I have a valued friend who is in a deep struggle about the worship he experiences in most churches today.  To him, most music that is played in church does not properly approach God with reverence and respect.

“There should be a difference between the music we hear in church, which should prepare us in worship for the receiving of the Word, and the music we hear otherwise (whether it is Christian music or otherwise)”, he asserts. “We should not bring the world into church” through the music we use in services.  Most music is just not appropriate for preparing hearts to praise and to receive teaching.  “In every genre of music, when you hear a little of it, you know what it is.  Country.  Jazz.  Rock.  Classical.  But when you hear Christian music, it doesn’t sound like one type of music.”

I try to understand what type of music should be played in the church for worship, and he digresses.  Largely, it sounds like classical sounding music is the right stuff, but then he cites Ephesians 5:19, in which we are told to sing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”.  He knows what psalms and hymns are.  What he wants others to think about, and to give him a definition of, is what a “spiritual song” is.  Here, then, he is using Ephesians 5 as a rule for church life within a service.

This topic is one of deep concern to my friend, because he believes that if we disrespect God in church, where else can we truly gather together and communally worship Him in spirit and truth.

He has on several occasions brought up and expounded on this topic when we have been together.  It’s often a leap from a casual conversation into dire doctrines, and I usually at this point quick talking, try to listen, wonder if I am going to be swallowed by an earthquake, and try to offer a few benign head nods and “Uh huh”‘s here and there, so that he knows I am listening.  But I rarely engage him on this topic.

I can understand his passion when he looks at this issue, and wants at all costs to uphold the holiness and sanctity found within a house of worship.  He believes that God is loving, but he also thinks we are to flippant with God most of the time.  Most American Christians do not come to God with awe and reverence and humility, remembering He is the God of Moses who shook down the Egyptians, or the God of  Joshua who gave Israel Canaanite city after Canaanite city, or the God of Elijah and Elisha, who dispatched false prophets with impunity.  Rather, my friend struggles with the fact that many Christians (or at least the American ones) view God too much as  a cosmic Santa Claus or as a big stuffed teddy bear, that they can hug and play with when they want and then dispose of until they feel like loving it again.  American Christians largely like to meet God in the way they like to live their lives- in comfort and convenience, at their whim, for their ends.

I can see his point.

As for me, I am a bit younger than he is.  Before he mentioned his concerns with church music, I had never given it much thought- that by singing some songs in the sanctuary, we may be letting the world into the church.  That we may be injuring our ability to see God for who He is.  That we may be distracting ourselves from God and the Gospel and their work in our lives, because we do not approach God with a proper respect and awe.

I am one of those guys who is guilty of taking God’s love to extreme.  I readily admit that my heart overflows with gratitude when I think about the compassion and mercy of the Father.  I steer away from the images of God that he suggests we shouldn’t forget: that God, in retribution for sin in the world, flooded it in Noah’s day;  that, seeing the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah, He gave Lot’s family an out but then fried them to a crisp;  that, due to the immorality and idolatry of His chosen people, God let Israel fall into destruction.

God is not all puppy dogs and rainbows, accommodation and acceptance.  He is still not someone to be trifled with.

I am still searching for the question within my friend’s question about the suitability of songs which should be sung in the sanctuary.  I am not totally turned off by the riding guitars, the driving drums, and layered vocals that provide a base for my worship times during church each weekend.  I do find my heart prostrate before Him in praise as I sing the words and listen to the lyrics of songs used in services each week.  Mostly, behind the singing, I feel my heart reaching for Him more than I might during more mundane days of the week.

Still, he asks a good question about preparation and posture before God when we come to hear the Word.  Do we bring the world into the church with us to greet the Word?  Or, may we bring the world into the church with us to meet the Word, so that by the Word, we may cleansed of it?

All I know, and what I hope, is that when I worship God in psalm, hymn or spiritual song, I hope my heart is focused on being reminded and knowing that He is worthy of my praise.  I am the one who needs to understand what it is that I am doing, and why, I worship Him.