The Sacrament of Music: Why Your Church Worship Should Be Pagan
Todd Pruitt writes that worship music is often viewed as “a means to facilitate an encounter with God,” or as a means of drawing close to God. He believes this to be a great theological error and that it resembles “ecstatic pagan practices,” though he provides no evidence for this assertion. Quite profoundly, Pruitt critiques non-sacramental Christians for attributing a sacramental status to music. He then presents several problems with emotionally-driven worship.
There ought to be no disagreement with Pruitt on the dangers of emotionally-driven worship. When edible bread and wine are replaced by audible beats and melodies, God’s people will become malnourished. Yet, at the same time, the error is an imbalance of sensory stimulation, not the idea that music facilitates an encounter with God.
Music is most certainly a means of encountering God. The entire liturgy is a dialogue, or dance, between the bride and the bridegroom. We sing to “honor God and to edify our fellow believers,” absolutely. But it is not a one-way conversation. Our singing is first and foremost a response to Christ’s call to enter into his presence. He commands us to sing and play instruments in doing so. The Holy Spirit uses music as a vehicle of dialogue in addition to the stimulation of sight, smell, touch, and taste. The ideal worship service will have a balance of each.
Pruitt goes so far as to say that there is “no evidence whatsoever in Scripture that music mediates direct encounters or experiences with God.” To the contrary, the Bible is full of music facilitating God’s blessing, provision, and judgment. David’s harp exorcises a tormenting spirit from Saul (1 Sam. 16:23), the hand of Yahweh comes upon Elisha during the playing of music (2 Kings 3:15), Yahweh defeats Israel’s enemies during worship (2 Chron. 20:21-22), and judgments are poured out at the sound of trumpets in Revelation. These are only a few examples of many.
Music has an emotional aspect as well. All music stirs emotions within the hearer. It may stir apathy, pleasure, or distaste, but it is influential nonetheless. God has made us this way; it is inescapable. We should expect a mixture of emotions throughout worship such as joy, celebration, sorrow, and lamentation. This is proper if done in reverence and self-control. It should not be overbalanced but it must not be disparaged, either.
Perhaps sacramental Christians are inconsistent when we deny a sacramental aspect of musical worship. Alexander Schmemann described the world as “one all-embracing eucharist … a cosmic sacrament.” All of creation has been made to give us an encounter with the one true God. If that resembles paganism, then may we be biblical-pagans all the more.<>проверка позиций запросов
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