I’ll write some more thoughts on the concert last weekend (03.09.08), but for now i’ll just post this video i shot of Derek describing what WILL and WILL NOT change our nation… (p.s. that’s me yelling “WHAT!?” 
I love that his story is funny, relevant and then MISSIONAL! I knew there was a reason i liked this guy…
Greg Gilbert is a young Elder at his church in Louisville, KY. He’s actually only a couple years older than I. He’s also a contributor to the 9Marks blog. I don’t think that he’s a musician or music leader at his church, but he writes with some GREAT insight and clarity in the below article.
Just last night I was telling Shea that even though I love the styles of our worship music and the asthetic of Axcess and our evening service, I do worry about becoming shallow in my concept of ‘worship’. It’s soooo easy to equate a specific asthetic that gives you ‘Holy Spirit’ goosebumps on the back of your neck to TRUE worship or a WORSHIPFUL experience (you know… the same ‘HS goosebumps’ that you get at a U2 concert ;).
I prayed last night at Axcess that as we were about to respond to what we’d seen and heard by singing and praying, that God would appeal to our minds and then affect our hearts to ‘feel’ appropriately and respond accordingly to the truth we’d just heard and seen. In other words, “Lord, don’t let us hear this truth and then respond by singing these songs with DEAD HEARTS and BLANK EMOTIONS!”
Anyways… I’ll shutup now and let you read Greg’s article… I love it.
I think the entire evangelical world ought to put a moratorium on any kind of instrumental music, and just chant psalms in their worship services—for the next ten years.*
I’ve been amazed since becoming an elder in a local church just how dependent many Christians are on a certain style of music, or certain level of excellence in music. How many times have you heard someone say, for example, “I just can’t worship in that church.”? Or “I just don’t feel like I’m connecting with God there.”
Of course there can be a lot going on there, but I think that many times if you press in on statements like that, what you find behind it all is not very far removed from “I don’t like the music there.” People don’t put it that starkly, mainly because if you do it sounds silly. But I think that’s a lot of what people mean when they say, “I can’t worship there.” The reality is that a single flat-back piano just doesn’t gig their emotions as much as a full electric band does. They don’t get that “transcendent feeling,” so they get discouraged and end up saying they “can’t worship.”
I wonder if the whole “excellence in praise and worship music” phenomenon we’ve seen over the past few years—for all the good it’s done—hasn’t also had some less-than-desirable effects on young Christians. I wonder if it hasn’t created a generation of functional mystics who gauge their relationship with God by emotional experience rather than the objective reality of redemption.
When I was a sophomore and junior in college, I went to a few of the Passion conferences when they were held in Texas. Those were formative and amazing experiences for me. John Piper “Reformed” me in one earth-shaking sermon from Romans 3, and that has—in one way or another—shaped the trajectory of my life ever since. And the music was excellent—truly wonderful in every way. We sang loud, hands in the air, eyes closed and full of tears sometimes, and I believe I worshipped God through it all.
But then I went back to
There’s a whole generation of young people out there now, though, who aren’t emotionally affected by words, whose fires are only stoked when those words are accompanied by great rhythms, skilled instrumentation, and a certain well-recognizable mood that typically accompanies Christian “praise-and-worship.” And the result is that you have young people church-hopping around town, and one of the main criteria of their shopping is “the worship,” by which more often than not they mean “the music.” You have young Christians feeling discouraged because—despite the fact that they sit under faithful preaching of the word Sunday after Sunday—they say they haven’t “felt close to God” in so long. Maybe there’s something important going on there. But there’s also a good chance, I’d argue, that they just haven’t had a good endorphin rush since the last conference they attended.
I am really afraid that we’ve managed to create a generation of anemic Christians who are spiritually dependent on excellent music. Their sense of spiritual well-being is based on feeling “close to God,” their feeling close to God is based on their “ability to worship,” and being able to worship depends on big crowds singing great music.
Just as bad, think about how many church fights and divisions are rooted in disagreements about music. People leave churches because they don’t like the music. Christians who believe exactly the same things about Jesus worship in different buildings next door to each other because they can’t countenance one another’s musical style. Churches split because one faction wants “contemporary” music and another wants “traditional” music. It’s not the words that are at issue; it’s how the words are sung, and to what instrumentation. The thing even has its own name—the “Worship Wars,” which when translated with a little honesty is really “the Music Wars.”
The bottom line, I suppose, is that it would do every Christian well to do some honest heart-searching about what makes them feel “close to God.” Can you feel close to God just by reading or saying the words, “In Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”? Would you be able to function in a church that’s great in every way except the music? If not, you probably need to give some thought to whether your spiritual life is dependent on something it should not be dependent on.
*I’m being facetious with the title of this post and the call for a moratorium on music, of course. The Bible tells us to sing. God gave us music precisely because it affects our hearts and emotion, and that is a good thing. But every good thing can be and will be misused by sinful humans. My sense is that “excellent music” has become something of an idol. No, we don’t worship it. But alot of people need it to worship, and that may be just as bad. Music is a part of our lives as humans; in a certain way we’ll always depend on it. But as I see it, there’s ample anecdotal evidence out there to suggest that for many Christians, the dependence has become unhealthy.
UPDATE: Some More Thoughts on Music
Arthur isn’t a relative, but he did write a good statistical, social commentary this year. In it, he reports on who ‘gives’ of there resources to help others… I was more than suprised with the findings.
We’ll get more details up here when we get home… here are the essentials:
I was taken a back by how many people at the evening service last Sunday requested more information about this song… it happens to by my favorite hymn, but every time I’ve played it for corporate worship it has been met with discouraging results, which is entirely understandable. (probably because it’s not very familiar and it’s pretty long 
The song basically unpacks what will happen to you if you ‘take up your cross and die’ to follow Jesus. Then, proceeds to unpack why this is a small price to pay for the benefits of sharing Christ’s afflictions… namely that we gain Christ. I don’t know about you guys, but I have to be reminded of this often because there are so many false comforts in my world that make me forget about my real home and what house I really live in.
Anyways… I’ll stop rambling and give you guys what you really wanted to know where to get the song…
Unfortunately, the arrangement that we sing at dbc isn’t available to download on iTunes (or any other place). I’ve spoken with Kevin Twit (who produced the album where I got the arrangement) about putting his music on iTunes… he says he intends to do it soon… but that conversation happened in June… hmmmmm. Maybe some of you guys should email him with the same request?
You can also buy the album from Amazon.
Here’s a link to the Indelible Grace hymn resource website… a must have for all worship leaders
Just email me if you are interested in any of the other songs we do on Sunday evenings… I always love to hear what you guys think about the music we do… even if you don’t like it ;)
Do we tend the garden of our emotions with the tools of biblical truth?
The work of God on the hearts of men through the heads of men has been an important part of my understanding about worship. Jonathan Edward’s book A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections was the tool by which my eyes were first opened to God’s affecting men’s hearts by first appealing to their understanding. I’m gonna write more about this soon, but today I ran across this quote from John Piper at the beginning of a sermon on 2 Thessalonians:
The longer you meditate on the writings of the apostle Paul, the more clearly you see that genuine, deep spiritual experience depends on genuine, deep biblical knowledge. I mean things like faith and love and peace and joy—these precious subjective experiences of the heart—depend on the mind’s apprehension of objective biblical truth. From a biblical standpoint, studying and thinking and knowing are never ends in themselves; they always stand in the service of feeling and willing and doing. The mind is the servant of the heart. Knowledge exists for the sake of love. And all theology worth its salt produces doxology.
someone needs to build an online archive of every prayer in the Valley of Vision.
Here’s one of my favorites:
O Spirit of God, help my infirmities; When I am pressed down with a load of sorrow, perplexed and knowing not what to do, slandered and persecuted, made to feel the weight of the cross, help me, I pray Thee. If Thou seest in me any wrong thing encouraged, any evil desire cherished, any delight that is not Thy delight, any habit that grieves Thee, any nest of sin in my heart, then grant me the kiss of Thy forgiveness, and teach my feet to walk the way of Thy commandments. Deliver me from carking care, and make me a happy, holy person; help me to walk the separated life with firm and brave step, and to wrestle successfully against weakness; teach me to laud, adore, and magnify Thee, with the music of heaven, and make me a perfume of praiseful gratitude to Thee. I do not crouch at Thy feet as a slave before a tyrant, but exult before Thee as a son with a father. Give me power to live as Thy child in all my actions, and to exercise sonship by conquering self. Preserve me from the intoxication that comes of prosperity; sober me when I am glad with a joy that comes not from Thee. Lead me safely on to the eternal kingdom, not asking whether the road be rough or smooth. I request only to see the face of Him I love, to be content with bread to eat, with raiment to put on, if I can be brought to Thy house in peace.
Preface:
This is Chris Seay. Pastor of Ecclesia Church in Houston, TX. I have read online and from his book some theological positions that I disagree with (in my opinion he downplays homosexuality, has more liberal views than I on gender roles and his view on inerrancy is weak in my estimation). So, I’m not ‘rubber-stamping’ everything he or his brother (Christian music artist Robbie Seay) are all about.
HOWEVER, this video is good. Very good. And if he preaches on stuff like this at his church, I bet they are accomplishing great things for justice and love among believers.
Arcade Fire - “Wake Up” Live in NYC at the Judson Memorial Church
one of the most intense musical things i’ve ever seen…
