Muzical Musings II

This is the second of an incomplete series of postings about the leading and delivery of Sung Worship.... What is supposed to be happening when its Done Well, and what do we have to do to deliver that ?

It seems to me that a good way to analyse and discuss Sung Worship and how it might be Done Well, is to look at the 'outputs', the what we want or hope for, and then to ask what 'inputs' should help deliver the desired outputs.

So, I offer nine outputs that might indicate Sung Worship Done Well.

1) First, the worshippers genuinely know and feel they are worshipping God. Its subjective, but essential. Since the God of the Bible consistently describes himself as 'the living God', and repeatedly states he is 'with' or 'among' His people, visibly as they crossed the desert, and internally by his Spirit, and since he invites His people to 'approach' him, to 'draw near' to Him, to address Him directly in word and song, it seems reasonable to expect those who do so know and feel that they are actually doing so.

2) Aspect(s) of the sung truth(s) help to extend, confirm or enhance our appreciation of God. This might be through their freshness, their ability to evoke, or perhaps their juxtaposition with other truths. It could be a function of the original or uncommon way of expressing truth employed by the lyric writer, or it might just be the ordinary bedrock glories of the gospel unexpectedly 'lighting up' as they are sung.

3) The sung Truths and their melodies stick in mind and memory long after the event. Of course, this is 'upon reflection', but the humming of a melody after the event has finished, the singing to oneself of half lines and their arising unbidden during the day suggests that something has penetrated the hearer and lodged within. Then when phrases or lines or even whole verses come to mind days or weeks later, surely it is an endorsement of what went in, since we have added them to our armoury of truth and truth reflections. Doubtless, it is not necessary to have acquired those during Sung Worship, they could easily have come from a concert, a You Tube clip, or a music download. But, I suspect that its the corporate experience that is the most effective and has the highest penetrative power.

4) Sometimes Dark Moods are lifted, Joy is regained, or crass frivolity is dismissed. The hymn writers and composers of previous centuries often held that the mood and emotion of music had a spiritual dimension to it. Perhaps thinking of David playing for Saul, they expected their congregations to receive spiritual benefit from the combination of mood and truth present in their compositions, and to find that during sung worship, pessimism, despair, or grief might be lifted, or that faith would be strengthened, or that appropriate gravity or seriousness would be fostered. I think that they were probably right.

5) Each piece sung supports the next one(s) naturally, and there is no contradiction or 'jarring'. This is mainly a plea for keeping the overall picture in mind, and avoiding unhelpful or contradictory juxtapositions of mood or melody.  Examples may seem a little forced, but sharp contrasts of style can throw the worshipper(s), as can contrasts of energy or expected participation.

6) A regret that it always ends too soon, and a feeling that 'I'm glad I came here today'. This is similar to '1' above. Its a vote of 'yes', we, or I was aware of whom we worshipped today, and I could have stayed longer.  In that sense, every gathering to worship should be a foretaste of glory, a canape before the wedding feast of the Lamb.  Canapes are delightful, vibrantly tasty, and hint at much greater things to come, so should Worship Done Well, not least the Sung bit.

7) Worshippers can be heard and seen 'putting their backs into' the truths they sing. Few things sap the worshippers energy as thoroughly as standing among people singing like zombies, still more dispiriting is the sight of people with mouths clamped firmly shut, refusing to sing.  But when the opposite is visible, the encouragement to join in is delightfully attractive.

8) There are smiles, occasionally tears. A smile says 'yes', albeit transiently.  The tears are less easy to read, and may say more about individuals than about the worship at that point, but both suggest that the Done Well may be happening.

9) Worshippers are not very conscious of those leading/playing, or focused on them over-much. Admittedly, some multi-task more readily than others, and they may well observe all that is going on, while still remaining fully engaged in worship.  But they are a minority.  For most, where the eyes go, the mind soon follows.  Hence a certain 'invisibility' of those leading and playing is a good thing.


And how do we help bring those nine about... that is Part III.