How should the musical part of an evangelistic program, or church service, be conducted so as to achieve the desired results, and prove of spiritual benefit to all? We do not all think alike on this question and appreciation of church music differs in a very marked degree. Thus a song leader, on his first night, must so arrange his program that the majority will enjoy it. They must leave the hall, church, or theater uplifted and resolved to come back again.
One dictionary defines "music" as "melody or harmony; any succession of sound so modulated as to please the ear. The art of producing harmonic sounds and agreeable sounds pleasing to the ear." A definition of "muse" is "the power of song." A hymn is a song of praise or adoration. We worship God by singing hymns. Gospel singing, and the proper use of hymns, is as much a part of our worship as is prayer. Ellen G. White in many of her writings stresses the spiritual importance of singing in our worship and evangelistic services.
A good deal of responsibility for filling or emptying our evangelistic auditoriums rests with the song director. I believe the song service should be used for bright and happy singing, bearing in mind that there are some in the congregation who have come for personal spiritual uplift. If the service fails them in this, they may never come again. This fact should make us all very humble in our service, and make us to be very much in prayer as we prepare the song service.
A song leader must realize that primarily his purpose is to put the audience at ease. He must create not only a joyful and happy mood but also a prayerful one in anticipation of further good things. Prejudices must be broken down. A lasting impression should be made that the song service is part of the program, and not merely to fill up the time before the speaker comes on the platform. This is very important if you want your audience to arrive before the address or sermon. A song leader has as great an opportunity to influence hearts in his song direction as the minister has in his preaching. Tunes are often better remembered than words so he must choose good tunes and above all else help the audience to interpret the message of the hymn or gospel song.
When I became a song leader in England assisting evangelists that came to us from America and Australia, I resolved that I would do all that was in my power to hold the audiences by giving them the hymns they knew and loved as well as some of the new tunes and choruses I wanted to introduce. God surely answered our prayers. During those memorable meetings held in different areas of the great city of London, some of which continued in one theater for eighteen months, many hundreds came to a knowledge of the saving power of the gospel of Christ. Several new churches were raised up.
Music was made to serve a holy purpose—to lift the thoughts of men above the low and mundane things of life and center them on noble, pure, and elevating subjects. Music is to awaken in the soul devotion and gratitude to God. What a contrast between the worshipful use of sublime music, and the undignified and baser usages to which it is only too often devoted. How many use this gift to exalt self instead of to glorify God!
In the book Education, page 168, music is stated to be "one of the most effective means of impressing the heart with spiritual truth." Again "As a part of religious service, singing is as much an act of worship as is prayer. Indeed, many a song is prayer."
We are admonished to "sing with the spirit and the understanding."—Messages to Young People, p. 294. It is not loud singing that is needed, but God expects His servants on whom He has bestowed the talent of appreciation of music as well as the gift of song, to have "clear intonation" and "distinct utterance." "Let all take time to cultivate the voice, so that God's praise can be sung in clear, soft tones, not with harshness and shrillness that offend the car. The ability to sing is the gift of God; let it be used to His glory."—Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
When we realize how important good singing is, we should do all we can to improve the standard, and make each hymn or chorus an offering acceptable to the Lord, who Himself, when He left the upper room to go to Gethsemane, went out singing. How that hymn must have helped Him face that journey to the Garden and on to the cross!
The people of this sin-sick, weary world need so much the joy that comes through singing "with the spirit and the understanding." Every soldier knows how the step grows strangely lighter if on a long route march one of their number breaks into song. The lift of the song enables him to continue to march, where a moment before he felt he just could not go on.
How often one hears such expressions as, "Oh, I don't feel like singing, I've too much on my mind." Well—what does a kettle do when things are hot? It starts to sing, of course. "When you are up to your neck in hot water, think of the kettle and sing." Music is a blessing when used in the praise and worship of God, and to inspire the soul to keep journeying on the upward way.
As song leaders we should know the hymns so that we can point out to our audiences some special feature that will help them to sing with better understanding. Music directors in training their choirs or choral societies should be able to interpret the poem that has been set to music, so that the right emphasis is placed on the word or lines that more specifically convey the vital thought of the message.
Singing in the church service, or the song service preceding it, is one of the highest forms of corporate worship of God, and is not just a stopgap! Artistic paintings look good on an easel, but when they are well framed they have added beauty. I think of the sermon as being the picture, and the music the frame that goes around it to bring out its luster.
Both the person in the pew and the song leader on the platform need a fuller realization of how music can be a power for God in bringing men and women to a better knowledge of their Creator and a fuller commitment of their lives to Him. Worshipful music will stir their hearts to pray, and to prepare to sing the song of the redeemed on the sea of glass and join with the angelic choirs in the praise of God. With eyes and ears in tune with heaven we can discern "tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
