Still hangin' with the saints...

So, I'm still over there. At CSOP, that is. And Josh's post from last week really inspired me to dig into an issue I've been curious about for some time: how do you know when to draw the line on what music styles are acceptable in a typical church sevice? Boy, oh boy, I can already hear the wheels turning out there. As for me, I'm not really sure. I'll admit up front that I'm not in the least into a lot of what is popular today, and so I have to be careful in judging what other people are listening to. Mostly I just stand there and smile and chalk it up to my age, my temperament, my classical background, or just the fact that I don't understand it. But one comment on Josh's blog got me to thinking. Someone asked if we should include all genres and subgenres of music in our services just because new converts, or for that matter, those raised in the church, preferred a particular style. I don't know.....

"In but not of......"

I remembered an article I read some time ago written by L.R. Ooton. For those of you who don't know him by name, I'm sure you'll know him by his song "To Be Like Jesus." It appears he was a "one-hit wonder" when it came to song writing, though he actually wrote quite a few. In an article written in 1939 for The Pentecostal Outlook he wrote a lengthy article on the infiltration of "jazz" into church music. At first I chuckled, thinking if we took out all the jazz influence from our music.......wow, where would we be? He stated, "It seems bad enough to live in the midst of such an evil influence [jazz], but alas! the church has become contaminated with this jazz craze." He also stated, "Thousands are beginning to see the diabolical effect that these strange songs with their split beats, their syncopated accents, and their "jungle -like" rhythms, put together with words that speak only of the carnal man, are having on the lives of our youths. The influence of Godless song is leading our youth astray. It is high time to protest." It appears we have been hashing this out for longer than I realized!

So my question is: what constitutes "Godless song?"

Which reminds me......

Kent asked me to include something I had written in response to a question. Just one more thing to stir the pot.... One blogger basically stated that if we are going after "rock" music then we should go after classical music. After all, isn't classical music secular, too? Well, sorry, but that's right in my wheel house. This is often suprising to most people, but not all classical music is secular! To give you the adbriged version of my response let me say this: As an example, J.S. Bach, (and there are many others: Haydn, Mendelsshon, Brahms, Handel to name a few) being praised for his music, decided he would write NO secular music because he believed all glory for talent should go to God! Imagine! Thus, ALL his music is sacred. Yes, yes, even that organ Fugue in D minor that you hear at Halloween. He inscribed all his music with INJ (In Jesus' Name) or To The Glory of God Alone or With The Help of God. One experience I have to share is the time in a piano lesson during my college years when my VERY openly gay teacher said very reverently, after I had played a piece by Bach, "You know, there's something very cleansing about that music." I nearly fell off the bench. Seems old Bach had something going with God.

I'm not on a defense of classical music, rather, just using it to make a point that the spirit, theme and lifestyle of the composer/writer should influence our decision to listen. I tell my students there are some composers you shouldn't listen to, for instance, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Scriabin, Schoenberg. This could go hand in hand with music today.

Okay, this is much too long - sorry Kent!

I can't wait to hear everyone's opinions - I'm a sponge!