Let There Be Pocket, And It Twere Good
I want to get back to talking about my worship band because the subject of worship music has become extremely fascinating to me over the past few months. Since Rock (I’m using that term loosely) music has been introduced into worship services it has created and entirely new subject for Christians to be offended by. No one every really asked the question “What is the purpose of the worship band?” until they started playing a more modern style of music. Now the question is implied in almost every discussion about modern worship music. Is the band for entertainment? Is the band supposed to “perform”? Is the band drawing attention to themselves? Does the band even understand what it means to “lead” worship?
Now that we’ve got a big drum kit and a Marshall in the sanctuary somebody’s bound to lose an eye, not to mention a soul. I get it. Rock music is an incredibly powerful thing, which means that a lot of people are going to misuse it, or at lest not know what to do with it, when it’s brought into the church. Here’s the thing though. I do know what to do with it.
The reason I want to push our worship band to be as awesome as we can be is because I know that an excellent band playing excellent songs excellently is an extremely engaging thing (I get paid by the “e”). When the energy of the individual musicians starts to melt into one big mass of funk, people want to physically get involved with the noise.
I’ve heard people say that a worship band should not try and manipulate people and should not be out to provide an emotional experience for people. I understand that. Sort of. We ask people to stand for worship service. Why? Because we want them to be physically involved with the service. That’s what I want too but I don’t just want them to stand up, I want them to move, and I guarantee you won’t get that from a mediocre band playing mediocre songs mediocrely.
Two songs immediately come to mind when I think about songs that make me want to move. James Brown’s “Sex Machine” and The Beastie Boys’ “Sure Shot”. When James says “Get Up” I can’t help but get up because it sounds so good. We can do this same thing in worship services. That’s what I want. I want to engage people. The energy of a smokin’ band is so infectious. And if we’re doing it with an attitude of worship I believe God will honor that and I believe people will see our sincerity. The point is not that people will think we’re such great players but I do believe that the band should strive for excellence so we can achieve the kind of energy and momentum a worship service can thrive on.
I would guess there have been arguments about what music is appropriate in church since the beginning of time – 6000 years ago. (sorry, Christian joke) In pre-Revolutionary War America there was a great debate over two different vocal techniques: lining out and regular singing. Lining out was where the pastor sung one line at a time and the congregation sung it back. This technique was developed due to illiteracy and/or a lack of hymnals. Opponents complained about the inherent repetition as well as the tendency of some pastors to develop “rock star syndrome†and begin embellishing the melodies. By drawing focus away from the words to the melodies the pastors were stirring up sensual pleasures and leading the congregation into sinful territory. Regular singing was everyone singing from a hymnal at the same time. Some religious groups argued that this destroyed the hierarchy of the pastor / congregation relationship. Another problem was that singing schools were being formed at this point in history to teach musical skills. These schools met in the evenings after work and (as both men and women were admitted) they led to sinful fraternizing between the sexes. It also led to the formation of “professional choirs†within churches and many of these choirs also developed the “rock star syndrome†demanding musical control over services and prime seating.
Read more here:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/fall97/sing.html
There’s really only one thing that I insist on when exiting the stage after a worship service. No autographs! Please people, leave me alone. I just want a towel to wipe the dew of heaven from my brow and some ice col, sanctified, bottled water from the Holy Land. That’s all I want. And I think the M&Ms thing goes without saying.
I think that we should engage ourselves physically in our worship experiences. People always say “I worship on the inside” yes, but I ask, “Why do you express your emotions and feelings more expressively when engaged in other situations?” I feel conviction when participating in a worship service and I just stand or sit there. I feel that if people have a love and passion for Jesus and what he did for them and if they neglect to outwardly express this love then they are at risk of cheating God out of what he deserves. I couldn’t agree more about the quality (and in some respects) type/style of music compels us into motion/emotion. Why shouldn’t we feel or get emotional when we worship Jesus for what he did for us? I have sat in services with hymn style music that was very authentic and worshipful where I felt the presents of God. On the other hand I have been in services where dead dry poorly played music has been played where I thought this couldn’t get over soon enough. You might say I should have been able to ignore these things and worshiped freely, but the truth is these things are very distracting. Today’s more contemporary style of worship music is compelling to me (not that some of the older stuff isn’t.) I personally feel more compelled to become outwardly engaged in the worship with this style of music than say “hoe down” style music. I’m rambling / medaling…The point is to allow yourself to worship without fear of what anyone in the building will think about you. Your worship is as unto God and is between you and him. If more people would allow themselves this type of freedom, our worship services would be much more powerful.