You may pastor a church in which majesty pours from the organ, and the choir's voice soars through the soul of the congregation. You may minister in simpler surroundings where a few songs are sung with imperfect harmony, and where instrumental accompaniment is more a dream than reality. Some of us pastor a fellowship where guitars and drums have deposed the organ, and an interactive musical group leads the worship. In all of this, what is the significance of the relationship between music and worship?
Music in a world church
Clearly, when one looks at this question with a world church in mind, the music of worship does not have to have Bach to be acceptable any more than a rural Chinese fellowship must have the King James Version for the Scripture reading. But should Bach be left out where he is still heard in living tones? Looking from the universal perspective, the relationship between music and worship is not defined by what kind of music is sung or played, or what instruments, if any, are used, or what form of worship is employed.
Rather, the essence of the relationship between music and worship has to do with the heart of God and the heart of the worshiper. This assertion is not trite, especially when one considers how fundamental it is, and the difficulty many of us experience when it comes to questions of worship and music.
Jesus on worship
In all of this the conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus is eye opening and evocative (John 4). Jesus not only revealed who He was to this woman (verse 26), but He opened up the quintessence of His thinking about worship. In order to sidetrack Jesus from the probing questions He was putting to her, the woman asked a popular, controversial question about where people should worship if they were to worship properly. In doing so she did something she apparently did not mean to do. She inquired about worship at the ultimate Oracle (verse 19). She loaded her question with an appeal to tradition, culture, and the authorities in her world: "our fathers worshiped on this mountain" (verse 20, NKJV).
In His reply, Jesus swept away her localized, culturalistic concerns and her appeals to this or that authority. He ignored her need to affirm her rightness in the debate. He did this not in order to deny her tradition or culture, but so that He could point to something transcending anyone's tastes and traditions. Instead He got down to the heart and soul of the whole question (verses 21-23). He put His finger on the most sensitive spot when He told her in effect that in all her concerns about the where or how of worship she had ended up, in fact, worshiping she did not know what (verse 22). Above all, embroiled in her rather trivial controversies, she was unaware of the hour that had arrived in which God was especially looking for people who would "worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (verse 23, 24, NKJV).
Music, worship, and the present hour
In the press of pastoring congregations that contain a cultural assortment of people that are generationally diverse or who are simply time-bound in their views of worship, many of us and our members have been caught up in concerns about worship similar to those of the Samaritan woman. These concerns have a way of dominating our spiritual horizons, and eclipsing the real issues of the hour that has arrived.
As one not long out of a pastorate in which similar concerns were significant, I know that these questions cannot be spiritualized away, and I also know that the real concern for all of us is not simply a certain kind of music or a certain form of worship, it is the one that Jesus identified for the Samaritan woman. We are all looking for meaning and life, for significance and authenticity in our worship experience. I am convinced that this is not going to be found by cosmetically adopting this style of worship or that kind of music, but first of all by finding something deep and real to express in our modes of worship and music. Progress today has to do with worshiping the Father in spirit and truth.
Defending one another's interests
I am also convinced of something else about the hour to which we have come: That we must not only cease to promote our own concerns or simply tolerate one another's viewpoints, but that we must rediscover and reinstitute the fabulous Christian art of defending the special interests of one another rather than our own.
Romans 14 and 15 are key chapters in our here and now. They lay down crucial principles: "Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions" (Rom. 14:1, NRSV). We all stand or fall before our own Master, who is able to make us all stand (verse 4). Allow everyone to be convinced in his or her own mind (verse 5). We do not live or die only for ourselves (verse 7). Don't judge one another, for we will all be judged by God (verses 10-13). In your need to express Christian freedom, never put a stumbling block in the way of another (verses 13-15, 21). The kingdom of God does not consist of our opinions about this or that, but peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (verse 17).
We are to pursue what creates peace and mutual upbuilding, that is, what pleases our fellow human being for the purpose of building him or her up (verse 19; Rom. 15:1-3). Finally, we are to welcome one another in the same way Christ has welcomed us (verse 7).
