Does It Matter What Style of Worship Music We Use?

What kind of music should a church use for its worship services? In a congregation with a long history, this question is usually answered in light of tradition. Worshipers in these churches, while often being open to new songs, will expect to also sing tunes that they remember from their youth. Many of us assume that newer congregations, without these restraints of history, are freer to choose their styles of worship music. In newer churches the restraints are supposedly less about tradition and more about what people like. In other words, worship leaders in newer congregations -- that is, ones that have not yet been in existence for an entire generation -- will tend to use music that appeals to the greatest number of potential new members. Monique Ingalls, an ethnomusicologist who studies how churches worship, says that in these "contemporary" services there is often an assumption that musical style is a neutral force. In other words, the style of music is determined not by any inherent meaning but solely by its power to attract and retain visitors. Music style is seen as an instrument (no pun intended) for appealing to as many people as possible. The early contemporary Christian music scene actually stated this assumption in a "Christian Rocker's Creed":

Are all hair styles created equal, too?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all music was created equal—that no instrument or style of music itself is evil—that the diversity of musical expression which flows forth from man is but one evidence of the boundless creativity of our Heavenly Father. (CCM Magazine, November 1988)

Dr. Ingalls argues that it is not so easy when it actually comes to planning and leading worship in a congregation. Her research shows that churches continually struggle to find the right songs and arrangements for their worship services. Even if they won't admit it, church leaders know inherently that music styles are not neutral. This is demonstrated by the fact that we argue about it. If musical styles were actually neutral vehicles, then the desires of newcomers and the needs of long-time members could be balanced with little commotion. Whether we admit it or not, we all believe that some styles are better than others. Here are a few of my ideas about why these negotiations are so complicated and interesting.

All churches have traditions.
Every congregation has history, even if its traditions are only those of the wider, universal church. As part of her dissertation research, Ingalls attended St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Nashville. Based on the look of the bulletin, she expected to experience a fairly traditional and liturgical worship service. However, at some point in the service a worship band began to lead the congregation in responses to the prayers, sung in a contemporary style. St. Bartholomew's seems to have staked out a place that weds their denominational traditions with contemporary musical meaning. The overall format of the liturgy and some of the centuries-old wording remains as part of its Anglican heritage. But new songs and styles lead 21st-century worshipers into a meaningful experience with God and each other.

Some proponents of the creed that "all music styles are equal" are actually on a campaign to purge the church of all traditions. (Or at least traditions that they don't like.) But even a congreagation that was planted just last month is part of one, holy, and apostolic church stretching back to the first century.

Musical meaning is created together.
Music these days is increasingly as a solitary experience. Personal music devices and ear buds rule the day. Listeners (usually called "consumers") have their own personal collections in the cloud or on Spotify. Even musicians are retreating to their own bedrooms to create entire albums with Pro Tools, away from studio-based collaborations with engineers and producers.

Many worship leaders are tempted to chase this trend of diversification and add as many styles to their services as they can. The logic is sound: if music styles are a tool for attracting people to your services, then you have to branch out into every conceivable genre. However, this approach misses out on one of the most important functions of church music: it becomes meaningful as it is experienced in a group. For his chapter in the recent book Christian Congregational Music, Mark Porter interviewed several people who worshiped at a contemporary service in the UK. One of his interviewees, Tom, identified his musical tastes as broad and eclectic. However, he said that he neither desired nor expected his church to meet all his personal musical needs. Rather, the worship service was a place for him to create meaningful experiences with others who did not share his tastes:

The music I respond to in church...it's got a congregational dynamic. It is a response; it is designed to be with a range of different people all coming together to affirm one common faith (page 210).

Worship happens where the familiar meets the unfamiliar.
In a similar vein to Tom's testimony above, limiting worship styles to what is familiar robs the worshiper from truly encountering God. Jeremy Begbie says that when it comes to worship music we should not be asking ourselves "Do I like it?" Instead we should be asking "What is going on here?" This kind of disruption in our assumptions happens when we come up against the unfamiliar. If I only encounter worship music that I know and like, then my opportunities for growth are limited. If God is mystery, then encountering the holy should include moments of disorientation.

This is part of the art of leading worship. Dissonance and confusion on their own are not helpful in a worship context, but learning and growing should include moments of reaching into the unknown. We can indeed go too far and make worship completely about the unfamiliar. This has been the error, often unbeknownst to them at the time, of some cross-cultural missionaries. I saw in the Philippines how some national church leaders readily accepted songs that they did not understand. They believed that worship should be opaque and strange, because they believed that God was hidden and unknowable. Today's worship leader has a similar challenge -- to bridge the gap between the earthly and the heavenly -- the familiar and the unknown. Good thing that Christ went before us to show how humanity could be joined with the divine and be simultaneously immanent and transcendent.

A Prayer for Pastors

The Book of Common Prayer is full of wonderful prayers to guide us in many different situations. This one comes from a service for launching a new ministry (pages 562-3). The minister (Rector in the Episcopal church) prays this aloud as part of the worship service. I recommend it to all pastors for their own prayer lives. If you aren't a pastor, use this as a guideline to pray for yours.

O Lord my God, I am not worthy to have you come under
my roof; yet you have called your servant to stand in your
house, and to serve at your altar. To you and to your service
I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit. Fill my memory with
the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding
with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of
my heart and will center in what you would have me do. Make

me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted
to my care, and grant that I may faithfully administer your
holy Sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your
true and living Word. Be always with me in carrying out the
duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in
praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me
readiness of thought and expression; and grant that, by the
clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may
be drawn into your blessed kingdom. All this I ask for the
sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Who was Saint Valentine?

With the word "Saint" in his name, we have a vague idea that Valentine's Day has something to do with the church. But in reality it is not a major festival or celebration day in the worship year. Some denominations officially list the day on calendars, but often there is little fanfare or acknowledgment during worship services.

The church's lack of enthusiasm partially stems from how little we actually know about this Roman man named Valentinius. In fact, we don't know if there was only one Valentine, or two, or seven. It's clear that someone by that name was buried north of Rome after being martyred on February 14 in the 3rd century A.D. But after that the details get kind of sketchy.

The stories about the several men who were named Valentine are quite remarkable. For instance, one account describes that Valentine was talking about Jesus to a Roman judge. This man remained unconvinced, but he challenged the priest to heal his daughter of blindness. He said that he would follow Christ if the girl was cured. Valentine proceeded to pray for the judge's daughter and her sight was restored. The new convert asked the priest to baptize him, along with all his family and servants. Valentine kept up his evangelistic ways, attempting to convert the emperor himself. Alas, Claudius Caesar did not succumb to these efforts and instead had the priest beaten and beheaded on February 14, 269.

Several of the accounts about "Valentine" involve marriage. At least one story describes how he supposedly married young couples in order to prevent the grooms from having to go to war. This is probably how his name and martyrdom day got connected with romantic love. Some historians claim that these romantic stories were invented by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century. In any case, our modern practices of sending gifts such as cards, flowers, and chocolates only started in England during the 18th-century. If you are on the receiving end today, enjoy your presents and try not to feel too badly about how things ended for Valentinius...

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Icthus: The Sign of the Fish

Back in the 1990s there was a proliferation of fish outlines on car bumpers. The simple symbol served as a way for Christians to self-identify as followers of Jesus. The fad has long since reached its peak -- these days it is just as common to see a parody of the original symbol, such as the evolving Darwin.

The fish symbol was not just a random innovation of 20th century Christians. It is actually an ancient sign of the church, with many levels of meaning. It is rooted in the ways that fish appear in the gospels:

• Jesus promised to make his disciples, some of whom were fishermen, into "fishers of men." (Mark 1:16-18)
• A boy offered two fish, which Jesus used to feed thousands of people who came to hear him. (John 6:5-15)
• The resurrected Christ ate fish with his disciples. (Luke 24:41-43)

The early generations of Jesus' followers then added more meaning to the fish symbol. One's immersion into the waters of baptism became a way to identify with Jesus, who was seen as a new Jonah -- one who was buried and rose again from the depths (Matthew 12:38-45). This identification of fish with baptism and death began to show up on Christian burial markers as early as the 3rd century.

One Greek word for fish is icthus (or icthys). When Greek was pretty much the main language of the church, many symbols and acronyms took the form of letters in that language. The early Greek-speaking disciples added to the already-rich symbolism of the fish and made a meaningful phrase out of the word icthus. Each of these five Greek letters stands for a word which spells out "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior" when translated into English:

• Iota (I) = Iesous: Jesus
• Chi (X) = Christos: Christ
• THeta (that O with a line through it) = Theou: God
• Upsilon (U or Y) = (h)Uios: Son
• Sigma (E or S) = Soter: Savior

The fish symbol used to provide a covert way for Christians to identify themselves. The Chuck Knows Church video clip below describes how members of the persecuted church could draw half of the symbol in the dust. If their companion was a Christian who knew the significance of the fish, he or she would complete the drawing and thus affirm their shared faith. This kind of covert Jason Bourne Christianity is hard to imagine in today's United States of America, where we proudly display the symbol everywhere we go -- cars, business cards, and the Yellow Pages. The fish symbol is a good reminder that the freedom to worship is something many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have not experienced. Next time you see one, take a moment to pray for Christians in North Korea, Iran, and Sudan.

Pastor Chuck explains the icthys symbol in the early church.