Is music in the church a distraction from God? Is music, instead, a thing that points us to God?
This struggle is evident in the church today as it was in the time of Saint Augustine. Common to worship services today, are hymns or contemporary music. We have accepted music as an integral part of our worship rituals. But have we allowed this expression of our worship to become more centered around ourselves than God?
This is a problem that Saint Augustine is faced with in his Confessions. Similar to his issue, we are caught in the conflict between responding to the warm, fuzzy feelings music evokes, and responding to the meaningful truth behind the music.
Saint Augustine says it best: "When it happens to me that I am moved more greatly by the song than by what is sung, I confess that I am sinning and deserve punishment, and then I would rather not hear the singer..."
There should be a balance between allowing music to remind us of the beauty and goodness of God, and allowing the music to become the only focus. It is only when we allow the music, the melody, the sound, to take the place of importance that we lose focus. Music becomes a hindrance and pulls us away from God when we let our feelings get in the way and our focus gets pulled inward.
However, Saint Basil, in his Homily on the First Psalm, gives a different insight into music in the church. He says music is an avenue through which we can accept the doctrines of Christ. He likens it to a doctor who coats the rim of a medicine cup with honey. The pleasantness of the melodies which speak of Biblical truth makes that truth more easily acceptable.
Saint Basil says, "A psalm is the tranquillity of souls, the arbitrator of peace, restraining the disorder and turbulence of thoughts, for it softens the passion of the soul and moderates its unruliness..."
While there is truth to the idea that music can be an avenue for sin in the church, another idea is that music can be an avenue for worship. Should we limit our worship of God through song simply because there is the possibility of sin? It is so easy for us to float to the wrong end of the spectrum and allow our focus to be on ourselves; the feelings of self-awareness we experience more than the object of our worship. If we were to take music from the church in an effort to be rid of temptation, would we not, as sinful people, easily find another way to sin? Would we not turn another act of worship intended for God into an act of self-worship?
It is important for us to remember that the purpose of music in the church is to glorify God. It can be a beautiful thing if we choose to let our selfishness take a back seat, and allow ourselves to focus on God's greatness instead.
Augustine, Confessions, 10.33
St. Basil (ca. 330-379), Homily on the First Psalm. trans. William Strunk, Jr., Oliver Strunk, and James W. McKinnon, in SR 9 (2:1), pp 121-22.
Commented on Caroline's and Emmett's posts.
I think that the line could be drawn in the context of the motives of the worship. If a musician playing the worship song begins to show off their skill instead of simply letting the lyrics and passion of the piece speak for itself, then they would be called selfish; and rightfully so. But if said musician plays the instrumental the way it is either written or tabbed (tabs are used for guitar), then they effectively give God the control to "work his magic" and change lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we must find a balance between using worship to praise God and making worship the main focus. I think it is important that we worship and praise God but we should not let the music of worship distract us from the real reason we worship. We worship to praise God. There is a difference in being at worship and being a part of worship. When you are at worship you are simply there to sing the song but when you are a part of worship you are there to praise God.
ReplyDeleteYou make a valid point that singing to glorify God can often be an avenue for sin, the same can be said for literally anything else that can be done with the intent to glorify God. I think we should not limit the way we worship because there is a possibility of sin because, like I said, there is the potential to sin in literally everything we do.
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