Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Beat of a Different Drum?

Today as I walked down a high-traffic hall at my university, I noticed a strange booth set up that said "Drum Meditation". There was this man standing there beating a drum, incense was burning, and candles were burning. I looked over and noticed he was also talking to a girl who seemed quite interested in this "meditation". Appalled at this all, I quickly went on my way, when one of my friends called me over to chat for a minute. I mentioned how disgusted I was about this all, and we chatted for a minute and then I ran to catch my bus. As I started thinking about this, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I need to be appalled at the sin, but I need to have compassion for that man because he too needs the Savior. God hates the sin, but he still wants all to come to know the truth and repent so that none should perish.

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9

...this whole drumming meditation thing did bring up some other interesting thoughts for me. For example, I one famous pastor has said
“Music is nothing more than an arrangement of notes and rhythms; it’s the words that make a song spiritual. There is no such thing as ‘Christian music,’ only Christian lyrics. If I were to play a tune for you without words, you wouldn’t know if it was a Christian song or not” (Purpose Driven Church, 281).
This whole drum meditation brings up something interesting, however. This man was beating a drum, sang no lyrics, and claimed he was entering the spiritual realm. It seems quite obvious to me that, in fact, music (or at least a rhythm) can, in fact, be spiritual (it definitely seemed to be for this man) and therefore, perhaps style of music in church does matter. I am not saying I know this for sure, as I have not actually given it a lot of thought, quite honestly. But maybe we should. Here are a few verses to consider that may or may not be relevant to this:

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:8-9

It seems that words are not the only things that matter. Jesus says the heart matters, and also Jude mentions "sensual". What happens when the style of music in church makes us feel sensual?

"But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." Jude 17-19

I guess these are some things we should maybe think about.?


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