Why Contemporary?
In the world of Christian music, we are living in exciting times. Create for yourself an image of living in the time of Fanny J. Crosby (Frances Jane van Alstyne), prolific in the late 19th century with over 8000 hymns. Just as Bill and Gloria Gaither are known to almost everyone (and almost everyone can ‘hum’ at least on one of their songs), Fanny Crosby was likewise a household name. Her music was embraced and was loved in her own lifetime and is and will continue to be an inspirational to all Christians.
In our midst are composers, along with the Gaithers, who bring us beautifully crafted worship music, hymns, cantatas and more. For the most part, they are biblically accurate (not all) and for some, I believe truly God inspired. Twyla Paris, who happens to be one of my personal favorites, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech and Amy Grant are just a few of the composers of contemporary worship music who are active today. They have made a tremendous impact on the way churches conduct their worship services these days.
This is about mainstream contemporary church music. The more serious, classical type choral music is for another discussion. This is my view on why or why not contemporary music should be used in worship service. Choosing any music that will be used in service should be very discerning and picked wisely. There has been, unfortunately commercialization of Christian music to the point that some has no place in a worship service.
I was raised in the sixties; my dad was a preacher and I fondly remember small churches in country settings. One of these was a one room building with a pot-bellied stove in the center. No bathrooms except the one outside where you had to be careful of wasps and spiders. No parking lots, just grass surrounding the building. The few kids there would run around on the grass, and my greatest joy was finding a June bug. The grown folks would linger in conversation, with no desire to beat the crowd to the restaurant. I know some of you reading this will be taken back to that time and for a moment enjoy that feeling of peace.
That church was an exception; most were modern enough with indoor plumbing. But that example was very real, and the memories are very real. I remember using one songbook (hymnal) for years. I did not know there were others. We sang a limited number of hymns that would rotate so often and most of those would drag to the rhythm of a funeral dirge. We did not have musical instruments to help with the beat. I know the song leaders must have done their best and probably had no training; they were, however doing it for the right reason.
When I began to direct the music in church, at about 12 years old, I still chose for service the same hymns that I grew up with. I love these hymns, as do you and they will remain a part of who we are as Christians. The message of the hymns is to a large degree how we learned what we believe. They become a staunch part of our worship routine. They will always be a part of our continuing and unending walk with God.
In my own ministry, I have learned much and evolved in my thinking about music in the church. We cannot be stuck in the music of one generation. I hear too often from people that their church refuses to sing anything other than what is in their outdated hymnals. It becomes stale and mundane. The Bible will forever be unchanging, but the music does not have to be. New music is a way to keep the unchanging Word fresh and hopefully to reach more people.
So, why would we choose to learn new music? Why would we embrace this new age of contemporary worship music that has exploded in the past 20 years or so? We need to remember that all the traditional hymns we sing were at one time ‘new’. “How Great Thou Art”, although written as a poem in 1885, was not a song as we know it until 1949. It was a writing inspired by the power and majesty of God after witnessing a mighty storm and the resulting calm.
Contemporary writers are still inspired. They are inspired by their faith; inspired by this beautiful world God has given us; inspired by love; and all too often, inspired by tragedy and the found strength to endure that comes from their belief that God will heal, as is the powerful and maybe bittersweet story of Phillip Bliss. The task that was placed on his faith to endure such a loss and not question God’s reasoning was the truest test of faith a man could have. Out of his writing of “It Is Well with My Soul” comes the uplifting message of how we can ourselves endure the realities of this world and stand strong in the Lord.
I was moved by the story of Steven Curtis Chapman, a modern-day composer of Christian music, about his daughter Maria Sue Chunxi, who was accidently killed by her brother. Steven pours out his heart to God in his song, “Heaven Is the Face”. There are scores of similar modern-day stories that lead to inspiring songs that we want to embrace.
The stories about how and why these songs were written are just as powerful today as they were in Fanny Crosby’s day. We have an awesome God now just as we have always had. The Holy Spirit still touches us. From the word of Revelations 4:8 NIV, and used by contemporary composer Jennie Lee Riddle:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come.”
Brother Charles