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Several years ago I visited a local megachurch that was hosting a sermon series on Love. They opened their worship set by showing a music video for “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles. This was the first time I’d ever seen a church bring in something so decidedly “secular” into a worship service.

The church I attend now sings a few songs that are amalgamations of popular songs and worship songs. For example, this past week we interspersed the chorus from Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” (“Everything’s gonna be alright” x8) into one of the worship songs. It’s interesting how those simple lines take on an entirely different meaning when put in the context of a Christian worship service.

Does your church ever use “secular” songs during worship?

Share your thoughts!

What’s it like to feel your faith slipping away? Christianity Today published an interview with David Bazan, a well-known musician and the former frontman for the indie rock band Pedro the Lion. Bazan is a former evangelical Christian who no longer counts himself as a believer, but he continues to speak (and sing) about God and the doubts that led him away from the Christian flock.

Bazan’s departure from Christianity was a sad and reluctant one, and his former faith continues to haunt him, as this quote illustrates:

Christian spirituality has played a huge part in your music. Will it continue to play a role?

In some ways, I hope not. But I can’t imagine that it won’t. It’s still the central question of my life. I read a lot about theology and church history. I’ll never get a vacation from this. I’m not kidding when I say that this is the central question of my life.

Bazan is certainly not the only person to abandon the Christian faith; but the circumstances of his departure make for an edifying read. Bazan didn’t reject his faith to become an angry, bitter atheist; nor did he simply drift away from Christianity due to apathy or a lack of commitment. Rather, his departure was prompted by, among other things, a sense that the Christianity he practiced was actually interfering with the ethics he wanted to pursue.

The interview doesn’t get too specific about those obstacles, but one obvious question that occurs to me is whether the hurdles that drove Bazan from the faith truly were fundamental elements of the Christian faith, or if they were human “additions” to the faith. It’s also interesting (and a little disturbing) to see the powerful role that fear played (and continues to play) in his spiritual life.

What’s your reaction to the interview? What might you ask or say to Bazan if you had the chance to talk to him about Christianity?

This morning’s devotional at Lifetime Guarantee Ministries is a bit different from the usual fare. In it, Bill Gillham simply suggests that we pay closer attention to the words of the hymns we sing each week at church—many of them are devotionals or sermons unto themselves!

Perhaps you will hear or sing one of these hymns on your next Easter Sunday. If you do, pay close attention to the words. So many of these hymns are a sermon unto themselves and more often than not, the theology is right on track.

From Rock of Ages by Augustus Montague Toplady, 1776

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

He cites two other Easter hymns, one of them familiar to me and the other not. Read the rest of the devotional at Lifetime Guarantee Ministries.

I think Gillham raises an interesting point. We’re obviously meant to meditate on the lyrics to the worship songs we sing; but it’s easy to simply sing along to the music without putting any effort into processing the words. What other hymns or worship songs do you think stand apart as being “sermons unto themselves”?

Musical preferences are complicated and personal things. One person loves rock music, another classical, a third folk and a fourth hip-hop. And all of them might be sitting in the same pew!

Given these differences in musical preference, how should we use music in worship? Should we just standardize on one style of music and expect everyone to take part, or incorporate different styles into worship to connect with as many people as possible?

Speaking as an avid lover of music, I think that when we join a community, we need to learn to worship in the way that community worships. We need to uphold the parts of the body of Christ that are responsible for worshiping God through music, even when the style of music isn’t to our personal taste.

What about you? How do you handle the tension between your personal weekday preferences in music and what you sing on Sunday? Is it even an issue for you?

More importantly, what is it about music that connects you with God? Is it a certain style of music? Is it the words? Something else entirely? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

What springs to mind when you think of Christmas? Chances are you think of Christmas trees, nicely-wrapped gifts, holiday parties… and Christmas music. In fact, one of the first signs that the holiday season is upon us each year is the sound of Christmas carols playing over the radio or over the speakers at stores.

Lent and Easter may not have the massive culture presence that Christmas does, but like Christmas, this is a season marked by memorable music. You might not hear it playing at the local mall, but the music of Easter includes some of the church’s most powerful and insightful songs. Easter has always been my personal favorite “musical season” in the church year; I’d like to build on Chris’ last post about music and worship by pointing out some Easter music resources:

• Songsandhymns.org has mp3s and sheet music for eight of the most famous Easter songs (see the Lent/Easter section on that page). Particularly noteworthy are Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. The latter song is a popular one at Easter Sunday services; it’s quite something to hear it sung by an enthusiastic congregation.
• HymnTime.com has a monster list of Easter songs (but beware the auto-playing MIDI music).
• Two years ago, the Vatican released mp3s of several beautiful Lent arrangements by the Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel and the Institute of Sacred Music. Despite theological differences between Protestant and Catholic churches, the music can be appreciated by any Christian.
• A reflection about the famous hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today at Christianity Today. There’s a bit more historical information at the hymn’s Wikipedia entry.
• An interesting essay about ancient Easter songs, many of which inspired the modern Easter hymns we know and love today.

The Christian church may not be the musical trendsetter that it has been in past centuries, but the church’s “cloud of witnesses” includes several of the greatest musicians who have ever lived. Today it’s appropriate to remember one of them in particular: Felix Mendelssohn, who was born 200 years ago.

Mendelssohn was a prolific composer; chances are you’d recognize several of his works today, even if you didn’t know Mendelssohn was the composer. He was an interesting character whose reputation was heavily attacked by anti-Semite critics. Here are a few places to read up on Mendelssohn and his contributions to the field of music:

• An overview of his life at Songs and Hymns, along with an MP3 of the famous hymn “Now Thank We All Our God.”
• The NPR website has a number of excellent features on Mendelssohn and his music.
• The Mendelssohn Project aims to restore Mendelssohn’s reputation and bring many of his lost works back into the public spotlight.
• The Christian History Institute relates Mendelssohn’s efforts to revive the music of Bach, another famous Christian composer.
• And lastly, an essay about the Mendelssohn family’s Jewish heritage, and the anti-Semitic efforts to erase Mendelssohn’s music from the public square during the Nazi era in Germany.

We linked earlier this week to some Christmas music resources at Songs and Hymns. But if you’re still in the mood for more holiday music (and who isn’t?), there’s more at RBC Ministries. Here are a few links:

• Did you know that “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was written about a family tragedy during the Civil War?
• Chances are you know the first stanza of the famous Christmas carol “What Child is This”—but as with many holiday songs, the second verse brings out a whole new meaning to the carol. Give those often-overlooked second, third, and fourth stanzas a read next time you’ve got a hymnal at hand!
• Read about the powerful social commentary lurking between the lines of “Angels, From the Realms of Glory.”
• You might not even recognize the original version of perhaps the most famous Christmas carol of all.

These devotionals are a reminder that there’s more to Christmas music than catchy tunes and familiar words—there are important stories and messages behind them. Your appreciation for these songs will only deepen if you take a moment this Christmas season to really ponder what they’re saying.

Have you ever wondered what kind of thought and planning goes into choosing the songs you sing (and sometimes play) in a worship service? If you’re a worship leader, do you have a solid, Biblical system for thinking through and choosing music pieces that fit each church service?

The process of selecting worship music will be different for each individual congregation and worship style, of course. But to help you think through your music choices, FarsiPraise has collected some thoughts on the matter from a variety of church and worship leaders (both are in PDF):

• An essay by Paul Oakley (of the Church of Christ the King in Brighton, England) that walks through seven steps for considering and choosing worship music.
• A second collection of short mini-essays by seven other church leaders explaining how they choose music for their churches.

If you’re a church leader struggling to pick the right music, these thoughts from other leaders might help. And if you’re a congregation member who’s always wondered who chose the music and why, they might give you some insight into an important part of weekly worship planning!

Why is singing such an important part of the Christian tradition? That might sounds like an odd question, but how many other religious or social groups get together regularly… to sing? The latest edition of Uplook Magazine is out (and freely downloadable as a PDF), and its focus is on the songs we sing, and the reasons we sing them. Among the articles are in-depth essays looking at some of the most famous songs in Psalms, “the hymnbook of God’s people.” This issue would be especially useful if you or your small group is working through the Psalms in a Bible study.

Download the January/February issue of Uplook Magazine here. Previous issues are also available for download in the Uplook archives.