Music and the Christian Practice of Beauty

In the coming weeks my congregation will be voting on whether or not to replace our existing pipe organ with an Allen digital/electronic organ that would be interfaced with about 25 ranks of our existing pipes. The original organ, as built into the previous building had 82 ranks. That organ was cut down to 41 ranks, though the original console was brought to the new building, when moved to a much smaller sanctuary in the late 1970s. The proposed organ would retain some of the heritage of the original organ, in part recreate aspects of the sound of the original organ, plus allow for it to be used to support 21st-century styles of music. While I'm hopeful the congregation will accept the proposal, we await that decision.

Of course, I'm not posting this here to speak to my congregation, but rather to open up the conversation about church music. In many ways music has been treated in very utilitarian ways -- as a means to an end, and that end is often performance.

One of the questions that we are having to wrestle with in purchasing the organ is discerning how the organ would fit with the unfolding purpose of this congregation. How does it reflect our core values. While I know that there are many (not necessarily within the congregation) who argue that the organ is an instrument of the past. Why buy an organ when its not an up-to-date instrument? While many churches are either choosing not to get organs or getting rid of them, they can be a very important part of Christian worship, especially if a church seeks to keep connected to the longer heritage of Christian worship and music. So, if used wisely it can enhance worship.

As I think through what we're doing, how this instrument might fit into our sense of understanding as a church, I need to reflect theologically. Being with Diana Butler Bass this past Friday, I'm reminded of the idea of Christian practices that she discerned as being present in vital mainline churches. When it comes to music, the key practice is that of beauty. I think there is great value in that idea.

Using Redeemer Congregational Church of New Haven, CT as the example in her discussion, she notes the vibrancy and power of the music ministry -- most especially the great beauty that is expressed in the music. She writes:

Many churches have excellent music, with concert-hall quality organists and choirs. Sometimes, though, fabulous church music can devolve into performance, with the congregation reduced to an audience and all the "action" happening with the musicians. In these cases, music becomes, to use an old phrase, the tail that wags the dog, undermining other church ministries. In contrast, at Redeemer music, liturgy, and word were completely one, as were the choir, minister, and congregation. Indeed, the congregation appeared to be inside the music, not just watching a performance. It was a kind of grace-filled dance. And it was doing something spiritual to them. Together, they enacted the music, transforming their plain room with auditory beauty. In ever sense, music at Redeemers is, as Kurt Mounsma told me, a Christian practice -- they work on making beautiful sound in community. (Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us, HarperOne, 2006, p. 204).

The key is making sure that music doesn't become performance, but rather is a means of participating in the presence of God. An organ or a choir can become so dominant that it becomes performance, and while the show may be good, the spiritual vitality of the congregation diminishes, and the church with it. In the past I think there was some of that performance mentality, but we're trying to keep the focus on the spiritual and the participatory -- on the music being the means to an end -- the Worship of God -- rather than the end itself. When this occurs, then the Christian practice of beauty can emerge.

As Diana writes:

From them I learned that congregations can craft beauty through the arts, faithfully employing skills and gifts that opened the way toward helping them understand God beyond words. Through the arts, human beings embody God by imitating God's creative life-- shaping the clay of their experience with voices and hands. In that place, everything becomes new as we participate in God's continual creation of the universe. (Christianity for the Rest of Us, p. 214)

Too that I say: Amen!