Is that the dinner bell!

The scientist Ivan Pavlov won the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his studies of the digestive system. His most famous experiment concerned the conditioned reflexes he developed with dogs. By ringing a bell every time he fed them, they began to associate the sound with their supper. It finally got to the point where they would salivate at the very noise whether meat was involved or not. So what does the work of a dead scientist have to do with music? I’m getting there.

I recently attended a neighboring church that sang a chorus I was not familiar with, but it could have been made for Apostolics. It was rousing and rollicking and I admit I wouldn’t mind having the chord sheet. When the music reached a particularly feverish pitch many in the congregation started jumping at the same time. I had to laugh to myself, because I knew what was happening. It was the Pentecostal version of the “dinner bell.”

I can remember growing up in church and the choruses that would come and go. There always seemed to be a particular tune that could get the people on their feet. One year it was:

What kind of church is this?
This is a sanctified church!
It’s a hand-clappin’, foot-stompin’, tongue-talkin’
Church of the living God.

Another favorite was:

Whose report will you believe?
We shall believe the report of the Lord.
His report says I am healed.
His report says I am filled.
His report says I am free.
His report says VIC-TOR-Y. (Duh-dah-duh-dah-duh-dah-dah-dah-DAH!)

I believe it was on the “VIC-TOR-Y” that we always started hopping up and down. And, oh, how exciting it was!

So there I was in another exciting service and I had missed my cue. Because I didn’t know the song. And I wasn’t programmed to respond to this particular “bell.” This all might sound a little cynical, and I really don’t mean it to be. I love our lively worship and I love people who are not afraid to be demonstrative in their praise. But I also think we should be careful not to salivate when there isn’t any “food” around. Are we jumping and dancing as part of our glorifying God? Or is it just a particularly funky chord pattern we like in the song? Let’s be sure that we keep the meat in our message, so that we really have something to shout about.

Several months ago we introduced a new song to the congregation, the
response was amazing. The song is still on the "favorites" list for Sunday
mornings. A couple of months after this, several of us saw the new Hillsong DVD
and the writer of this particular song was on stage with an oxygen tank reading
a passage from Isaiah prior to singing the song. We were all deeply moved and
the song took on new meaning for us.
This past week, it was revealed that the author of the song "Healer", Mike Giglielmucci, has faked a terminal illness for the past two years. He had successfully hidden it from his family and friends. It has been a topic of discussion for the past two days, and I found a response on a blog by John Finkfelde, an Australian pastor, that I would like to share.

Russell Evans, Planetshakers Church pastor, issued a statement last night about Michael Guglielmucci, renowned Australian pastor and song writer whose struggle with cancer has been widely chronicled. His song "Healer" has been featured on the latest Hillsong CD & DVD.

Michael Guglielmucci has informed us that he does not suffer from cancer, was never diagnosed with cancer, and has never suffered from the disease. This admission has come as a great shock to everyone including his wife and family who had no knowledge of the matter.

This shocking news has left me dumbfounded.

Michael's deception and betrayal will wreak havoc - unbelievers will mock the church, Christians in the workplace will face increased cynicism, pastors will be less trusted, and the supernatural nature of the gospel will be openly questioned.

So why do pastors lie?

Same reason anyone lies - approval, pride, survival, prestige, and ego.

The difference is that pastors are required to live impeccable (not perfect) lives so that Christ is honoured and people are shepherded securely.

This is an entirely appropriate demand. When leaders ignore it, hell rejoices and breaks loose.

What to do?

First, it's OK to be angry and disappointed.

Second, reject the easy option of projecting Michael's failure onto all and sundry. It's his sin, not mine... or yours.

Third, pray for... yourself, your friends, your church, & the Guglielmucci family. Also, the Planetshakers and Edge churches - it's going to be a tough Sunday for them this weekend.

Well said, John. By the way, I am still singing the dog out of
that song... I love it!

Self-help or Christian?

Sometimes I think I’m getting old and stubborn. Or maybe old and increasing inflexible. But I suppose I’ll leave that to you to decide. What brought this bit of self-examination on was a session the faculty at Gateway had recently with our accreditation advisor, Dr. Charles McNeeley. We were dissecting each word in our mission statement and objectives for the college when Dr. McNeeley brought up a point that, despite our careful wording, we sometimes had a tendency to overlook or worse, assume. His point was this: in all that we do as Christian instructors, we must always be careful to emphasize that without Jesus Christ, you are lost. Notice he didn’t say, “without GOD you are lost,” rather he specifically used the name of Jesus Christ. He told us it had to be all over every policy, every manual, every objective, every syllabus. In essence, it must permeate everything we do, say and write. Dr. McNeeley further pointed out that Muslims believe in God, Jews believe in God, DEVILS believe in God – and have the good sense to tremble! But they do not speak the name of Jesus Christ. This is the important difference.

What really got the wheels of my mind rolling was Dr. McNeeley’s final comment that he notices the lack of the name of Jesus in our music. I guess I’ve never thought about this until I considered that “God” is really a very generic term – used by myriad religions to represent myriad beings. So why do we leave Jesus’ name out of our music? Is it just because it doesn’t rhyme well? The syllables do not work out right? In reading through the lyric inserts in some recent CD’s I’ve purchased for myself or CD’s I am reviewing for this website, I not-so-shockingly discovered that many of them did not use the name of Jesus AT ALL!!

A deeper issue…..

Maybe I just think about this too much, but I have noticed that the definition of “Christian Music” has broadened quite a bit in the last few years. Many new Christian CD’s now contain music about life – what I call “self-help” music. This “genre” of music has exploded in much the same way that the self-help book genre has. Although I believe there is nothing wrong with writing a positive message about life, I don’t like to have to guess if the artist is singing to God, if God is singing to them or if they are singing to their significant other. Make sense? Of equal concern is what will those who know nothing of the Christian message think about the CD? Is the message too vague for the average listener to interpret? If you consider the music of Steven Curtis Chapman or Mercy Me, among others, you know exactly what they’ve had to say, where they are coming from and what they believe. Is it important to consider music from both the believer’s and unbeliever’s viewpoints? (As a side note, I don’t particularly care for the words “believer” and “unbeliever,” but will use them for lack of a better choice.)

Who are we about?

Dr. McNeeley later pointed out to me Ephesians 1:11-12, which states:

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

I think the bottom line could be simply stated as this: It’s not about us. This scripture talks about HIS will and HIS purpose and the fact that we are “for the praise of HIS glory.” This could be the only criteria we need with which to examine our music. There should be no compromise in our message for fear that we might offend a certain audience or better attract another. And this brings me back to the vagueness in the message of much of the music labeled “Christian.” Let there be no question about who is receiving the attention – the glory from the music we sing, whether in a congregational worship service, group or solo. Does it make us feel good or lift up Jesus Christ?

Just a Piano Player

I quit!

What else do you want from me? I'm just a piano player!

No, I can't give an extra hour of my life to "musician's practice" at church (on an off-night, no less), not to speak of the "six hours a week" I'm expected to devote to practicing my "technique" that our church's music director has "kindly suggested" that I need.

I play quite well if I do say so myself. I've only been playing for the last twenty years (and ten of those years as the "main" keyboardist)! So I don't know any 9 chords or 13 chords and I can only play in five different major keys and one minor key. It hasn't been important so far so why should I learn now?

I just left the hospital visiting my terminally sick uncle and have to run over to pick up my kid at daycare and rush him over to the church for Bible quizzing practice. And this on an "off-night" at church. And, during Bible quizzing practice I meet with some guys at Starbucks for a Bible study I've been teaching. One of them is actually getting baptized this Sunday. Otherwise that would have been a perfect time to run through the list of songs Dave gave me yesterday night for Sunday's service tomorrow. Oh well, maybe I can sneak in a few minutes during adult Sunday School.

I manage to make it through most of the songs without glaring errors, even when our music director is sick and I have to pick the keys and play out strong. I had to skip new chorus practice last month because we live 20 miles from church and can't afford to drive separately (my youngest needs to go home straight after midweek service and can't stay the 45-60 minutes it takes).

So if you don't appreciate what little I have to give, then maybe I am not serving God's purpose and I should resign. Or at the very least take a sabbatical until my life can be reorganized to meet your needs.

NOT!

I don't really have an uncle in the hospital and my three year old is not yet memorizing Scripture! And most of the rest of the above is complete fiction as well. Just thought I would toss y'all a bone to chew on.

Certainly, I have written the foregoing as an exercise in negatively arguing against my beliefs. I believe every musician needs to practice and needs to spend some time in prayer specifically over their music-making and the worship portion of the service prior to the start of service. But our musicians are a limited supply and mostly volunteer corps living in a world where time is a commodity that cannot be bought but at all too high a price. Given the option of practice or prayer within a tight schedule, I will choose prayer!

I desperately wish, at times, I had six (or even one or two) hours a week to devote to practicing. Ah, the days of college, two, three, four hours a day in the practice room! Drudgery at the time but never thought I would miss it!

One last request: please do not misunderstand me -- this is FICTION -- the "attitude" and any perceived "tone of resentment" in the foregoing in no way reflects my actual beliefs regarding doing music ministry. I respect and honor all sincere and humble church musicians.

What am I listening to? Not much, these days. What am I reading? A draft of David Norris's "I AM."