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Moderation Is The Key-Rachael Gregson



 Last week when we were doing blogs I felt like I needed to defend Augustine, Basil, and their warnings on making worship music all about us rather than all about God, but after reading this particular assignment, Augustine's overthinking is starting to concern me. He strikes me as the type that's always 100% hard on themselves. Perhaps that was one of the biggest obstacles keeping him from truly committing to God at first, and even when he got to actually know God, I bet it still preyed on his mind. I felt like he reflected a lot of his self-criticism on how God saw him and pictured Him to be this harsh Judge who discouraged him from feeling any joy from his senses. True, we should not trust everything that our senses have to offer. What looks good, feels good, tastes good etc. may not actually be good so to speak, but I do believe that we can actually appreciate and enjoy the wonders of our Father's creation through our physical senses. When I get pleasure from watching children play on a swing set, there's nothing wrong with achieving that pleasure; and when the wind blows right as I'm walking past some blossoms and I get peace and enjoyment from their sweet scent, there's also nothing wrong with that pleasure either. The key to it all is moderation, and to me St. Augustine seemed like the kind of guy who struggled with deciphering between a selfish "all about me" pleasure and an awestruck innocent pleasure that is just preoccupied with appreciating the sights of the world. Concerning worship music, it is harmful to go into it with the former viewpoint, but I think there's nothing wrong with getting personal enjoyment from listening to it like the latter suggests just as long as you never forget who that music's actually honoring in the first place. Pleasure isn't all wrong, nor does every kind of pleasure take away from God; it's the intentions behind pleasure that we have to watch out for.


I commented on blogs by Haley Riddle and Madalyn Dillard. 

Comments

  1. Brooke HutchesonFebruary 7, 2021 at 4:45 PM

    Rachel, you made some great points. I think we should find pleasure in worship music since it should be something we enjoy. If we did not take pleasure in worship music, we would be singing for no personal, spiritual benefit. In church today, the pastor talked about letting God steer us instead of allowing our flesh to control our impulses.

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