformed but I wish to share a valuable portion of his writing today.  Before we think that corporate worship is to be too pious and stodgy, let us consider these thoughts. (Notice the balance in the quotes.):

“Joy is merriment without frivolity, hilarity without raucousness, and mirth without cruelty. Joy is sportive without being rakish and festive without being tasteless. Joy radiates animation, sparkle and buoyancy. It is more than fun, yet it has fun. It expresses itself in laughter and elation, yet it draws from a deep spring that keeps flowing long after the laughter has died and the tears have come. Even while it joins those who mourn, it remains cheerful in a world that has gone gray with grief and worry”.

“Joy becomes the ecstasy of eternity in a soul that has made peace with God and is ready to do His will, here and hereafter. Veneration and respect are always due to our blessed heavenly Father. We are commanded to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, but for Heaven’s sake let’s not lose the joy in the midst of it. Let’s not worship by transposing our thoughts into an everlasting minor key”.

From “Jesus:  Man Of Joy” by Dr. Sherwood Wirt

Brother Music Minister, make sure that joy is evident in your life, leadership, and language.

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