Music as Pastoral Care

People will occasionally say, "I get more out of the music than the sermon." Or, "The message was good today, but I really needed to hear [or, perhaps more likely, sing] that song today. It was good for my soul." Even, "I couldn't concentrate on the spoken word, but the message in music really reached me today."

Without intending it - that is, whether we work at it or not - music in gathered worship serves any number of purposes. It is a significant vehicle of Christian education and maturity: we learn what we sing. It is an essential component of Christian devotion: we love who we sing to and about. Music in worship is also pastoral care: the Spirit uses musical selections as he wills, in the hearts of singers and hearers, often ministering grace in ways we as planners and performers could not imagine.

Preachers sometimes tell about parishioners who comment on how much a sermon helped them in a particular way, when in fact that particular way was not even an intentional part of the sermon. This seems to surprise preachers; and sometimes it amuses them, as if the parishioner just wasn't a good listener. I think musicians may understand this better. Perhaps we more often, or more naturally, or more readily experience the Spirit's work in a medium that is - at its core, let's admit it - spiritual.

We simply do not know, as we sing a hymn, how a particular phrase or stanza is going to strike us. Whether a new hymn or a beloved favorite, each hymn (just to use hymns as an example) has the potential to draw us to greater love for Christ, deeper understanding of God's purposes, or clarity about some life issue that we are dealing with. And how much less can we anticipate what the Spirit is doing in the hymn-singer next to us? We sing on, confident that it is the Spirit's work in maturity, devotion, and care.

Undergirding all this is the assumption that what is sung - by the people (hymns) or for the people (anthems, etc.) - is, in fact, the Word of God. It is the Word that the Spirit brings to life in his people. It is the Word that changes lives. It is the Word that meets needs.

This week we move from a busy and glorious Christmas season, into the next season of "regular services." Let's be mindful that in the ministry of the Word, yes even through music, nothing is to be taken for granted. If it is the Word of God we sing, the Spirit will be at work in his people, and you as musicians will be serving the congregation in ways we cannot imagine and may never know.

Sing on!