May 11, 2009
Popularity
The AP reported that the School of Church Music and Worship at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will no longer be a free-standing school. Citing the sluggish economy and waning popularity, the plan is to combine music and worship with the School of Leadership and Church Ministry, “which has taught future education ministers, youth leaders and other specialized ministries”. A spokesman said the trend of churches moving to guitars and praise courses has eroded the schools entrants over several years. I can understand the sluggish economy taking a toll on programs, but I cringe when I hear of Christian institutions bowing down to the idol of waning popularity.
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Gail;
-----Human culture is made of popularity. Popularity is made of the human need for company. The need for company is made of the need for person relevancy. Everything the individual does for survival focuses on the relevancy of the self’s existence. Getting out of bed in the morning gets your day going in the shelter you must have to survive the elements. If dressing does not shelter your body from the elements of the day, it at least shelters your privacy from the sight of others and expresses your personal tastes. Eating breakfast fuels your body. And going to work provides the funds to supply these basic needs. Even your prayer and meditation time bolsters your own spiritual strength so that your mental and emotional attitudes will be well shaped to handle the day’s stresses. And physical, psychological, and spiritual strength is all the more important to the soul who rises in the morning to go serve others. It is understandable that the individual then projects his personal being into his expectations of cultural conditions, since he is so busied with the cares of it. Therein is the flaw.
-----The Word of God details a culture quite different from the ordinary human culture. The Bible calls for a higher degree of regard for the personages of others in the face of needing to care for your own. It asks for a certain level of detachment from the makeup of the self when interacting with others, so they might also enjoy the same personal relevancy as do you. The Biblical culture, then, beyond its norms for a delineation between plain right and wrong, allows for a culture to passively emerge from a mix of all the interacting personages.
-----That the musical curricula of seminaries has become limited to the guitar and praise courses is not the point which bothers me. The folks attending church and thriving on these are slowly becoming the majority. That teaching only guitar and praise limits service to the needs of the majority is the point which does bother me. This tendency is straight from the human culture playbook: join with the majority to be relevant, and serve everyone what is relevant to you. That is just not the Biblically taught attitude. As long as the line between right and wrong is not broken, serving the majority what interests it is ok if everyone is the majority.
-----But surrendering your spiritual personage to majority interests is not the same as surrendering to the Holy Spirit and the Word. Spiritual life in the Lord should happen at the pinnacle of individuality: just me and the Lord at the core of the heart. Spiritual life in the brotherhood should happen at the pinnacle of interaction: just me and the brother beside me in the moment. If that brother grooves on guitar and praise, then guitar and praise should be relevant in that moment. But if he relishes organ and reverence, isn’t he going to be left out of participation when you fail to serve organ and reverence? And how big of me it is to demand him to change!
-----Therefore, the seminaries are failing to prepare their students for full and complete service. They are submitting to a human cultural flaw of allowing their own struggle for individual relevancy to taint with favoritism their participation in the brotherhood. Indeed, they see the student as their student first, the church culture as their culture first, and the relevancy of guitars and praise songs as their relevancy only! They are failing to see the student as the Lord’s student, the church culture as His culture, and the relevancy of others as what should be relevant to them. And that is what bothers me. The Lord’s culture is not about individual validation through popularity, it is about participating in the interests of others, no favoritism shown! The Word of God covers all the points of relevancy and sums them up in what Jesus verified as being the greatest commandments: love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. So if you are going to love your neighbor, you will desire to love what your neighbor loves. Especially since your neighbor is whom God loves! And that attitude is preparation for full and complete service.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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