Bob Kauflin kindly took the time to respond to my post this morning.
Gary, thanks for these thoughts. I realized after I read them that I wasn’t clear enough in my original post. I edited my post in a way that I hope will clarify where I’m coming from. I completely agree that we want people to be sure they’re responding to God’s truth and Spirit and not simply musical stimulation. But I don’t think that means music and words/settings can’t work together rather than being pitted against each other.
Perhaps we can chat when I’m down under?
Thanks for using your blog to magnify the glory of our great Savior.
So here’s another link to Bob’s post for those of you who would like to revisit his thoughts.
As I replied, Sydney and Brisbane are a fair way away from home, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to continue the discussion there.
In trying to interact with Bob I’d still want to tease out the notion that prayer (and preaching) are distinct forms of communication from song and blurring these distinctions in worship needs to be thought through from every angle. (And I appreciate Bob’s efforts in seeking to do that and his openness to responding to questions and interacting with other perspectives.)
Just because something serves a good purpose in one area, does that mean it can be added to a very different area?
Does it simply add, or does its presence make a prayer or sermon into something else?
And, with tongue very firmly in cheek, I wonder if Jesus or the disciples ever wondered ‘if only there was a piano to play some chords to bring this sermon home’ or thought ‘y’know, some strings playing behind this prayer would support its theme.’
And, if they wouldn’t have thought that, why would we?
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Thanks for these thoughts, Gary.
This is a really foundational issue in worship and in the proclamation of the gospel because music adds an incredibly complex dimension to the communication process. I remember being fascinated by the communication process as it was discussed & examined by the missiologists (people like David Hesselgrave, Charles Kraft), and I want to go back & review it after reading your posts. I’ve had Don Carson’s book “Christ and Culture Revisited” on my desk for about a year – haven’t gotten to it yet!!
Two of the “filters” that Hesselgrave described were motivational responses: What is it that makes people respond to a message?, and media influences: What are the most effective forms of communication in the worldview of the hearer?
If prayer is being addressed to God, how does this come into play? Is the music to aid the devotion of the people who are being led in prayer? What is the relationship between the music and the message?
These are the questions that I will want to answer now, although music during the singing is big enough of a challenge at Para Hills at the moment!!
Good point that I really hadn’t thought of in exactly those terms.
Is music in the prayer helping us communicate with God? We have the Spirit empowering us and the mediatorial work of the Son. What difference is the music making?
Since reading your response I’ve been thinking, if ‘the medium is the message’ what does prayer accompanied by backing music communicate?