At my age I have experienced a lot of music. Sang in countless choirs, numerous bands,
many small groups and a few “Rock”
bands. As a music lover there is little
I don’t appreciate when it is done well.
Done badly, it is seriously bad.
Growing up I was exposed to Hymns in Church and Classical in
Grade School. I don’t know who she was
but she came and introduced us to all forms of great music.
I also early on was exposed to opera. A friend pursued an opera career. It is hard. It’s like
baseball.. only a few make it.
In spite of the fact that I have played and sang in many ensembles
of all sizes.. I was never good at leading.
Just didn’t have the pipes. Could harmonize.. but that’s about it.
In college I was introduced to Gospel quartet music. Different from the Hymns of Mo Synod
Lutheran. Oh they could touch me, but
when I started to listen to Blackwood Brothers and Kingsmen (Think Gaither
Music) I entered a new realm of appreciation. I wasn’t serving God, but I did
like the music. Still do.. but more on
that later.
About the time I got serious about serving God Keith Green
was big. Really Big. I knew and learned many of his songs. Second Chapter of Acts, Matthew Ward. Those
late 70s and early 80s folks. Then I
started attending First Assembly in Fargo.
The music was fabulous. I learned
to worship. I exalt thee. From the rising of the sun. Great is your faithfulness… All the
choruses. We sang them together. They rang out. Bruce and Nate made it work.
Then we moved to Chicagoland.. and Calvary Temple. Music just as great.. but a larger
venue. A bit more performance oriented
except on Wednesday night when Pastor Schmidgall would sit on a chair all by
himself on the platform and intone with all of us following, “we worship and
adore thee.. bowing down before thee”.
The prophecies, the tongues and interpretations and many other wonderful
things happened.
Then over time we left Calvary to help plant a church in Geneva. Tim Campbell.
And Pam. The music was rusty but
effective. Still small form. However there is where a shift began. The
music in churches began to drift from congregational worship to something
else. I played in the band. Charley.
Pam. Me. Et al.
She had talent. I had little. But
she made me look better than I was.
At the same time I was introduced to and began to
incorporate in my worship canon music from the House of Prayer in Kansas City. There
were many skilled musicians that came out of that movement including Misty
Edwards. They knew how to write and sing
material that touched the heart. Lots of spontaneous worship. I had experienced it before in Tulsa at higher
praise (Carlton Pearson). I asked
someone (a predominantly black congregation) where the words were. Nothing on a
screen. No hand outs. Just spontaneous. He smiled and said, you’ll figure it out. Follow along. I did and I did. I was hooked on spontaneous.
Then living where we did we attended Faith Center in
Rockford for a long time. Loved the worship there. Brad.
Corey. The whole thing. Some worship nights were electric.
One night a guest spoke.
Apostle John Eckhardt. 2007. He spoke in ways I did not understand but
wanted to. The Spirit of God said to me,
“He is your next level, Go there”. I
Did.
So at that time I was busy.
Still involved sometimes even playing at the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook. And Crusaders. I began attending Crusaders Church in
downtown Chicago. Still attending
locally Sunday’s but feeding off the presence of God there. I was one of only a few white folks. Yet the worship was not “Black”. It was
spontaneous, mostly led by Kathy Summers. She brought more anointing to the platform
and more congregational involvement than I had seen before.
The Sunday Morning worship was drifting into
performance. We were attending Restore
Church in Yorkville. Great worship.. but
lights down. You couldn’t see if anyone
was there except on the platform. If people
sang along.. you didn’t know. No
utterance in tongues, no prophetic. Just
3 or four songs before pastor spoke.
This is now the pattern in most of the churches you will
find today. Worship is a stage show,
smoke, lights and a great sound system.
Skilled musicians sing songs, words are on a screen, singing along is
optional.. and seldom.
And the music.. much of it is no longer worshipful..
good words, great sentiments, but impact
is less. I do enjoy watching the Ron
Carpenter Redemption service on TV early in the morning on Sunday’s. While the theatrics are sometimes over the top
..it is real enough and people are worshiping and you can see them. They
leave a light on for you. Once in a
while a song or verse of a song touches me. Seldom.. but when it does it is
good.
I do find my self of late drifting back to familiar
places. Southern Gospel and even
Quartets. Funny I couldn’t be less
southern if you painted me with fried green tomatoes juice. Yet the music I hear for instance as I often
do on line from 91.7 Hannibal MO the CROSS radio is so rich. I find myself caught up. I find catch lines that I ponder for a long
time. One song, “Grace ain’t Fair” was
humbling as I pondered it.
I long for better worship.
Soul stirring. It doesn’t have to
be slow and sad, it can be an anthem of victory. After all, that is what the Gospel is. Yes it is the good news of Jesus died, rose
again and paid for all our sins. But
equally as effective are the stories we tell of the Victorious Battles we have
fought in his name and the reports in our testimony. That is an even more powerful gospel. When people see what has happened to us in
our lives that makes all the difference.
That is good news.
To be clear my tastes are still eclectic in what I enjoy.
Opera, Classical, Cuban, Some old Rock from my long ago. Rap?
Nope. Most pop music? Nope (Ed Sheeran might be an exception). Excellence
is the key. Mediocre isn’t.
Maybe we can be like Willie and Waylon and get back to the basics
of love. Pastor Eddie Wilson keeps
posting remembrances of the early days.. I long for those. I believe a great awakening is coming and the
music we hear on K-Love that was good for a season will be replaced with music
from the heart of victory. There are a
few places you find some now an again.. but most is not it. I know when there is an anointing and I know
when there is NOT. When it becomes performance..
I tune out. In fact it offends me if someone is affecting something they don’t
have trying to lead worship. You can’t
impart what you don’t possess.
Don’t write me off as a grumpy old man.. I do qualify, I just want something that fans the fire in my heart… and I want to worship WITH .. not worshiped to.
