Andrew Peterson: I Want to Say I'm Sorry

In the Night My Hope Lives On

Here is one of my favorite Andrew Peterson songs:

Priests as Prophets

Richard Pratt notes that prophets have a huge role in I and II Chronicles. They are mentioned almost forty times. One way the Chronicler emphasizes the role of the prophet in Israel is by calling the Levites prophets. Here is what Pratt says:

The Chronicler highlighted the importance of prophecy by assigning a prophetic role to many Levites. On a number of occasions he designated Levites as "prophets" and "seers" (I Chr. 25:1-5, 2 Chr. 20:14, 24:20, 29:30, 35:15). This identification appears in Chronicles more clearly than any other portion of the Old Testament. It probably reflects the conviction that the Levites, especially the musical Levites, had a prophetic role in the post-exilic community. 

A Biblically Sound Worship Ministry

A Biblically Sound Worship Ministry

1. Will be overseen and preferably led by biblically qualified elders in the church. By the way, the first requirement to be an elder is that they are male. This rules out female worship leaders. 
2. Will make it a priority to hire a full or part-time music pastor, who could shepherd the church through music and song. This man will be trained theologically, pastorally, and musically. My point is that if a church has the ability to hire more than one pastoral staff member this position should be at the top of the list.
3. Will seek to be faithful to God’s Word in content and form. 
4. Will sing God’s Word, especially the Psalms. And will constantly be searching for more of God’s Word set to music.
5. Will study at the feet of God’s people from the past, seeking to use tradition wisely.
6. Will not be afraid of contemporary songs or forms, but will use them wisely to convey God’s Word to God's people.
7. Will highlight the voice of the congregation. This means most songs, after they are learned, will be accessible to most of God’s people. It means there should be regular singing without the aid of instruments.  It means instruments should support the people’s voices not overwhelm them.
8. Will sing songs that have a variety of tempos, moods, lengths, and themes.
9. Will express this variety using the God-given resources in the congregation.
10. Will be grateful for all they have, but will seek to use all they have to push on to greater Biblical maturity. 

How to Pursue Reformation in Church Music

          There are two perpetual temptations in worship. The first is to believe that older is automatically better. The group clings to the past like it is a magic charm. To them it is a window to better days when the church was “more pure.” There is no maturing in the church for this group. For this group, worship music is largely culturally defined, but the culture is an older one. The second is to assume that newer is automatically better. The culture has moved on from “Holy, Holy, Holy” and if the church is to reach the culture she must move on as well. There is very little to learn from the early church for this group. For this group, worship music is to a large degree culturally defined, but the culture is only the newest one. Let’s be clear, while the first error does exist, it is the second error which is the great temptation of our age. We must move on. We must be relevant. The great sin of our age is to look old.

            At Christ Church we would like to avoid both these errors.  As we pursue reformation in church music here are some things to remember. They are not in any particular order. 

1. We should be grateful for what we have. We live in an age of complainers. We whine about everything, including church music. Yes, there is always room for improvement. Yes, we all  cringe at certain songs. Yes, it would be nice if we had the Psalms that were not paraphrased set to music. Yes, it would be nice if we had better contemporary music. But God has been good to us. We have a great musical heritage from Ambrose to Luther to Wesley. We have more and more Psalms being set to music every year.  Growth comes from gratitude not from grumbling.
2. Any reformation in church music must be built on the foundations of love for Christ and love for his people. If we seek reformation because we want to be “traditional” or because we want to be “relevant” we are going to make fundamental mistakes.  Love for Christ and love for the Church form the center.
3. Singing in worship revolves around two primary things: faithfulness to God’s Word and the voice of the people. Everything else is important, but secondary to these two things. This is why our fathers chanted. They could chant the Word of God exactly as it is. And chanting highlighted the voice of the people.
4. Musical growth is dictated by God’s Word not by our current culture. That means our primary means of evaluating our singing will be the Bible.
5. We should want to thoroughly ingest the older songs and the older ways of singing. These men are our fathers in the faith. We should sit at their feet before we seek to stand on their shoulders. This does not mean we will like all their songs or methods. But it does mean that each church should seek to live within the stream of Christian tradition. No church should sing only new hymns and choruses and completely reject the older tradition. This only shows arrogance.

Why Bach Still Matters

Here are four good posts from Greg Wilbur on what the church can learn from Johann Sebastian Bach. Below the posts are ten principles Wilbur derived from studying Bach. If you want a book length treatment of Bach's life you can read Wilbur's book Glory and Honor.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Principle #1: A worship leader should be a student of Scripture who is constantly seeking to reform their ideas, worship, and aesthetics to the Word of God. God is the standard of beauty and excellence—our worship should seek after biblical excellence and objective beauty, goodness, and truth.

Book Review: What is Worship Music?

What Is Worship Music?: Basics of the Faith Series by Paul S. Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A brief (38 pages) introduction to some parameters for worship music. The author comes from the reformed perspective, which I agree with. He had many good points, that were clearly stated and provided food for thought as I prepare the liturgy for my church. The one thing I wish he would have addressed more clearly was the use of instruments in the service. I think the book would be helpful for anyone trying to get a general grasp on what our theological priorities should be as we worship.


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