What do YOU want?

I suppose there's lots of opportunity to write about bunches of stuff. After all, the way music and the Bible relate is a broad landscape of varying categories.

But what do you want to discuss, or know more about, or bring the Bible to bear upon?

Let me know and I can direct my efforts in ways that would really help the readers of this blog. God has put us all in different places, with different circumstances and different challenges. I would love to know what those are, and at least attempt to tackle them.

So please give me your ideas!

(And perhaps give me some ideas for a future book on church music...?)

Know Christ and make Him known!

Hymns and Things

What is the mix of songs that your church sings? Do you sing hymns? Modern praise songs? 70's and 80's choruses? Mix of everything? What are your preferences?

When it comes to singing in church, we must always remember what we're doing. We are responding musically to God's revelation of himself in his word. As God speaks to us, and as we know him more, we sing his praises and declare his greatness.

This immediately puts a slant on what we're doing when we sing. We're not a chart show, where we have to keep up with the latest tunes. Neither are we a music museum, where we carefully maintain and preserve historic church music. Nor are we an appreciation group, who holds tightly to a certain era of Christian music because that is what we like.

John Frame very helpfully in his book Worship in Spirit and Truth speaks of peoples' "language of worship". What this means is that in the many and varied people that make up the church, there are found different expressions of sincere worship. For some, the latest Tomlin stuff might be the best way for them to worship God. For others, it was the classic hymns that they learnt as children. And Frame counsels us to be sensitive to this.

After all, God's people are many and varied. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2v19: "So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."

The solution, then, is to sing everything. Don't create unnecessary categories in your worship. Our faith has a history, which makes older songs relevant, and God is active in the present, which makes modern songs relevant. There is no need to have one category at the expense of the other.

Of course, the difficulties present in this approach are twofold:

1. Though may need to be put into the arrangement of songs in order to make them accessible to a diverse congregation. This may mean playing the hymns in a traditional way, on the piano or organ, and slowing down to a stop after each verse. Or it may mean driving those hymns with a drum-beat and single chords for each bar, while keeping the same recognisable melody and traditional words. Perhaps more modern songs need to be played simpler to make them accessible, or they need to be rocked out. Know the people you're ministering to.
2. Love. This is probably the hardest thing to achieve when ministering to a diverse group of people. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4: "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." We need to love each other, humbly, gently and patiently. We have been joined by God's Spirit, in peace. If you are a musican, serve humbly by playing what is needed, and doing it well, rather than what you like. If you are in the pew and you don't like the songs being played, learn to love those for whom this is their sincere worship of God, and perhaps learn to worship with them, as you expect them to worship with you in the songs that mean something to you.

Jesus has loved us with an immeasurable, unending love. If we have been loved like that, how we can we not show love to those around us? It is a miracle that Jesus loves so many different people. In fact, it is a miracle that Jesus loves you.

Guitarists with GAS

The above is a great video on how to get different sounds from your guitar/amp/pedals rig. Loads of good ideas and funky combinations from the guys at Worship Central.

As I watched this video, though, I started to get a bit uncomfortable with the 'bit of funs' and 'kinda cools'. The more I thought about, I realised that the problem I had was with encouraging guitarists in a worship team to pursue a certain anorak-ism about guitaring that required the purchase of all sorts of fancy gadgets and gizmo's, notwithstanding the time and effort required to dial in settings, tap tempos, pump treadles, and then there's all the sticking on of little bits of velcro, the plugging in of little jack-to-jack-leads, arranging little cables... I can't tell the difference anymore between guitar players and guitar nerds! I think that the goal-posts for church music are being.

I am a guitarist, and one of the fun things about being a guitarist is the glittering treasure-trove of things you can buy - guitars, effects pedals, amps, slides, Ebows, pedal boards, power supplies... you end up with what's known as GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome - and no guitarist is truly immune. Macari's and Rose Morris in Denmark Street were like Santa's Grotto to me. I would spend afternoons in there just making puddles of saliva on the floor. For the record, I play a Tokai LoveRock (sycamore-topped beauty), through a Korg Pitchblack strobe tuner into an EHX LPB-1 '68 reissue booster set at 9 o'clock into a Boss Super Overdrive with a low gain and bit of treble boost into a vintage Boss CE-3 chorus(c. 1982) with low rate and high depth with the A out going into an EHX Holy Grail Plus reverb set to a wet-ish spring into the amp, and the B out going to a Samson S-Direct DI to the desk. I have a tendency for GAS - in spades.

But before I started building my rig, I was aware of the tendency to become like a child in a sweet shop, buying the latest gear, poring over magazines, and just generally believe satisfaction will come with next acquisition of gear. I wanted to use music to help people respond to God's Word sincerely in song. So I bought a good guitar that would be easy to use and play on stage, and a few basic effects to allow me the variety necessary to sit in the mix well. I dream about Giga-delays and Crybabys, but I am actually quite satisfied with what I have, and besides constantly improving my technique, there's enough sonic landscape to explore on my little pedalboard for a long time yet. I am a servant in ministry, so my brief is to serve, not to wow or make noises that are 'kinda cool'.

Maybe I can summarise what I'm trying to say in a few points:

• The simplest worship music is often the best. Trying to get too complicated will tend to narrow your field of view, causing you to disengage with those around you in corporate worship and to enagage more with the music you're creating. It's a small step from here to windfans in front of the stage...
• As a guitarist, don't overdo it. You're only there to point people to Jesus. Learn to ditch anything that might come in the way of that. If you like pedals, make sure that you are still being a good steward of the money God has given you, and keep them for private pleasure. Church is not an opportunity to play around with your latest Keeley-modified T-Rex Mudhoney. Effects pedals are not from the devil, but they are not the Holy Grail of music in church either (unless you're talking about my reverb unit).
• Don't lose the plot; be a servant; glorify Jesus.

Grumble.

The Leaner and Fitter Music Group

Evangelicals Now runs monthly magazine in the UK. The articles can be accessed online at http://www.e-n.org.uk. Of particular interest is the Music Exchange column, written by Richard Simpkin of St Helens church in London. Have a read of this month's article, entitled The Leaner and Fitter Music Group. I now have a piece of paper on the wall over my desk, reminding me to pray for the music team, and more specifically, what to pray for them.

iPod Oblivion = Gospel Oblivion?

I know, but this is still about Christians and music!

On Tuesday, I spent some time mowing the lawn. To make this unenviable task slightly more bearable, I took out my tiny (PRODUCT)RED iPod shuffle (social action at work here) that my lovely wife gave me as a graduation present, with our names laser-engraved on the back. I stuck the little white buds in my ears and I was in a happy place - shuffling through Velvet Revolver, Dido, Ben Harper, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Feist, Pearl Jam, Regina Spektor, The Fray...

I was in a state known commonly as iPod Oblivion. In New York City, legislation is under review that will make it illegal to use an iPod while crossing city streets. In 2007, two people were killed in Brooklyn and Manhattan after failing to notice cars bearing down on them as they crossed streets. In one instance, bystanders even screamed for the victim to "Watch out!", but she didn't hear.

But what if the little world I retreat into with my iPod wasn't just affecting my own safety, but that of others? As I mowed my lawn on that Tuesday, it drew nearer to 5 o' clock. I live in a complex, and that is just about the only time when you see people outside of their little boxes and on the streets and lawns of the complex. There are people getting out of the car to open the garage door, people taking the kids or the dogs for walks, people going on their after work run, people in their gardens spending some time in the green after working in the grey. What a wonderful opportunity to meet people and chat - and even try to have Gospel Conversations! Instead, the only contact I had really was the sight of some limply raised hands of greeting.

But here's the Christian with his loud lawn mower, bright white ear-buds firmly in his ears, and admittedly, not very approachable. It is probably quite an antisocial sight. But in this window of opportunity, I should be the one saying "Watch out!" to the unsuspecting victims of God's wrath. My iPod oblivion is nothing compared to their 'Christ Oblivion'.

As ambassadors for Christ, as those who have God's light in our hearts as treasures in jars of clay (2 Cor 4), as those whom God has chosen, we should be making the most of every opportunity. Whenever we are around other people, there is always the opportunity to chat and tell someone about Jesus.

When you are in the garden, out for a run, on the train or the bus or the taxi, at the gym, think twice about what opportunities you may have for the gospel, and don't put things in the way of that - because it really is the reason we're still here.

As for me, I'm going to mow the front lawn open-eared from now on, ready at every moment to switch off the motor and pass the time of day with my neighbours, get to know them and maybe even ask, "What church do you go to?"