Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Should We Let Little Jane Do Special Music?

Our church doesn't have special music. At least not yet. Tim Keller made an interesting point in a recent podcast I listened to. He said something to this effect: you wouldn't put someone who wasn't gifted to preach up in the pulpit, why put someone who is not gifted musically on stage? He also made the observation that the lower the skill level of the musician/artist the more narrow the impact their music/art will have. If we all know little Jane we're more apt to be touched by her terrible solo. While if we don't know her, we'll wonder why she's singing. Same goes for refrigerator art I suppose... He also added that he thinks perhaps professionalism (putting on a show) and colloquialism (letting Jane do the worship) are both extremes to be avoided. His church strives for 'excellence' (without using that term) without hiring-out professional musicians who would be performing rather than expressing worship.

Interesting thoughts at least...

1 comment:

Matthew LaPine said...

Perhaps little Jane isn't the best example, but I can certainly think of many tone-deaf specials that I've sat through over the years.