Re: Music Cover Package, February
I am a professional pastoral musician, someone who feels called to music ministry in the church as a vocation from God; in this capacity, I have been privileged to serve congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and other denominations in both Canada and the United States, for nearly 20 years. I wanted to say that your four-article cover story on issues related to music in the church is very timely, and the content on balance is exceptional — particularly the lead article, “Seek to Be Changed,” by Gordon McCrostie.
I have to tell you that I was wary when I first saw the cover with its caption, “Why the Music in Church No Longer Inspires.” I was filled with apprehension… Was this going to be another attack on the few people courageous (some may say, foolhardy) enough to step forward and lead the music ministries of our local congregations? Was this going to be a “manifesto” (to borrow a term from the previous issue concerning the process of change in the church) for doing away with organs and hymnody in favour of praise bands and screens, another salvo in the “worship wars?” As this article was penned by a theologian and not a musician (as far as I knew), would it be fair and balanced? Would the author care enough not to heighten the level of fear and anxiety among many of my music minister colleagues, who frequently feel underappreciated, even threatened with unemployment, by clergy and congregational leaders?
What a blessing this article turned out to be! Gordon McCrostie must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit for boldly laying out his arguments for the reform of the worship experience. My ordained colleague in the congregation that I serve has been preaching for several months that our worship ought to allow our people to “experience something of heaven.” In other words, for worship to be precisely the “transforming experience” that McCrostie describes. The author’s emphasis on the enhanced use of music and the other creative arts in worship — and on moving from the old emphasis on lyric content toward a new ideal of communication beyond words — is very much our own emphasis here in Guelph, where we are working to develop the same “culture of tolerance” for musical expression, and to encourage participation as a doorway to God.
The best part is, however, something that McCrostie neglects to mention — or perhaps something that he treats elsewhere in his thesis but was excluded here for lack of space. Anybody can do this! With the proper guidance from those with the requisite training, through workshops, summer music camps, retreats or individual study, any of our worship leaders can animate new ways of leading, and doing, congregational music ministry. This is something which, going forward, is a great comfort to me in these times of dizzying change: that the music and worship experience in our congregations is alive, and growing in its capability to allow worshippers to experience genuine transformation through the presence of the Risen Christ in their lives!
The thing is, we need access to that training — not just to printed or recorded resources. The reality is that our congregations, on average, are quite small, and that many of them rely on volunteer music leadership that tends to be piano and/or organ-based. How do we equip these music ministers for the future without driving them away in the present? And, should we need to engage more musical and other artistic professionals in the ministry of worship, are we prepared to honour their expertise with appropriate compensation and recognition of their skills?
I hope that we, as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, can really make these kinds of enhancement of our worship and music ministry a genuine priority, and that in so doing we get out of the way of the Holy Spirit in leading this new Reformation of the worship of God.
