Audience of One

Music and lyrics

My last entry’s main point was that those because the lyrics of the songs we sing (in church, CU, or by ourselves) stick in our minds, song selection can be seen as a form of teaching or pastoring, and therefore we should be discerning as to whom we ask to lead the music in our meetings.

It’s not a surprising topic to have been on my mind recently, given that as of Thursday I will be in charge of the music for the Bristol University Christian Union. Having thought about it a bit, I feel like it’s more of a responsibility than most other jobs in the CU. If music is a form of teaching, then it’s the only form of teaching in our meetings that we delegate entirely to a student without some form of direct support. In our central meetings, we get external speakers. In our small groups, the leaders are taught the passage by our UCCF staff worker beforehand. Our song selection will be left almost entirely up to me (and when I say almost entirely, I only mean that the executive committee will ask for a change if they decide I’m doing a really bad job).

It’s quite a big responsibility, and at the heart of it is issues of music and lyrics. Here’s Colossians 3:16 again:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Firstly, it’s the word of Christ that should be our focus. Up until now, a big focus in Collosians has been the person and work of Jesus, with all the benefits that it brings. In Collosians 1:28, Paul says “we proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom”, a phrase that directly parallels 3:16. The word of Christ is also a word about Christ. A big element of our song lyrics must be truth about Christ and what he has done. This isn’t the only thing meant here, because we also have the Spirit of Christ speaking through the Scriptures, so we can expand our definition to Biblical truth, perhaps with a particular focus on Christ. (I’m no scholar, so feel free to critique the exegesis here!)

Secondly, songs should be memorable, so the word can “dwell in us richly”. The best songs are those which stick in your minds, so that you’re singing truth to yourself throughout the day. Musically, then, they’ve got to be interesting, but not overly complicated.

Thirdly, we’re singing both to each other and God – “teaching and admonishing one another”, and with “thankfulness in (our) hearts to God”. There’s a vertical and horizontal element to our songs, and so the best songs speak truth to each other as well as praising God.

Fourthly, our songs should be singable. I’ve said already they should be interesting without becoming too complicated. This not only helps with memorability, it also helps us to sing them! From a musician’s perspective, many songs we sing are fine, but less musical people can find them too difficult. But Paul doesn’t say “to the musicians, you should sing”, he says everyone sings! So everyone must be able to sing the songs we choose.

Fifthly, we should sing a variety of songs. When Paul says “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”, I don’t think he’s necessarily referring to three different genres, but the meaning is clear – sing all types of songs, those based on Psalms, those not, those sung with organ, or electric guitar, or unaccompanied! There is no “right” form of Christian music stylistically, and in fact variety can be good. If all songs sound the same, they will be less memorable and have less of an impact.

In summary, then: our music should be singable, memorable and varied, with words that speak truth, sung to each other and God. We’re to be teaching each other through singing together; we’re to be praising God and reminding ourselves and each other about all we have to praise him for.

Having said all this, I need to engage with the potential divisiveness of music. Experience has told me that issues over music can be one of the things that aggravates or divides people – yet the previous verse in Collosians talks about peace and unity! How does the fact that a CU is a non-denominational society, made up of people from across the Christian spectrum, affect the role of music, or the type of music we should have? All I’ve said is general principles, but how does that fit in the specific case of a Christian Union? Hopefully I’ll get a chance to write soon!

Matthew @ 12:39, February 27, 2008 to Discussions | Comments (2)