Worship, Music, and Priestly People

Is the gathered worship of the church more like a concert we attend or an offering we make together? Is it more of a performance for others by a few incredibly gifted individuals, groups, and choirs, or the shared labor of all offered to God? Does it really make any difference?

Let’s hop in a time machine to try to answer that question. We’ll leave the present and drop in on the 15th and 16th centuries for a visit.

Church music from the high Medieval period is stunningly beautiful, mystical, and moving. Cathedrals employed the greatest artists to craft compositions of exceptional beauty and these were performed by choirs and musicians of the highest order. Modern Recordings of these musical offerings continue to delight us across the centuries.

Despite the magnificence of this music, there was a problem, especially in the eyes of the Church Reformers who burst on the scene in the 16th century. The music might’ve been beautiful but it simply wasn’t singable by the everyday members of the churches. That reduced worship to a performance by the few rather than an offering from all, and that created a huge problem.

It was an unintended consequence. The great music - so beautiful and majestic - was nevertheless elaborate, complex, and linguistically inaccessible. That meant everyday people were robbed of their opportunity to serve as God’s priestly people, offering up their sacrifices of praise, a central aspect of our new identity through the Gospel. Not only this, God was robbed of the worship of his people. The song of the whole congregation was muted by the brilliance of the few.

Enter the Reformers

Many other factors also contributed to lower levels of participation from the congregation of course, among them a lack of the ministry of effective preaching. In response, Church Reformers like Luther and Calvin began to emphasize the centrality of the Scriptures read, sung, and expounded in worship, as well as the songs the congregation lifted to God.

Luther and Calvin not only fought a theological battle over the authority of Scripture and the doctrine of Justification, they also recovered forms of worship designed to encourage full congregational participation. They wrote hymns and tunes for Psalms they knew everyday people could sing. Calvin’s church music was even sharply criticized as ‘Geneva Jigs’, due to their strong rhythms and exuberant tunes. They also modified ancient forms of worship called ‘liturgies’, and wrote new forms as well, all in an effort to bring everyone into full participation in the worship service.

‘Liturgy’ comes from an ancient word describing ‘the work of the people’, and is used in Christian worship to describe the words the congregation says and sings in the flow of the entire service. The Reformers couldn’t allow worship to be focused either on a single priest at the front, since all God’s people are priestly, and they couldn’t allow the singing to be confined to a few for exactly the same reason. Their liturgical renewal brought everyone back into full participation in worship. In some ways, Luther and Calvin were the liturgical and musical revolutionaries of their day.

Why was this so important to them? Two big reasons stand out, and they’re at the core of what we want gathered worship to embody today.

First, worship is the offering of all God’s people, not a performance by the few. Why? Because Jesus Christ died and rose to make us all Priests, offering up the sacrifices of praise. We are a priestly people, just as Peter writes:

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame... You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:4-9

John also wrote about this priestly dimension of our salvation: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Revelation 1:5-6

Here’s another reason. Music and Song are vehicles God uses to inscribe his word in our souls and renew our minds. The hymns we sing are clearly one way we learn our theology, that is, our view of God, his grace, ourselves, and his Church. Luther, Calvin, and many others wanted to make sure that the truth of the Scriptures got down into our hearts and seized our imaginations rather than the music simply moving our emotions. Paul wrote about this ‘truth ministry’ of the songs we sing: Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16

So What?

What does this all mean for us right now? What bearing does any of this have on us today? After all, the music in most churches certainly isn’t looking to emulate the complexity that characterized the Medieval period. In addition, many new churches today would never embrace the liturgical structures advocated by Luther, Calvin, and others; contemporary churches these days typically embrace a music style that looks a lot more like a rock/pop concert in an arena, and their liturgy consists of an agreed-upon start time and sermon length. So where’s the connection? Why am I bothering with this at all?

Here's my concern: If the worship service is shaped like a ‘concert event’ those in attendance might well form more of an enthusiastic audience receiving a performance than a priestly people offering a sacrifice. The common ground between today and the medieval period isn’t the style of the music or the shape of the service, but the participation levels of the church members. If members view themselves as a passive audience they will simply let the musicians on the stage perform the music, or the personality of the pastor dominate the proceedings. And that's a tragedy of the highest order.

Let me offer a few lessons we learn from the past that can help us pioneer in the present to shape the future.

The Lyric Matters!

First, the words of the songs have to be in the language of the people because that’s the only way people can learn the truth. If the words aren’t understandable then the truth can’t be communicated. Words matter. Worship that isn’t understandable is completely contrary to Paul’s teaching about our gatherings (1 Corinthians 14). That’s also why the Reformers taught that Scripture was to be in the language of the people hearing it read and taught - and people died for that conviction!

Second, the words have to be even more true than the tunes are good. If truth can be communicated through music, falsehood can be instilled that way too. The ancient heretic Arius, who taught his followers that Jesus was a created being and not God the Son, got his teaching into the fabric of their souls through catchy tunes. Music writes words on the heart, so it’s just as important that the lyrics we sing are as true as the tunes are memorable and accessible. Singing Scripture and good theology will settle the word in the soul forever. Many caregivers for those suffering with forms of illness that cripple memory note that for most people even when the recognition of those they love has gone they can still recall and sing the hymns they have learned!

The Tunes Matter Too!

The hymns and songs we employ in gathered worship have to be singable and accessible to the church members. If people are confronted with music that is designed to be sung only by specialists (or the specially gifted), or if its composition is overly complex, they simply won’t be able or willing to sing it. They'll be more intimidated than inspired. If they’re not singing the song, they won’t have those truthful words settle down into their hearts as easily, and, in addition, they can’t offer the song to God in praise. True, they can listen to it quietly, using it for meditation; that’s a good thing on a personal level, but what we are looking at right now is the church gathered for worship rather than private, personal devotions.

One more thing about the tunes: they need to be appropriate to the lyrics. If someone were to write a new tune for ‘O Sacred Head Now Wounded’ it would be wildly inappropriate for that matchless lyric to be joined to a light, pop tune that didn’t take into account the sorrow and lament of the subject matter. By the same token, no one should sing ‘Ten Thousand Reasons’ as anything other than a celebratory profession of faith. So many hymns are despised not because they're poor but because their arrangements are so sterile and their pacing so dreary. Ugh! Make it stop!

Play Skillfully

Does this mean that playing or singing skillfully isn't needed? Not at all! Excellence in musical composition and presentation is at the heart of everything I've just written. Skillful musicianship creates community and participation. When artistry that is under the direction of the Spirit engages with people in a congregation, people are less self-conscious and participate more boldly and joyfully. Moreover, when music is beautiful and presented with profound ability, people are more free to move through the music and into communion with God. Poorly presented music is distracting.

That's why great choirs, singers, worship leaders, and instrumentalists are desperately needed by the Church and are thankfully present in many congregations. May God give us many more!

In short, when music is offered to all with great skill and sensitivity it serves the purposes for which it was created: God is worshiped, his people are strengthened, and the message is made intelligible to the seeker.

Welcome to the Priesthood!

In short, then, let’s humbly embrace the ancient inheritance we’ve been given while blending it with the right now creativity of singing a new song to the Lord. Let’s position our gifted instrumental and vocal musicians to be lead worshippers rather just worship leaders. Let’s put the sermon in the context of the wider service leading us to the Table rather than as the ‘main event’ for which the music is just a 'preliminary'. Let’s allow the whole service to be worship, rather than just the music, and the whole service to be instructive, rather than only the sermon. Let’s see the whole congregation, young and old, rich and poor, all races and all genders, put on their priestly robes and raise their voices in exuberant, authentic sacrifices of prayer and praise through Jesus.

Come, let us worship!