Well…Or Not At All
18
Oct/086
Oct/086
Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this culture and religion (horrid words, both) are essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities. (C.S. Lewis)
Thanks to Josh for sending this my way. I've been wrestling with these words ever since.
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9:25 am on October 18th, 2008
While I really enjoy C.S. Lewis, he is only a man and his words have to be measured against God's word for inspiration.
How many times does it say in Psalms to make a Joyful Noise?
I am in the midst of reading Jim and Caspar go to church. One of Caspar's (the friendly atheist) problems with church is that the music is too polished – it has no soul.
10:05 am on October 18th, 2008
Gotta disagree with you, Tony. I've sat through many church services that were nothing short of embarrassing. Poor quality does not honor God.
You mentioned the Psalms. Psalm 33:3 commands us to "play skillfully." In other words, practice. Play well. God deserves our best.
That's my take.
8:27 pm on October 19th, 2008
While it is true that we want to offer God our best and do everything we do as well as we can, if that becomes the main objective over praising and pleasing God, it becomes empty although polished. So I think both of you are partly right. Holy shoddy is still shoddy but God will accept less than perfect very graciously if we offer it up in love and devotion to Him.
When I was growing up in my home church there was a man there that sang very loudly and badly. If he ever hit a right note, it was purely by accident. At first, I thought he should not sing or at least sing quietly. But then I watched him and saw his heart and soul soaring and pouring his heart out to God in praise and I felt ashamed of what I had thought but fortunately did not say to him. I would have hurt him badly and sinned against him and God if I stopped him.
So I think there is a balance between being committed to excellence and allowing people to express their worship imperfectly. I don't play the guitar anywhere nearly as skillfully as Josh Young does but I have led worship using what skill I have to the best of my ability and I feel no need to compete or be ashamed that I am not as good as Josh at guitar playing. I can still praise God at my level doing my best at what gift I have. On the other hand, we do need to offer God the best we have to offer and not just slop it through. We have seen plenty of that in church and so have seekers unfortunately.
9:27 pm on October 19th, 2008
Mike, I have been to services where people have sang that had no business singing. The noise they made was not joyful – it was more hurtful. So I am not in total disagreement with you.
I believe there are two ditches that we can fall into to. On one side of the road is the one where we require only 'professional' level singers/musicians. These people would no doubt be skilled but there is still the test of whether they are gifted or not.
And in the other ditch is the mentality of just letting anybody do anything even if they have no talent or gift in that area.
I am not a proponent for either of those scenarios. The issue one will have is that judging where someone is in the gambit between these two extremes is very subjective and should really be based on spiritual giftedness for that service versus natural ability.
Hopefully that clarifies my stance more than the first response.
In Christ.
7:37 am on October 20th, 2008
Actually, I think we're all in more agreement than we might realize. I would never suggest that perfection is the requirement. Rick Warren points out (and I agree) that excellence can become an idol if that is our sole focus.
At ACC, we pursue excellence in all things because we believe God deserves it. We don't pursue excellence for the sake of excellence.
And, even though we give our best, there is always something imperfect in everything we do. And that's ok.
But while we'll never be perfect, we can never settle for less than our best. God deserves nothing less than everything we have to give him. The amount one has to give varies from person to person, but however much it is, God deserves all you have.
Good conversation, guys. Good stuff to chew on.
7:20 pm on October 21st, 2008
A long time ago early in my ministry career, there was a gospel group (I won't name them to protect the guilty) that sang at church. I had not booked them and would not have done so from what I had seen and heard of the group. I'll never forget the crowd of teens and adults as they went wild and crazy as these guy belted out ther gospel hits. Then the tenor sang "How Great Thou Art." When he got to the line, "My God, how great thou art," he hung onto the word "God" in a high tenor shrill (I had to plug my ears) voice for about 20 seconds. What I heard him singing was, "My God, how great I am." Afterwards these guys partied on Saturday night into the wee hours and barely made it to church late for worship. It just wasn't why they were there. They were good. They praised the Lord. They wowed the audience. They were professional and excellent. But they didn't have a clue how to worship God because they were too busy basking in their personal glory.
In the past, the church was so very intent on making sure the world did not invade the church it was like they planned a lousy service on purpose. I can identify with what Mike was saying. I remember being in a service where they were selecting the songs for the service while the organist played the prelude. Why bother at all. Just skip it. That man that I said in my earlier input that could not sing, I would not have had him leading the singing. Had he wanted to do so, I would have guided him to find a place where he had some talent. But to sing imperfectly but worshipfully from his heart while in the pew, was a good thing.
I think all 3 of us are on the same page. There is danger on both sides of that balancing beam and we can easily slip on either side of it without realizing it. We need to constanly monitor our motivations. Good discussion. Thanks!