Beauty Of Music: Music in Worship

Nowadays when someone even whispers the word worship most people automatically think of singing, guitars, drums and microphones, which all happen to be components of worship bands.

So why is that?

Why is that today a majority of people think that music is the only definition of worship?

It is not wrong to think this way, because music is an essential component to worship.

Music encourages participation from the congregation.

Prayers only take one person, the sermon only takes one person, but song can be done with many.

But participation does call the music to be singable and understandable.

For example:

The hymn "Come thou fount of Every Blessing" the lyrics are a bit...old and poetic.

"Come thou fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy praise, streams of mercy never ceasing calls for songs of loudest praise, teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above....." and so on and so forth.

While singing this hymn one does not have enough time to actually figure out what they are singing, yes it's a gorgeous song and it sound pretty when sung...but is the true meaning of it really getting across to people??

So...song choice does matter, because when done right (not that anyone really knows what the right way is) music in worship is a wonderful aspect.

Another positive thing about music is that it is extraordinarily expressive.

It enables people to express themselves in more of an open way with the entire congregation.

And another positive is that there is an aesthetic beauty of music and that can defiantly add to the richness of worship.

So let's recap all of the above and then I will close, and leave the issues of music in worship for a latter entry.

People think worship is just music, that is not a bad thing to think because music is essential to worship. It allows participation, expression and it is a beautiful way to worship God.

So continue to sing to God with all your heart, for He calls us to worship Him. But remember song is not the only way to worship.

My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul.

Psalm 108:1 (NIV)