Music Matters

I always found the evangelical battle between traditional and contemporary worship music to be strange. And it's probably because I grew up going to Mass every week, where contemporary things seem to fall away the moment you walk through the doors. Contemporary music just feels ill-suited for a traditional mass. (Though some places make it work...I went to a "Teen Mass" during high school where they played more upbeat, modern music...it still felt weird though).

As a teen, I had heard many stories from evangelical friends that so-and-so's church was splitting up over which music they played during the service. Or they were making two services, one for traditional music and one for the contemporary. I also heard plenty of people passing judgments on it, saying it was a terrible reason to split up a church (and I think there is still a bit of a split when you separate into different types of services...but its certainly better than calling the whole thing off).

And I agreed. And still do to some extent. It seems that American Christians will split up or leave a church for so many reasons that you could essentially live your whole life bouncing from one church to another because there's just never going to be one that satisfies every physical, theological, and emotional need that you have.

But lately I've kind of felt a bit of empathy for those who find worship music to be an integral part of their church experience.

I have always believed that music is a Big Deal. Not in a church sense, but in a I-need-it-to-keep-living sense. Music has spoken to my soul at times in my life when a real-life person just couldn't. And reflecting on that makes me realize how precious it is to have music at church that speaks to you. Sometimes the sermons are going to just fall flat compared to whatever life circumstances you find yourself in. Sometimes you are facing something so profound or unique that its asking too much for a pastor to speak directly into it. Or you may find yourself a church that feeds your soul in a million other ways, but the preaching isn't doing much for you at the moment. That's when you need good music. Music can fill the void when other things can't. Music can be God's voice speaking directly to you when it feels like people around you just can't seem to give you what your soul needs.

And like all my posts lately, this one ends abruptly because the baby has awoken. :)