P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

TWO HEAVENS #7

“LET’S HEAR IT FOR TED ON THE TRUMPET!”

It’s hot, dark, and sweaty at Preservation Hall, or over at the New Orleans Heritage Hall. You’ve just had a good-and-hot Jambalaya meal at the Cajun Corner, and you’ve worked off some of that Creole cooking by walking down Rampart Street and from one end of Bourbon to the other. And now you’re listening as the musicians tune up their instruments for a night of improvisation and jazz. Maybe a big-name performer like Nelson Rangell is there. Or just a ragtag collection of local musicians: a couple of trumpets, slide trombone, clarinet, big upright bass, piano, a drummer. And they start in with a nine-minute version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” and take it from there.

Now, friend, I’ve got to confess that I haven’t experienced very much of what I just described to you. Most of the jazz I’ve heard in my life, I heard at Disneyland from the musicians who wander around from their home base at the New Orleans Square. But I know that some of the best toe-tappin’ songs they do over at the Snug Harbor Jazz Club and similar venues in New Orleans can run a good ten or fifteen minutes long. These guys make it look so easy — improvising — but it takes years of practice to get that kind of Dixieland music to come out right.

One feature of this kind of music, if you’ve ever attended a performance, is how, on these marathon songs, the spotlight passes from one player to another. After a brief jam session where they’re all playing at once, the solo mike goes to the trumpet player. And for 16 or 32 measures, he’ll really burn up the valves, while the other players in the band kind of just play background for him. Then the clarinet or the sax takes a crack at it. The “bones” get a turn, followed by the piano player and the drummer. Then, after the audience has whistled and clapped for each of these solo moments, the whole band comes back together for the big finale. But that kind of “pass the pedestal” experience is very common down in New Orleans, or wherever this kind of music is played.

Now friend, there’s nothing wrong with performing. You and I attend performances all the time, where a gifted musician puts ON . . . a PERFORMANCE. He or she plays; we listen. The spotlight’s on them, not us. When it’s over, we clap for them, and they stand there bowing. The world of entertainment works that way, and there’s nothing inherently evil about it.
What about in church, though? That’s really the stage for our discussion just now. When musicians play in church, when they participate in a Christian worship service, is it a performance THERE? Is there a place for a worship leader to point to the trombone player and cry out to the congregation: “Sammy ‘The Slide’ Simpson, everyone! Give ‘im a hand! All right, Sammy!” Or even: “Peter ‘The Pipe Organ’ Paulsen! Good job, Pete! Come on, folks! Let’s hear it!” How much of that should go on in our churches on Sabbath or Sunday morning?

There was a great article in the magazine Ministries Today a couple of years back. It was written to give guidelines to worship leaders as they direct congregations in today’s contemporary song services. So it referred to the keyboards, the guitars, the drums, the mikes and the overhead transparencies, and all the rest. And then it shared with these would-be leaders how to select songs, how to create a flow that would prepare a congregation for the sermon, prepare them for the invitation to accept Christ, get them ready to be touched by the Holy Spirit. There really IS a science to the study of Christian music, you know, and this well-written article was clear in explaining how a carefully chosen song menu can be a powerful tool in preparing people’s hearts for salvation.

But toward the close of the article this warning was found. The chief objective for that worship leader, the author suggested, was that the congregation should completely FORGET that he or she is up there on the platform. There would be no “All right, Bill! Great worship set!” None of that. Whether the congregation sang two songs or nine, whether it was upbeat or quiet, contemporary or reflective, the goal would be that all TRACES of a worship leader’s personality would recede into the background. The Holy Spirit would be front and center; the singer and his backup vocalists, the bass player, the keyboard artist, the drummer, the trumpet players . . . all would fade into the wallpaper, so to speak.

What do you think of that? And of course, we would want this same concept to apply in our traditional services, in our “(quote) high church” moments. A great choir director and his 150-voice choir, our finest cathedral organists, our high-quality brass ensembles . . . fading into the background. Our soloists . . . fading into the background. Everything about US . . . fading away.

Clear back last week, when we first began digging into this topic, I borrowed from a rather emphatic book that’s circulating around in my own denomination right now. And I must confess that there are some very valid points being made in this new volume which critiques the presence of rock-and-roll in our Christian churches here in the year 2002. And this desire for applause, for self-worship, for getting up on pedestals, is one of the things that the author rightly condemns.

Here’s just a line from the manuscript, and really, could we argue?

“Michael Jackson,” he writes, “has carefully staged himself throughout the world as an ICON of DEITY. His videos regularly display him giving erotic gestures to the camera; his extravagantly-rendered stage productions present strong implications of his godhood (manifested in his entrances and exits), lauding him as the savior of the world.”

Have you noticed any of that? Maybe you remember a Super Bowl halftime show a few years ago where Jackson was the featured presenter. And how about the ENTRANCE? He popped out of a high tower in one corner of the stadium. Then, a moment later, he emerged from atop a football goalpost. Then in another distant corner: Michael Jackson again! It was grand; it was impressive. But it also had just a hint of “Notice me. I am godlike. I am to be admired and worshiped.”

Now, friend, the secular world has some of it in its entertainment. And we’re not going to spend time howling at the moon about things that can’t be changed. But do our musicians in our churches ever fall prey to this exact temptation?

I’m aware, certainly, that sometimes people clap after a special music in church. I’ve had TV makeup put on MY face before, and I’ve felt the tug of faint pleasure at standing in a spotlight. I confess – I’ve had to fight this thing too. There’s something very pleasant about being a star, about even a trace of celebrity status. I can get to liking it, seeking it, using it. Some of that just happens, and you deal with it. But I know in my own life that there’s a difference between “Here’s Pastor Melashenko; let’s give him a warm welcome” and “Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you’ve been waiting for . . . heeeeeere’s Lonnie! And he’s available for autographs!” God help me to ever avoid seeking or wanting or expecting the slightest bit of THAT.

Did you know that the word “glorify” or “glorified” happens in the Word of God a total of 25 times. There’s one verse where God talks about bringing glory and honor to His house, His temple. And one verse, Jeremiah 30:19, where God says He will glorify His people. But in all of the other 23 references, do you know who the SUBJECT is of that verb “glorify”? It’s God Himself, of course. Friend, our purpose on this earth is to glorify HIM, to bring honor to HIM, to bring worship and praise to HIM. I have no problem at all with “(quote) praise and worship” music, if it properly and appropriately gives the praise AND the worship to the place it belongs: the throne of heaven.

Probably our favorite of those 25 verses is one we quote a lot here, probably to keep us humble after the TV makeup lady leaves the building. Matthew 5:16 is an invitation from Jesus Himself, and what good counsel for anyone who plugs in a guitar at church, or adjusts the stops on the pipe organ.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works [or music], and glorify your FATHER which is in heaven.”

Isn’t that beautiful? Listen, that verse encompasses our lives on a 24/7 basis, but it certainly hits the one hour on Sabbath or Sunday morning at church. If the congregation applauds after your number at church — fine, acknowledge it. But pass it right along to God. If they say amen, or compliment you, or lift you up in any way, follow the advice of that recent hit from The Preacher’s Wife — “I’ll Hasten to His Throne” — and deposit the glory there.

I mentioned already an editorial in the Adventist Review by Bill Johnsson. He affirms much of what our young people are doing in churches these days, but lists as Number ONE this guideline, which I want to quote word-for-word:

“In church, singing and ALL MUSIC should be worship, NEVER a performance. Anyone who seeks to draw attention to THEMSELVES by gyrations or organ theatrics is out of place.”

So friend, if you want some applause for yourself, pick up a trombone and head over to Preservation Hall. On the other hand, if you want to bring glory to God and His Son Jesus, drive with me over to church and let’s surrender self and spotlights together.