"Preach the Word,

What is music to be in the church today? What role does the song-service have in today's church? Why does it matter what kind of music is conducted, played, and sung in church? Why does today's contemporary crowd refer to their music service as worship to the point that they have 'worship bands,' 'praise groups,' etc?

H. W. Beecher said, "Thanksgiving, a consciousness of the goodness and glory of God, the soul's joy in God - how seldom do you find an utterance of this in prayers of the sanctuary. There is a provision, even in our churches, for the excitation and expression of praise. It is the song-service of the church. But the first and most fatal difficulty in this is that we have no religious music; or, rather, that the music of the church is for the sake of music, and not for the sake of praise. It expresses the aesthetic or art-feeling about praise - not heart-feeling. It is aimed at a wholly different thing from that which music was designed to be in the sanctuary. In the household, music aims at a domestic feeling. A mother's lullaby is sung in the family. No one would expect a mother to sit by the side of the cradle and attempt to sing Handel's "Messiah," or to execute the difficult passage of an opera. Something sweet - a simple carol - is the mother's song. The child knows it, and feels it. It is aimed at a domestic effect. In songs of patriotism that express and excite that feeling the music becomes subordinate. The most patriotic tunes in vogue have no merit as tunes, but they possess a subtle element that stirs up a patriotic feeling in the heart, and it therefore answers the end of music. Multitudes of tunes in the church of God are hewn out of symphonies, and oratories, and operas. They are music as operas, and oratories, and symphonies, but they are trash in God's house. In many cases the better a tune is, the worse it is in the service of the sanctuary. For the office of music in Divine service is praising."

In looking at Psalm 150 we see that the psalmist encourages us to praise the Lord in the first verse with "Praise ye the Lord" and then builds upon the first verse with a frenzy that changes the request to a command in the final verse with "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." But as Beecher says a large majority of our music is not 'praise worthy' and Mr. Beecher a preacher during our nation's Civil War obviously has not experienced today's Contemporary Christian Music which would make comments from him even sharper than the complaint against music of his generation.

R. Tuck said, "All kinds of instruments may be used in praise. Only sentiment ever puts limitations on the instruments that may be used for Divine worship. Sentiment imagines some kinds to be more solemn and reverent than others. Curiously, those which some regard as specially solemn, e.g. the organ, are wholly repudiated by others (the Scotch). No instrument is in itself unsuitable. The kind of use man makes of it, and the kind of associations man causes to gather round it, may make an instrument unsuitable. In this matter the good sense of Christian people must decide."

Makes you wonder what he would have thought if had lived in our century instead of the 19th. Music today has lead more churches down the slippery slope of compromise that history tends to show is followed soon by a change in separation, in acceptance of the world's practice, and ultimately in a change of doctrine. Be on guard for your music in your church. It should not be dry and routine but a time truly meant to praise the Lord as the psalmist inspires with voices and instruments; though it should always be a time of focus on God not man's talents or abilities. Keep singing and praising God!

[Editor's note: This is from my studies in Psalm 150.]