Redeeming Jazz in Gospel Ministry

I’ve always had struggles with preaching the gospel. Sometimes I think about others who have done it so well—the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, Paul, St. Patrick, Billy Graham—and I feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s because of the way Christianity has been villainized in my lifetime.  Maybe it’s how I was raised.  Maybe I don’t believe enough.  Maybe.

           

I started taking our church jazz group to the local community jazz festival a few years ago with the intent of a being a church that uses their talents to join the community where they are. It has been successful to a degree of friendship, but it hasn’t been overtly evangelical.

           

Last year I played a gospel song for the first time with “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” After the concert, my next-door neighbor, who is not a church attender, asked me why I seemed so apologetic when I introduced the song.  He thought it was fantastic. That moment was an epiphany to me.

This year we are playing mostly hymn tunes that are fantastically arranged for this medium. We will sing “He Keeps Me Singing” with the chorus line, “ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know; fills my every longing; keeps me singing as I go.” It’s quite a bold break from the past, and I’m eager to see what will happen.

           

Music philosopher Harold Best summed it up best for me when he said:

“Serving Christ while participating in culture in an elegant and reforming way can mean a thousand things in as many places. It can mean shoveling muck and bringing clean water to a barrio. It can mean writing a new praise chorus for a storefront congregation. It can mean translating the Scripture one more time for one more faraway tribe. It can mean taking old hymns and old ways and breathing new life into them. It can mean preaching simply yet eloquently, fearingly yet sweetly. It can mean praise songs cavorting with hymns, and drums conversing with organ sounds. It can mean complete freedom in the Lord and stupendous discipline finding common ground. It can mean Bach, blues, Monet, street art, child dance and ballet, homiletics and storytelling, barn raisings and homeless shelters, all found within the normal conversation of the believing church. Elegance, for the Christian, is simply a thousand actions washed in the blood and carrying the sweet savor of Jesus' love. It is, above all, the seamless garment of worship and witness.”

I’ll keep you posted on this journey.  Keep us in your prayers as we explore bold and creative ways to redeem culture for the sake of the kingdom.

Richard Hickam

Resisting New Ways

The Psalmist and Isaiah both recommend singing a new song to the Lord.  I know it isn’t profound, but by its very nature a new song isn’t an old song!

Now I’m not just talking about songs, but practices, procedures, worship practices, and really anything practiced in a 21^st century Christian’s life. We could adopt the idea that, if something is not prescribed in scripture, then it is taboo, but that pretty well throttles any “new song.” Or instead we might adopt a guide that says, “If scripture, in direct instruction, in principle, or by inference doesn’t prohibit a practice, then it is opened to be tried, safe with which to experiment.

Obviously, where scripture is clear in setting up a prescription for the Christian, we would want to follow it.  We can’t try stealing things in more subtle ways or “new ways,” because stealing is prohibited in all of its forms. 

But when it comes to church, the services, the types, the architecture, the location, the colors, the design, etc., so much of the Bible seems to be primarily descriptive more than prescriptive. I occasionally hear people wishing the church today would be more like the New Testament church in Acts.  I’m sure there is much to learn from that early church, but why do we read Acts and so easily assume the story to be prescriptive. We think we should all be like the church in the upper room, all in “one accord” and “sharing all things in common.” We love this description of the early church and think it should be like that today.  But we don’t think Jesus casting demons into the pigs is prescriptive for us, or that just because Paul didn’t die from the snake bite that we should be required to rummage through piles of fire wood, etc. 

The religious leaders were appalled as Jesus didn’t just do things in a new way, but in a way they thought went against scriptural prohibitions. We only need to read through the “Sabbath miracles” to see Jesus ignoring hundreds of years of Jewish teaching based on the “Law of God” as Jesus sings a new song. 

Paul pushes beyond most of our comfort levels but certainly seems to be open to some “new songs” when he writes:

“Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible—but not everything is constructive.” 1 Corinthians 10:23 

Even in this very open way of thinking, there are parameters to give some guidance in that new songs (new practices) should at least be seeking to be beneficial and constructive.

In another section of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes about things which, while not prohibited, might not be wise to practice in certain groups.  While we might correctly know that an idol is nothing and, therefore, eating food offered to an idol is of no consequence, we might still refrain in deference to “the weaker brother.”   But remember the weaker brother Paul is writing about is the new believer who hasn’t matured in Christ.  We usually avoid “new songs” to not offend a long-time believer who still hasn’t matured.

I’m ready for change. Ready to “sing a new song” to the Lord.  Because I believe in the Almighty God of the universe, I don’t believe it is too late.  I believe God can inspire us and others to break free of the chains of tradition and offer our current culture, the world today, a new song.  We can learn to sing in a new cultural language. We can hold tightly the truth of God’s love and the story of salvation.  We can simultaneously find a voice, a language, practices, songs to sing that will communicate and demonstrate that love and story to today’s generation.

And God’s kingdom, one not locked in time and space, can find a fresh expression that is new in methods, looks, practices, and experiences, but simultaneously true in its representation of God and that honors all that has come before.

So I join with Martin Luther: “What is not against Scripture is for Scripture and Scripture for it.”

Andy McDonald

A Last Day Message With No Last Day Music: The Great Musical Disappointment of the SDA General Conference Session of 2015

I recently tried to look up what song writing events might be available for the upcoming world church gathering of Seventh-day Adventists in Houston in 2015. Upon finding nothing I wrote to a very nice gentleman for some more information, the response is as follows:

Dear (Name Withheld),

Could you please tell me what music writing events for the church are being organized for the 2015 G.C. session? I don’t see anything on the website but find it difficult to believe that our church is not encouraging any type of new songwriting for the body of faith at large.

In Christ,

Richard Hickam

The response:

Brother Hickam,

I regret to inform you that I have not been informed of any music writing events that have been organized for the 2015 GC Session.  I am copying my response to you to our GC Session Music Coordinator, (Name Withheld), so that he can respond to you in the event that I have overlooked the detail to which you are referring.  I thank you, at any rate, for your interest in our Growth and Development.  Blessings to you and Yours!

As of this date, (months later) I have heard no response and that’s sad but okay; I will grow where I am planted.

There is the old story of Isaac Watts complaining to his father about the quality of songs and singing in the church of his day. Watts’ father, growing tired of listening to his son’s whining challenged him to do something about it.

We have the blessing today of celebrating with the scores of generations before us great songs of faith that have inspired through the centuries, but what about today’s struggles and victories? Who is writing those songs? Who is writing those songs in the language of the church in 2014? Hillsong United? Chris Tomlin? Anyone in our denomination?

We have a number of talented musicians in our local church with varying degrees of musicality. As a former music educator by trade I thought, if I can get them all in the same room together, cast a vision with a timeline and a destination, we could do some great things together. I could help with some music fundamentals and pairing the lyricists with the tune writers. We are a little ways into our journey, and it’s been fascinating. Here are a few comments from some of our musicians regarding this process:

“It’s good for a church to sing songs that are being written within the church, while having a universal application it has a certain resonance in the local congregation.”

“We are the new generation; we are adding to the collective history of the saints.”

“I have learned organizational skills, how my thoughts work, and about the process to create something new.”

“After I pray, I feel like God is speaking back to me. I write the words down and then comes the difficult part of finding the right music.”

“It is a process, a long process with many layers—the words, the music, the arrangement, the instruments, the recording.”

“I felt like I had a gift, and now I have a purpose to use it for God’s glory.”

We’ll keep you posted about our continuing journey . . . and also about some new songs!

Richard Hickam 

and the songwriting team at the Florida Hospital Church

My Singular Intention

I'm spending the week at a condo on the beach.  It’s our annual family beach trip when we take the week off to rest, relax, and decompress in the sun and waves.  There’s no agenda, no schedule, no work, no pressure, no distraction from the simple intention of reconnecting and celebrating the love we share for each other . . . and the beach.

Part of what makes this such a wonderful experience is the planning and preparation done in advance.  We spent untold hours searching for a condo that would accommodate our growing family, give us a front row seat on the ocean, and offer comfort and quality while staying within our budget.  We wrote out menus and grocery lists, packed swimsuits and games, put holds on mail and newspaper delivery, and lined up redundancy plans for work responsibilities.  We thought ahead for what games, movies, and sport equipment we wanted to include.  My daughter even cancelled the Facebook App on her phone, determined to take a break from even this distraction.

The addition of Adelyn, our six-month-old granddaughter, into the mix has called for some new considerations.  Each of us sport outfits complimented by spit-up, we’re more quiet when she’s napping, and we know any excursions taking place outside the condo need to be planned before her 7:00 pm bedtime.  All of these adjustments are happily accommodated with respect and consideration for each family member. Our singular intention is to be available in every way for the overall experience.

I doubt my family is unique in how we plan for a vacation.  Most people reading this blog will be nodding their heads, remembering their own trips. 

Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.   Exodus 19:10-11

When the Lord invited the Israelites to meet with him at Mount Sinai, he instructed Moses that the people were to take three days to prepare.  Three days of planning, preparing, and intentional activities so they could be fully immersed in the experience – fully present in the moment.  God’s invitation required—and deserved—this.

We are invited on a weekly basis to meet with God.  His invitation is as real and important today as it was over 3000 years ago to a group of ancient Hebrew wanderers.  

Do I put the same kind of time and energy into meeting my God—the Creator of the universe, the Savior of my soul, the Provider of my very existence—that I do in meeting my family for a week at the beach?  Is my aim for quality time as determined?  Am I as careful to respect and consider the experience of the rest of those around me?  Is my singular intention to accept God’s invitation and be available in every way for the overall experience?

If not, why not?  What practices can I incorporate in my life to make that change?  How do I move from looking at my weekly corporate worship experience as more than a routine task to check off my list and become fully immersed in the sacred moment?

Tami Cinquemani

We Are All Contemporary Worshippers

It’s a little sad how we turn words into villains. Some aspect of a word seems to be “against us,” so we become needless enemies of the whole of the word.  In church circles, one of those words is “contemporary.”

con·tem·po·rar·y  [kuhn-tem-puh-rer-ee]  adjective

1. of same time: existing at or dating from the same time period as something or somebody else.

2. existing: in existence now. 

3. modern in style.

4. of the same age: of the same or approximately the same age as somebody else.

Lots of church-going people hear it as a threat to tradition and even to theology. I think it is the third definition above that causes the uneasiness: modern in style.  The reality is, when you take the whole of the word, it is really a great descriptive word from which we can’t easily escape. And it is a word that describes us! Like it or not, we are (as every preceding generation has been) “contemporary” people.  There aren’t a plethora of options; we are contemporary, or we are dead! 

1.              We all exist here, right now, at the same period of time as one another, so we are Contemporary Worshippers!

2.              Even if some would prefer to go back in time and others forward, the reality is we exist in the NOW, so we are Contemporary Worshippers!

3.              We drive ourselves to worship, wear clothes of our modern current existence, email one another, talk on our cell phones, use our computers and tablets, and make donations at kiosks in the lobby because the vast majority of us don’t write checks and certainly don’t carry much cash.

4.              In our worship, we speak in a modern style, we like air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, and we use sound systems and lighting so, regardless of the “worship element,” we are Contemporary Worshippers!

5.              We are all of the same age range as some other persons in our worship.  We are Contemporary Worshippers!

Because we are contemporary people, we are contemporary worshippers:

·      Whether we are singing a brand new praise song or a hymn from the 1640’s

·      Whether we are reading a parable of Jesus or dramatically acting out a story

·      Whether we are accompanied in our singing by organ or sitar or banjo

·      Whether we are responsively reading scripture or a quote from today’s newspaper

·      Whether we are placing an envelope in the offering plate or giving on our cell phone

·      Whether we are seeing a pastoral scene or a movie clip on the big screen

·      Whether we are engaging with those gathered or taking a moment for God and us alone

IF we have come to worship God, then that is what we are doing, and corporately we are CONTEMPORARY WORSHIPPERS!

We can’t not be.  We can do worship re-enactments like those who re-enact the Civil War, and we can pretend to be in heaven surrounding the throne of God and act out what we believe that worship might be like some day.  But for us to worship, we only have the opportunity to be contemporary worshippers.  Adam and Eve were contemporary worshippers, Abraham, Daniel, Jesus, the Disciples, the Reformers—EVERYONE who has worshipped had only one option—to be a Contemporary Worshipper, there aren’t other options!

Now, as a Contemporary Worshipper, I might sometimes really connect if the music is a certain style, and even within a genre, a certain song might really move me into connection with God.  This same song might have no positive effect on the person seated next to me.  The reading of a text might move my seatmate to tears, and I might just not get it.  As a Contemporary Worshipper I am not mandated to use any and every most contemporary expression, nor am I locked into using only what has been used before. 

I seek to connect with God, and all the accouterments of a worship service are there to assist me in my connecting with God and giving him praise, adoration, worship.  Just as I appreciate people allowing me to sing and pray and worship in English, and I should allow others to worship in the language most meaningful to them, so with the elements of worship, music styles, use of the arts—just think of them as different languages that enable people to connect with God and worship him.

Hopefully, as a group of contemporary worshippers who are seeking God and who value one another, we will continually seek a wide variety of styles in worship. Of course, the greatest determiner of whether our contemporary corporate worship service will be a meaningful experience for each of us and for the God we worship is how contemporary our private worship was throughout the week in preparation for our corporate experience. May we be contemporary worshippers who worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.

Andy McDonald