Earlier I wrote about my thoughts on using prayer as a transition in church. Now I’d like to turn my attention to music being used as a transition.
I constantly go back and forth about the purpose of music in church anyway. Back in the day music was used as a method to teach theology to believers. While I would dare say most hymns are lame-dash-o, others can be very exciting to sing and to think about the lyrics (afterwards enjoy this hymn as an example). Music is also, of course, the major way believers worship today in church. But in my opinion music is also the number one divider of different races and nationalities when it comes to churches. A church without music may be the church with less racial divides. But that’s a conversation for another time…
Churches have a need of transitions just like any major event. They use announcements, prayer and music typically. Today I’d like to take a quick look at music as a transition.
First there’s the special song. I won’t spend much time on this but churches use this to help get people involved in the service. Sometimes a large church has a lot of talent and they can sound really good. Typically they are pretty boring but there can be a nice sounding special song. Other more traditional churches use bells or a piano solo. There can be a variety of ways it can look but it seems most churches have some sort of special music. It’s like the bridge in a song. No one knows where it came from or why it’s there but we do know that you have to have a bridge in a song or you’re kicked out of the musical universe. Personally I’d love to see the bridge and the guitar solo removed from most every song on the planet but they are here to stay.
The second major use of music as a transition is usually after the sermon or homily. Evangelical churches love to use music here. Please stop.
I am reminded of 1 Sam 16 where David plays the harp for Saul. Saul is being tormented by an evil spirit and he calls for David to come play for him. David plays, Saul was refreshed and the evil spirit leaves him.
Music has many purposes in life. Young people love music because young people are trying to find words to express their emotions and feelings. This is why older people aren’t into music as much, they’ve typically figured out what they need or want to figure out and don’t need the hippest newest thing to guide them in their feelings. Music is also used to express anger and frustration. Sometimes you can just get in your car and turn up Disturbed or whatever you listen to and yell out your frustrations. Music can also be used as a balm. If someone has a major sore or cut emotionally they can often turn to music to soothe the soul. It will give a relief, for a time, but the emotional sore or cut will continue to remain.
One of the main purposes of the sermon is to point out truths (sometimes hard truths) that a person must deal with in life. Then right after that the church comes in with its musical balm and attempts to throw a soothing onto the person’s soul. We have taken this cue from our society who does not have a stinking clue about how to ease our soul. We are a medicating and balming society. Instead of fixing the problem we create medications to help you deal with it. Its time for the church to stop balming or medicating believers who are ready and need help getting to the core of what is causing them pain. It’s time to stop with the David harp playing and let’s get these wounds looked at. Sometimes it takes silence for a person to look deep within and to come to grips with who they are and what they need to do or be in life. Sometimes the person speaking should continue to speak and guide people. For example, if you are speaking about serving then after the service (or at the end) you need to have booths set up for people to sign up and serve somewhere. Having music play sometimes is not a bad idea, in fact it can be a good idea, but please remove the balming music from your services. If you “cut and heal, cut and heal” people too much they will eventually become numb to anything you say.
*On a more personal level we all need to stop dealing with our pains and start finding out the root cause of it. Stop medicating and start healing. If you make the first step and ask God for wisdom God will not disappoint you. Turn to your community of believers for help as well as that is what they are supposed to be there for.
