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On December 20, 2016 By In Theology, Worship

10 Questions Preachers Should Ask Before Sunday Morning

I have been a pastor for almost a decade. I spend between 12-15 hours each week thinking, researching, and writing before I deliver the first words in my Sunday sermon.a The process of writing my sermon goes through a lengthy journey each week. I contemplate several questions from Monday to Friday which force me to edit and re-edit my manuscript. There is no perfect sermon, but a sermon that goes through revisions and asks import questions has a much better chance of communicating with clarity than the self-assured preacher who engages the sermonic task with nothing more than academic lenses.

I have compiled a list of ten questions I ask myself each week at some point or another.

Question #1: Is this language clear? When you write a manuscript ( as I do) you have an opportunity to carefully consider the language you use. I make a habit of reading my sermon out loud which leads me to realize that certain phrases do not convey the idea clearly. A well-written sermon does not necessarily mean a well-delivered sermon. Reading my sermons out loud causes me to re-write and look for other ways to explain a concept or application more clearly.

Question #2: Is there a need to use high theological language in this sermon? Seminary graduates are often tempted to use the best of their training in the wrong environment. People are not listening to you to hear your theological acumen. I am well aware that some in the congregation would be entirely comfortable with words like perichoresis and Arianism. I am not opposed to using high theological discourse. Words like atonement, justification, sanctification are biblical and need to be defined. But extra-biblical terms and ideologies should be employed sparingly. Much of this can be dealt in a Sunday School class or other environments. High theological language needs to be used with great care, and I think it needs to be avoided as much as possible in the Sunday sermon.

Question #3: Can I make this sermon even shorter? As I read my sermons each week, I find that I can cut a paragraph or two easily, or depending on how long you preach, perhaps an entire page. This is an important lesson for new preachers: not everything needs to be said. Shorter sermons–which I strongly advocateb–force you to say what’s important and keep some of your research in the footnotes where it belongs. Preachers need to learn what to prioritize in a sermon so as not to unload unnecessary information on their parishioners. (more…)

  1. Thankful for great interactions before this article was published. It helped sharpen my points  (back)
  2. By this I mean sermons no longer than 30 minutes  (back)

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On October 31, 2016 By In Culture, Music, Worship

A Mighty Fortress: Then & Now

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A Mighty Fortress: Then & Now

Unless you grew up in a Lutheran church, chances are that you’re singing quite a bit different version of that great hymn of the Reformation, Ein feste burg ist unser Gott or A Mighty Fortress is Our God. This great hymn based on Psalm 46 has a story that the average evangelical Christian has not heard. Here’s an audio post with sound clips explaining how this hymn has changed over the years. There is more that could be said and those who could say it more eloquently, but my hope is that we can begin to better appreciate this hymn in ways we hadn’t before.

Here’s the direct link to the audio file: https://kuyperian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/EinFesteBurg-ThroughHistory.mp3.

-Jarrod Richey

P.S. – Here’s a link to the PDF of the Lutheran version closest to what Martin Luther penned:

 https://kuyperian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/AMightyFortress-Lutheran-LETTER-.pdf

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On March 4, 2016 By In Politics, Theology

Andy Stanley’s Big Frustration with Little Churches

Post by Uri Brito and Dustin Messer

In a recent sermon, Andy Stanley made the staggering observation:

When I hear adults say, ‘Well I don’t like a big church, I like about 200, I want to be able to know everybody,’ I say, ‘You are so stinking selfish. You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don’t care about your kids…anybody else’s kids.’ You’re like, ‘What’s up?’ I’m saying if you don’t go to a church large enough where you can have enough Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers to separate them so they can have small groups and grow up the local church, you are a selfish adult. Get over it. Find yourself a big old church where your kids can connect with a bunch of people and grow up and love the local church.

Stanley has since apologized in the way modern preachers apologize: via twitter. 

While we take him at his word (or tweet, as the case may be), this was not simply a slip of the tongue. While he may be sorry for the way in which he communicated the message—even sorry for a specific sentiment in the message—one can’t fake the sort of passion exhibited by Stanley as he described his antipathy for small churches. Again, we believe he’s genuinely sorry we’re offended, but Stanley clearly has heartfelt feelings about non-megachurches (microchurches?) that didn’t begin or end with the sermon in question. Below are three reasons we feel such a sentiment is harmful: (more…)

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On December 11, 2015 By In Music, Worship

Pipes Worth Playing: Four Lost Lessons from the Pipe Organ

PipesWorthPlaying-FeaturedImageI know what you’re thinking. Organ: funeral, ball game, grand dusty cathedral. Why should modern Christians of such a technological age revisit a thousand year-old instrument? Don’t worry, I will not be trying to punch another hole in my Weird Music Preferences and Opinions card here. The truth is, our Christian culture is missing out on one of the great blessings to the Christian church, an instrument with capabilities that lend both strength and maturity to how we worship. Only a caricature of what it once was, the pipe organ has endured a history that has left it unloved or at best uninteresting to most Evangelical Christians in America today. By remembering its origin and the theology connected to its design, we can push air once again through the pipes with joy!

First, the pipe organ was built for the Christian church.

It was installed into the actual walls and framework of protestant and catholic churches and cathedrals throughout western civilization. No other instrument is installed with such permanence. This is not an argument of who had it first, rather this is a call for Christians to revisit the value of this instrument not in the narrow light of its present-day uses, but in the broader light of history. The pipe organ’s design was intentional, purposeful in church worship, and ever pointing to God as no other instrument was made to do.

Second, the pipe organ highlights God’s diligent sovereignty in creation.

  All is lifeless without His hand as the organ does not spontaneously create music without a master’s hands. The hundreds of pipes and sound combinations require the fingers of a master musician on the keyboard manual and the subsequent inspiration of air through the bellows and pipes. The hollow tubes of metal and wood stand dormant until this inspiration gives way to sound. The pipes of various lengths and sizes remind us that through the multitude of layers in God’s created order, all come under submission to the composer and chief musician who gives them life and purpose. The pipe organ’s bellows moving air through flue and reed pipes much like the human lungs moving air through larynx and vocal reeds is a creational model of the Holy Spirit breathing life and transforming cacophony into a symphony of sound that proclaims his goodness and glory. (more…)

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On October 17, 2015 By In Culture, Music, Worship

Project Aims to Make Liturgical Music More Accessible

A new set of worship songs rooted in the ancient praise of God

This week, Santa Cruz, Calif. church planter Rob Patterson launched a Kickstarter to create a new liturgical music project to serve the Church—particularly church plants like his.

In an interview with Andrea Bailey Willits (The Diocese of Churches for Sake of Others) he explained his the motivation behind the project.

“My journey into Anglicanism, with its liturgies, seasons and rhythms, has given birth to some new worship songs,” Patterson says. “These songs are meant to serve the church, particularly liturgical church plants where big rock worship can feel too big, and where some of the tradition’s older music can feel a bit inaccessible.”

Folksy Liturgical Style

In a folksy acoustic style, Patterson has taken some older texts and set them to singable melodies that embrace both the tradition and modern expression. He has also written some new songs specifically to serve the modern liturgical context.

“The songs I’ve written for this project are pieces of my journey into Anglicanism, bits of theology and heart set to music, meant to bless the Church and honor the Lord,” he says.

The Kickstarter Campaign

Over the next month, Patterson hopes to raise the money he needs to make this music a reality. He plans to record in Austin, Texas, the Live Music Capital of the World, with a stellar group of musicians, including producer Ramy Antoun. 

“I don’t think you can find a cooler guy around. Ramy grew up in Egypt and has a deep love for the Lord,” Patterson says. “I first met Ramy when he played drums on a project I recorded in L.A. some years ago. He went on to play with folks like Black Eyed Peas and Seal. Ramy’s now producing worship records, and I’m super excited to team up with him to make this new project.”

Please consider helping fund this new liturgical music to serve the Church. Make a donation.

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Lady Gaga Tribute to Julie Andrews & “The Sound of Music”

On February 23, 2015 By In Culture

How the Julie Andrews Oscar Tribute Identified the Biggest Problem with “Christian” Movies

Lady Gaga Tribute to Julie Andrews & “The Sound of Music”

 

In likely one of her most beautiful and memorable performances, pop-star Lady Gaga revisited the 1965 Classic, “The Sound of Music” with an outstanding tribute to Julie Andrews and her musical contributions to the film.

Lady Gaga Tribute to Julie Andrews & “The Sound of Music”

It is worth noting that Gaga is not known for being a ‘lady’ and a great deal of her notoriety is based upon some of the most un-lady-like behavior. Yet here, Lady Gaga offers an elegant and skillful performance that may exceed the artist whom she was paying tribute to. There is nothing in Gaga’s Billboard hit collection that would suggest that she was capable of such a performance and her peculiar stage personality has been eclipsed by the beauty of the original music. Despite a five decade span between the theatrical release and now, this performance refused to enjoin the modern progress of musical artistry.

Can we think of many styles from 1965 that would enjoy such a powerful reception? How is it possible that the “Sound of Music” can remain ‘good art’ even today without adapting to the changing ethos of American artistic expression?

Julie Andrews on Great Music

Following Lady Gaga’s performance she was joined on stage by the original Maria. Julie Andrews thanked Gaga for her beautiful tribute and gave the most eloquent and poignant remarks of the entire night. In her short speech, I believe that Andrews also identified the fundamental problem plaguing a Christian view of the arts.

“Great music does more than enhance a film,” says Andrews “it cements our memories in the film-going experience. I mean, imagine the “Godfather” without its iconic theme… or the wondrous themes in the music of John Williams in “Star Wars.”

http://youtu.be/a7Iy6I3dnNs

The Imagination and Christian Movies

675116-a9f9182e-a8c8-11e4-b4a3-9d4f296075c1I would posit that while classics like the, “Sound of Music” will be respected as time-tested art, much of the Christian material today will be remembered as well as Julie Andrew’s contemporaries like the Brady Bunch. Our dated, irrelevant, and artistically flat modern “chick tract” style Christian movies are destined for the same shelf as the story of a lovely lady and her family in a nine-frame box.

As Christians, we are called to embrace the majesty of God’s creation in its fullness and to use the arts in our attempt to express what is truly great and beautiful. All of art, and especially the cinema for our age, is a call to experience the pleasure of Christ’s goodness and to stretch and renew our mind’s imagination. Art in this sense is not merely an extra, but essential to what it means to give glory to God.

I want to see a generation of filmmakers less concerned about how actors dress, and passionate about how a film’s score is as powerful a testimony of the greatness of God as the script.

As Martin Luther said, “I feel strongly that all the arts, and particularly music, should be placed in the service of Him who has created and given them.”

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On October 7, 2014 By In Theology, Worship

The Sacrament of Music: Why Your Church Worship Should Be Pagan

Todd Pruitt writes that worship music is often viewed as “a means to facilitate an encounter with God,” or as a means of drawing close to God. He believes this to be a great theological error and that it resembles “ecstatic pagan practices,” though he provides no evidence for this assertion. Quite profoundly, Pruitt critiques non-sacramental Christians for attributing a sacramental status to music. He then presents several problems with emotionally-driven worship.

There ought to be no disagreement with Pruitt on the dangers of emotionally-driven worship. When edible bread and wine are replaced by audible beats and melodies, God’s people will become malnourished. Yet, at the same time, the error is an imbalance of sensory stimulation, not the idea that music facilitates an encounter with God. (more…)

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On June 21, 2014 By In Culture

Of Course, the Lame Can’t Waltz: Refocusing Current Music Discourse in the Christian Church

Guest post by Jarrod Richey

Asking why the church doesn’t sing hymns or even why men don’t sing in church is a bit like lamenting over the lame man who can’t waltz on the dance floor. While it is a valid question, the more immediate question would seem to be, “why doesn’t the lame man walk?”

There have been a number of blogs and articles of late noting the lack of singing from Christian men in the church today. While there is plenty of commentary on the reasons for this, most of the analysis, I find, skips over the fundamental reason which causes such problems in the first place.

Remembering the basics

I am reminded of the well-known anecdote from hall of fame Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi. After a demoralizing defeat, he gathered his football team around him and cited the need to get “back to basics.” He then lifted a football he was holding into the air and calmly said, “Gentlemen, this is a football”. Likewise, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves when it comes to music in the life of the Christian Church. We must make some similarly rudimentary explanations for music in the church.

Johnny can’t sing hymns because Johnny can’t sing

I’m thankful for the dialogue generated by books like T. David Gordon’s Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns. But before we question why Johnny can’t sing hymns or why men don’t sing in churches today, we must simply ask and answer the more fundamental question, “Why Can’t Johnny Sing?” It almost seems too simple to ask, but it is precisely the question we need to answer in our present musical discourse. But it must be addressed if we are going to reverse the modern musical trends in the Church.

The proverbial Johnny has not been trained to see the importance of music and singing in the creation in which he lives. As a result, there is little importance given to the training in music and in making music as a response of praise. I don’t want to start up a debate on music form in hymn styles, etc. Rather, I want us to back up and rethink why we are not training our children to sing at all. When we do have music programs and curricula in our schools, we often miss the mark in training our students to be singers who are able to use their voices skillfully in praise to God. Instead, despite good intentions we are only giving our students a survey of music. They are not given the tools to be music makers themselves. They are only able to speak about composers or significant points in music history. That is not what we want to settle for in the long term. Rather, we want to be able to “sing praises with understanding” as the New King James Version of Psalm 47:7 exhorts. As we grow in our understanding of who we are as children of God, we must grow in our understanding of what it means to better reflect the glory of the Triune God. The God whose glorified speech created the heavens and the earth from nothing is the same God whose glory echoes throughout creation.

God sang creation into existence

It is not adequate enough to say God spoke all things into existence. We would do well to refine that it means that He sang this glorious melody of life, and it continues to echo to His praise and glory in a grand symphony. He set the temperament, tuned the world and is continually tuning the world. Therefore, it is our business to view ourselves as part of this symphony. How we live each day is a part of the gospel harmony on a macro level. But at the micro level we must not miss the opportunity to resound the triune melody in new and more glorious ways. Music making is the tool for that. What a joy to grow in how we reflect the musicality of God. He creates; we go forth and “wee-create”. In singing and making music, we are being like God, and we are better able to exhibit what it means to be filled with the Spirit of God. This is why we must train our students to be such re-creative singers.

The First Steps to Change

To start, we’ve got to put music back in the Christian school and homeschooling co-ops. Beyond that, we must have pastors and elders who exhort their flock to be like God, who joyfully sings and enjoys all of His creation singing back His praise. When we start, we must start small. Instead of viewing music as an artistic aside, we must think of it as language-like, in that it has components and tools that must be studied if proficiency is to be achieved. In other words, we must have students trained in music literacy in such a way that they can read, write, and sing (or think) in terms of music. This doesn’t mean they have to be career musicians. It means that our people will be musicians simply because they are humans made in the image of the Triune God. If the Lord calls them to a vocation in music, then we should value and encourage that. But we should not resist the idea of music training because we have a stereotype of what it means to be a career musician.

So, if you are reading this and think, “we’ve got to do more, but what first?” then you need to have someone help teach your folks to sing. Have your kids in music lessons, find courses on singing and reading music. Have folks who have experience in Kodály or other music philosophies that can give children to adults the sequenced tools that will enable them to grow as singers first and musicians second. That’s where you must begin. Then, if you are older, you must pour your energy and resources into the younger ones in your family and church. Use what provision and means you have to help others come to a better understanding of music than you have currently. This after all is what we are about as Christians. We are seeking to move from glory to glory. We want our children and our children’s children to build upon our strengths and understanding to new and more glorious ways of living and serving their creator.

Do not be discouraged. Do not be grumpy. We must not forget that The Lord is working his purposes out in his own timing and purpose in regards to music and singing. Our job is to be thankful in all things and to press on to see a more faithful generation that will seek to reflect God’s glory through faithful living and praising our Creator in songs and hymns and spiritual songs.

Jarrod Richey currently lives in Monroe, Louisiana with his lovely wife Sarah and their four children. He is both the Director of Choral Activities and Pre-K4 through 12th grade music teacher at Geneva Academy. In addition to this, he has been on staff at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church since 2005 handling both church media and choral music responsibilities. Jarrod has recently founded Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp in Monroe, LA that seeks to train joyful worshippers and young singers with the above goals built in to the very core of the camp. For more information on the camp visit, www.jubilatedeo.org or search Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp on Facebook.com

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On January 1, 2014 By In Culture

Beyond a Joy of Music: Giving your children the music training you never had

Guest Post by Jarrod Richey

An essential part of training our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord must be saturating them in music. Many Reformed Christians have an awareness of this concept, but do not fully understand what it means to not only transmit a love of music to their children but effectively equip them to be musicians themselves. The hope is that this will be an encouragement to dig deeper into what it means to raise trained musicians who re-echo the gospel around us in creation.

Many Christian parents have raised a generation that loves to sing and make music simply by saturating their children with music in their homes. Often times these same parents have had little music training but have picked up on a love of music in their own lives that overflows to their children. Let’s say that Johnny was saturated with music in his home growing up. His mom played the piano and would teach some private lessons in their home in the afternoons. Maybe his dad would play everything from Beethoven to Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” on his CD player in the car or around the house. This is a wonderful start to fostering a love of music in our children. It has been the seeds of some talented musicians in our churches. These children are given a taste of the fun and joy that music can bring. Pair that with a good Christian work ethic, and many of these Christian students persevere in learning to play the violin, piano, or trumpet.

While the above scenario is a blessing, it is not the most transformational scenario for training musicians moving forward. We are thankful for the many homes in which this scenario was how they came to love music and sometimes pursue it themselves. Yet, it must be our job to rediscover what it means to train our children in music. Music education must again come to mean doing music and not simply knowing about it. For in making and tasting foods, we can truly and confidently begin to say that we like them. We are not so passionate about foods, which we observe others preparing and eating if we have no personal experience in enjoying them. But, when it comes to music, there is a modern tendency to equate music education with giving someone an observational experience and not necessarily a recreational one. In other words, we want our children to be able to do music for themselves and not just know about it from a textbook, recording, or live performance.

So how do we train our children to be musicians again? Where do we start in a vast sea of music and musical opportunities available to us? I would simply say, “Sing!” That is the one thing that we are all equipped to do from birth. It is the instrument that can best be cultivated from a young age to adulthood. But when I say, “sing,” I am not just saying, “sing in the car, sing in worship, or even sing in the shower.” Rather, make it a priority to have your children be trained in music by teaching them to sing first and branching out to other instruments from there as desired. This can be accomplished through a number of different avenues. I am convinced of the effectiveness of a certain approach of music training called, “The Kodály Method” that seeks to train all people to use their own instrument and be able to read, write, and sing music on a page. The twentieth century Hungarian music composer and music apologist, Zoltán Kodály, believed that through structuring and sequencing music curricula to fit children’s ages, students could become musically literate and still possess the joy of music through the process. This curriculum is taught in many schools across the country and in Europe. It aligns particularly well with Christian and Classical Christian educational philosophies. If you are looking for a school or music system for your children, the Kodály Method is a good option.

It is great to have your children in music classes in the homeschool co-op or local Christian school that lets them listen to the music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. It is important they hear these songs that they are not going to be exposed to otherwise. But think how much more transformational it is to give them the tools to recreate music and not just observe it from a recording played for them in your home. Imagine their ability to understand the world and the Triune God in light of a musical understanding. Think of what an understanding of music structure can bring when your children are not only able to hear prolonged tension and delayed resolution in cantatas and symphonies, but also hear it in light of the grand story in which we live.  Imagine how with such an understanding, they can re-echo the gospel in new ways like the great composers and hymn writers of the church have done in times past. Think of the new settings of Psalm tunes that can be written. Think about several generations being able to learn music from an early age in a similar way that they learn the English language. Think of a time when few people have not had music training growing up and they can no longer dismissively say, “I’m just not gifted in music.” Rather, think of a baseline of music education in our Christian culture that allows us to be more like our musical Creator in his world that is full of music. Imagine the singing abilities of our congregations on the Lord’s Day if the majority in attendance can read any music put before them. Imagine the multitude of ways the glories of God’s goodness can be echoed and resounded through our great-grandchildren’s settings of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Imagine moving from glory to glory in compositions like Haydn’s Creation or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to greater compositions that stand on the shoulders of these great composers. Imagine our great-grandchildren growing and maturing in their faith and understanding of God’s creation and that leading to faithful stewardship of music.

Give your children the scriptures and give them the catechisms. Give them the gift of story and where they are in the great story. Don’t be content with simply their joy of music in its hearing. But do your best to see that they possess the ability to consciously create and recreate music to the glory of God as a resounding testament of this faithfulness from age to age.

Jarrod Richey currently lives in Monroe, Louisiana with his lovely wife Sarah and their four children. He is both the Director of Choral Activities and Music Program Director at Geneva Academy. In addition to this, he has been on staff at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church since 2005 handling both church media and choral music responsibilities.  (http://www.jarrodrichey.com)<>рекламные щиты в метро

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On September 17, 2013 By In Worship

How Should We Pursue Maturity in Worship Music?

       

The Psalms 2

 There are two temptations that nip at our heels as we pursue reformation in worship. The first is to believe that older is automatically better. This 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 temptation 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 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.

            We should aim to avoid both these errors.  As we pursue reformation in church music here are some things to remember.

  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. 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” or because we want to be “exciting” we are going to make fundamental mistakes.  Love for Christ and love for the Church form the center. Without love our songs are empty and vain.
  3. Musical growth is dictated by God’s Word not by our current culture or a past culture. That means our primary means of evaluating our singing will be the Bible.
  4. 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.
  5. We should seek out new, theologically sound music to introduce to the congregation. No church should only sing older stuff. I do think a lot of newer stuff is weak, if not heretical, but not all of it is. There are God-honoring songs being written.  We should not be afraid of incorporating these into our local church music.
  6. We should be cautious in accepting worship music advice or songs from theologically inept musicians, whether they are on a church staff or in the pew. Here is why a lot of contemporary worship music is weak: worship music in the modern church has ceased to be overseen by the elders of the local church.  I am not saying elders must do everything.  But they must oversee it all. Music is a teaching ministry. If the church is to have theologically robust songs they must have theologically robust men writing them and evaluating them. The elders are the guardians of God’s Word. Yet for some reason they leave one of the most potent parts of worship up to other men (or women) who are not fit. Here is what Titus 1:9 says an elder must do.  “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”  Too many worship leaders and those who write church music do not fit this description. Also many elders do not read and study enough to know what God requires of a church’s music ministry.
  7. Each church can and should have its own local sound that uses local talents and resources, but still functions within the tradition of the broader, historic church.  If you have a piano player, then don’t grumble because you don’t have drums or guitar. If you have a guitar player, use him. Two churches separated by thousands of miles should sing songs that have similar content and doctrine. This comes from faithfulness to God’s Word. But these same two churches may sound very different.
  8. This does not mean sound is irrelevant. Some sounds are inappropriate for worship.  Some tunes do not match the words they are being sung to. Some types of music drown out the voice of the people. Or they are designed to create false emotional responses. Or they are designed to highlight the musician instead of the people. Or they are associated too closely with worldliness. The musical sounds in our churches will vary, but that does not mean any sound is acceptable for corporate worship.

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