Is It About Him or Me?

I was in a car with a pastor friend of mine and his wife. She began to express how much she liked a particular song. While she was talking I began humming the words to the song in my head and exclaimed, “This song has A LOT of words!” The pastor nodded his head and said, GOOD! Most songs now don’t have many words.” He went on to say that the few words they do have, focus more on us and not God. I responded with “huh?” The pastor reminded me of some words to several songs and how everything is about us.

Well, I can see that. But, it seems those songs are more about what He does for us than simply us. There’s nothing wrong with singing songs about all the great things God’s done for us. It’s all gravy as long as it’s balanced by simply singing songs that are just about Him and His greatness.

Maybe some of these songs are misunderstood. After all, I’m the type of person that makes statements and some information is omitted because it’s implied. We sing about what we are and our heritage as Apostolics, but the fact that He got us there is omitted. Well… That’s because it’s implied. That’s all fine and dandy, but what about the person that comes to the church from off the street and totally misses this implication? That may be a good time to actually sing a song about Him and how He turned your life around.

Reminds me of when the disciples were complaining to Jesus about how he didn’t hold any punches when addressing them, but when he spoke to the multitudes, he spoke in parables. Sometimes you just have to cater to the people there. I know that sometimes we really like a song, but the music ministry’s main goal (in most places) isn’t to minister to the music ministry. The goal is to lead people to a new experience in Christ and prepare them for the preaching of the Word. That’s probably not getting done if the songs going forth make no sense to the people listening to them. Next time you’re in your church, observe who’s around and what songs are being sung. You can even observe the comments made by others through the service. See if you can tell if the people are being ministered to or if they’re just plain confused. Try not to laugh out loud.

I apologize for the late post.

Covering all the bases

I recently completed Biblical Interpretation at UGST, which was an experience in so many ways! Dr. David Norris, who is quite possibly the most brilliant person I know - or at least in the top 5 - taught the course. One morning, as a devotional, we sang Psalm 136 - that famous responsorial psalm which ends each verse with the phrase - "for his mercy endureth forever" - you know, the phrase you start to skip over after a while. Or at least I did. That is, until Dr. Norris stood at the whiteboard and wrote the Hebrew letters for this phrase on the board and proceeded to explain to us its real meaning. When he came to the Hebrew words for "mercy endureth forever" I was so amazed - this phrase means that his love is infinite, unending, from beginning of time until end, matchless. When we fail to love, he continues. When all other mercy fails, his continues. Isn't that amazing?

The neat part was when a dear sister in our class who sings R&B was unexpectedly called to the front to sing the first half of each verse - ad lib, on-the-fly, with no advance notice! Let me just say, "you nailed it, Sis. Angela!" While she sang the first half, the class "responded," as the psalmist intended, with a chant-like refrain of "for his mercy endureth forever." By the time we got to verse 23 which states, "He who remembered us in our lowely estate.....," let me tell you - I wondered if we would be able to have class that day!

There is something about singing the pslams - a silly-sounding thing to say, considering that's how they were SUPPOSED to be expressed. I wonder what would happen if we would choose to intone them in our choirs, or small groups? Trust me, you don't need instrumentation for something like that! The Word is so powerful and there is something about the way that particular psalms flows. Starting with a Kerygma type of worship which proclaims God's great attributes, then flowing to a Koinonia worship where the congregation is reminding each other of God's great deeds (crossing the Red Sea, being delivered from Pharoah's army), to a Leitourgia worship which speaks the words directly to God - this psalm covers it all. We argue about "verical" worship or "horizontal" worship so much. Could it be that we could simply take a page from the greatest book of songs and just put it all in there? Sing to God, to each other and about God so that everyone would know of his enduring, infinite mercy.

Since I always forget, I'm listening to........very little......my car's CD player is on the blink. But I am spinning Israel's "Power of One" quite a bit a home, especially "I Receive" - that song blows me away. I'm reading...... anything about capital punishment - writing a paper.

Your Hands

Instruments?

Who needs instruments?

We don’t need no stinkin’ instruments.

You've got two hands, don't you?

In my last post I mentioned how I have had difficulty adjusting to singing while clapping a syncopated rhythm. What I neglected to mention is that there is no keyboard or guitar in most of the church services I have been to while I've been here. In fact, there hasn't even been much in the way of drums! Well, except for in Achi. And Awka. And Lagos. Okay, so I don’t have a solid grasp of what’s “normal” regarding music in the churches here! Not too different from back home in the states.

Anyway. There is a point I’d like to make here, and it concerns rhythm and it concerns hands as instruments. When we clap in the U.S. about the only debate that rages is whether to clap on the downbeat or the ‘offbeat’ (beats one and three vs. beats two and four if you’re keeping time). As I mentioned previously, here it’s more or less one strong clap per measure with a second syncopated clap. There is sometimes an additional syncopated clap per measure. But that only tells a part of the story.

You see, when there are no drums or other instruments, the only rhythmic variation is in how the clapping is done. Here, after two or three times through a chorus, sometimes additional clapping will occur as a crescendo / diminuendo bridging the end of the chorus and the beginning of the chorus again. A sort of rhythmic interlude, if you will. I find it most difficult to describe because the intensity of it exists on a scale that would be difficult to imagine if you did not experience it.

The worship leader is also able to cue the clapping by a simple exhortation, “Your Hands!” This can mean anything from 1) starting a clapping rhythm where one did not previously exist, 2) a growing intensity of varying clapping rhythms as a bridge or interlude between choruses, or 3) I have even seen a “clapping song” where there were no words, only a swirling rhythmic vortex where rhythmic clapping in concert constituted the entire musical output of the selection. It was amazing. And I will miss it. When I am back in my congregation in the U.S. and I try saying “Your Hands” it will not be the same.