Anyone who knows me knows that my positions on any given subject tend to morph over time. We're not usually talking about wholesale changes, but definitely the tendency to drift from hard-and-fast to loose-and-open. The most recent and radical example of this is my position on using "contemporary" worship music in church.
You have to first understand that I grew up playing classical piano and taking enough music theory to be a relatively hard-core aesthetic elitist. I did some varisty sports in high school, but most of my extra-curricular energies were spent in choirs and such. Don't get me wrong, I like The Doobie Brothers, Sting, James Brown, etc., but have generally thought of certain genres as being too "amateurish" and individualistic for throne room worship. Enough of the I, IV, V, chord progression already.
While I still think a lot of pop Christian music is amateurish, overly individualistic, lacking in content, sappy, etc., I have had several revelations. First, most of the hymnody in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition is crusty, stale, boring, unsingable, overly individualistic, and plain bad music. Sure, there is good stuff that we should hang on to and perpetuate. But a lot of the stuff "traditional" / "liturgical" churches try to sing is just literally stuck in its own time-bound culture. In American Presbyterianism, most of the hymnody comes from the glory days of Presbyteriansim about 100-200 years ago. It may have been the high-water mark of the tradition in America, but its failure to flex with the culture is a symptom of its disease - and a reason for its demise.
Let me try to explain. One of the reasons "Evangelical" churches using pop music are bigger and more active than traditional "Reformed" churches is because their music is culturally accessible. More people would come to and grow into liturgical and Reformed churches if they could connect with the music. Visitors and neophytes simply cannot digest an anachronistic 4-point harmony written in 1820 with an organ or lame piano in the background. This becomes a huge barrier to them dealing with the ministry of word and sacrament. I challenge you. Go to the average traditional worship service and contrast it with a bigger Evangelical church with a "band." I GUARANTEE you that the worshippers in the Evangelical service are more joyful, engaged, and emotive than folks in Reformed churches. Guarantee it.
We have to get over the impulse that pop music or even jazz in church is somehow beneath God. Yes, we should be intentional and strive for excellence, but no genre has a corner on holiness or propriety. It takes wisdom to discern what is out of bounds, but it also takes wisdom to know what can be included for the sake of edification. Simplistic thinking about this matter will not serve the church well.
As for me, I've joined the band at church on an intermittent basis. Hard to believe, but true. It is stretching, but a lot of fun and a blessing.
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