May 12, 1999
EDITORIAL:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the chorus
___OK, stand up and stretch. Take a deep breath. Sit down and get comfortable. Now, let's talk about two words that may make you tense up all over again: "Worship music."
___Nothing seems to stir Baptists' passions like a discussion of the way we worship. Specifically, Baptists get fired up about the way we sing when we worship. We've lived through two decades of convention controversy, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, clapping in church, Calvinism, a veritable alphabet of Bible translations and Monicagate. But Baptists seem to get more anxious about worship music than anything else. Since the first of the year, only one week has elapsed in which the Baptist Standard did not receive at least one agitated, passionate letter about worship music. Some people are ready to go to war over worship music.
___It's time to call a truce.
___Somebody--most likely, the good name of Jesus our Savior--could get hurt.
___To older members of our congregations, who have been aggrieved by the rampant riff toward praise choruses: Your pain is palpable.
___You grew up singing Fanny Crosby, B.B. McKinney, the Wesleys and Isaac Watts. Words of the great hymns define your faith, detail your missions-mindedness, describe your hope. Those solid hymn tunes soothe your soul, just like the Balm from Gilead. Those of us brought up in the Broadman Hymnal and the 1956 Baptist Hymnal know how you feel about these grand old songs.
___You weep, figuratively if not literally, when you sit through a worship service and do not hear a familiar tune. When you go to church, you feel as if you're visiting a once-familiar home in which all the furniture has been moved and the walls painted.
___To promoters of praise choruses, who have been subject to constant criticism for introducing "foreign" sounds into worship: Your frustration is understandable.
___You want our churches to be inviting places, where spiritual seekers and strangers can come and feel comfortable as well as comprehend what's happening. You hope worship will be a holy time, a sacred moment in which both saints and seekers find their rest in the Lord.
___You have introduced new forms of music because you realize younger worshippers never heard of "bulwark" and wouldn't think to say, "who wert, and art, and evermore shall be" in a million years. Mostly, you're singing words right out of Scripture, set to new tunes.You're trying to make worship approachable for new generations.
___Worship has become war between two groups of well-meaning Baptists. That's not surprising, because worship is vital for the Christian. We care passionately about how we approach God, enrich our souls, proclaim our praises.
___However, we're dividing many of our churches and damaging our witness in numerous communities because we keep verbally bludgeoning each other over what we sing when we worship. This must stop.
___To our elderly and others who despise praise choruses: Recall the Apostle Paul's admonitions to "stronger" Christians to act in ways that would strengthen "weaker" Christians (1 Corinthians 8). Today, that may mean abiding some changes in worship in order to help reach younger people. Change is hard and frustrating, but often it is necessary. And remember that Jesus and the apostles never heard an organ, never saw a Baptist Hymnal.
___To our innovators: Remember Paul's command not to rebuke an elder (1 Timothy 5:1). Today, that may mean holding back from forcing absolute change on people.
___To both sides: "Be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility" (1 Peter 5:5b). Respectfully work together to build up God's kingdom, reach unbelievers and strengthen the church.
___Find a win-win solution--for hymn-lovers and praise-worshippers alike. Perhaps it can be a "blended" service, which incorporates hymns and high-quality praise music. Maybe you can offer both traditional and contemporary worship services on Sunday morning. Or you might conduct a traditional service in the morning and a contemporary service in the evening.
___Look to the Lord for help. The same God who inspires beautiful music is available to help you worship in ways that uplift seekers and saints alike.
___ --Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@flash.net
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