God and Music

Music is universal.

Every culture, as far as I’m aware of, produces and loves it.

This appreciation for sound arranged in a specific way is practically baked into every level of our society.

So, of course, it should come as no surprise that music has an important role in religion and spirituality.

And you better believe Christianity isn’t exempt from that.

Music in the Bible

The Bible is jam-packed with music.

From Mariam’s song of praise and liberation in Exodus to the many Psalms of the poet-king David to the Jesus hymns in Paul’s letters, you can’t escape music in the Bible.

Even Jesus and His disciples would sing together (Matthew 26v30)!

One could even go as far as to say that the sounds of nature are the very first symphonies - composed by the originator of music Himself, God.

Given music’s important place in the Christian story, it makes sense that it would have a role in Christian worship, too.

Church Music

I live in an apartment connected to a Dutch Reformed church. This tradition makes liberal use of the pipe organ - but this is just one of many ways that the Church expresses itself musically.

The Catholic Church loves its Gregorian chants while its cousins to the east, the Orthodox Church, bellow out their own in Greek, Ukrainian, Russian, and more…

Meanwhile, the Anglican church can boast of giving birth to Handel’s famous Messiah oratorio.

The lively styles of Gospel music originated in African-American communities in the southern United States. At the same time, in that same part of the world, country-gospel classics, like Hank Williams’s “I Saw the Light” also took off.

All this began with simple hymns that the early Church sang to Christ the God.

Then there’s our topic for this week, what, in Evangelical circles, is commonly called: “worship” music.

When I say “worship” music, I’m talking about a specific genre of Church music that has emerged over the last fifty or so years.

A genre that merges contemporary sounds and fashions with distinctly Evangelical themes. A genre that has gained enough popularity to fill stadiums to the brim. And a genre that has almost single-handedly reshaped the way an entire generation perceives worship.

We’ll go deeper into that tomorrow.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter