I had the opportunity to sit down with a young man recently who wants to get involved in playing music on the worship team. As I was driving to the meeting and thinking about what I would ask him, I was struck with the thought, "What is God looking for in a musician?". I know that sounds like something I should be asking myself all the time. But it just struck me in a new way.
When a Samaritan woman was talking to Jesus about the current worship "hot" topics of her culture, Jesus made a comment that revealed the heart of God for her and for everyone like her who would listen:
"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." (John 4:23)
Did you catch that last little part? I have read this many times and always get stuck on what "spirit and truth" means that I neglected something just as important: The Father is seeking worshipers.
The first thing that I think God is looking for in a musician is a worshiper. Someone who gives all of themselves to God with reckless abandon. He is looking for someone who will worship Him whether they are on the stage playing music or in the pews or in their occupation. He is looking for believers who are worshiping when they walk through the doors of the church and who walk out the doors worshiping.
I wonder if we have the same priorities that God does. Are our lead worshipers worshipers or song leaders? Are our musicians musicians or worshipers who are currently using their instrument to give expression to the worship in their hearts?
What would our worship times look like if our musicians were skilled enough that they weren't trying to focus on just getting through a song but rather on making melody in their hearts to God? What would happen if our lead worshipers were more defined by adoration than observation?
The Father is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth. When he looks into our churches on Sunday mornings and sees the worship band playing, is He finding them? When he looks in the pews and sees the musicians who have a "week off" is he seeing worshipers or observers?
"As we come into your presence
and stand in awe of you
you radiate the pure light
of never-changing truth
you shine as we praise you
exposing all we are
as we draw near in Jesus
search our hearts
Give us the grace to see
what you see as we sing..." (from "All We Are" by DHB)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
I got to record a choir of ladies from Westside for a song on the new record. It was a lot of fun to do music with these ladies in a different venue than normal. They were very gracious and accommodating. The disorganized artist that I am, I forgot to bring printed lyrics for them, so Gail wrote them out and taped them to a ladder. L to R: Gail Williams, Joy Bongiorno, Cindy Pickett, Nicole Graham. (I guess that's me in the background). This is us rehearsing the parts.
To add the last part (that of the gospel soloist with a huge voice), I asked my Aunt Kathy (who is a gospel soloist with a huge voice- go figure!) to come down from Puyallup, WA to sing on the record. It turned out great!
I recently posted a few preview tracks to my myspace music page (www.myspace.com/danhickmanband). I didn't put this song on there yet because I've got to put some more finishing touches on it. But I did post some nearly finished versions of "The Heavens Declare", "All We Are (Unite Our Worship)" and our version of "Be Thou My Vision".
Monday, August 18, 2008
Noisy Young Peoples' Music
"I can't stand all this noisy, young peoples' music!!!" screamed the Professor in the Colby Kid's Praise tapes I listened to as a boy. I was just reading a blog by Dan Kimball (www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/) and found two very interesting letters sent in regarding new church music. Check them out...
"I am no music scholar, but I feel I know appropriate church music when I hear it. Last Sunday's new hymn - if you can call it that - sounded like a sentimental love ballad one would expect to hear crooned in a saloon. If you insist on exposing us to rubbish like this - in God's house! - don't be surprised if many of the faithful look for a new place to worship. The hymns we grew up with are all we need."
This letter was written in 1863 and the song they were concerned about was the hymn "Just As I Am".
Another letter said:
"What is wrong with the inspiring hymns with which we grew up? When I go to church, it is to worship God, not to be distracted with learning a new hymn. Last Sunday's was particularly unnerving. The tune was un-singable and the new harmonies were quite distorting."
This letter was written in 1890 and about the hymn "What A Friend We Have In Jesus".
Sunday, August 17, 2008
In The Studio
I'm excited to offer the news that I have been busy in the studio recording some songs that have been circling around live but have never been recorded ("The Glory of Your Grace" and "The Heavens Declare" are among them).
Tim Fish (lead guitar and BGVs) has been helping with some arrangement and production on this project. He is a very talented musician and has a good sense of vision for each song. He has been a great joy to work with in the sometimes hot studio at the Otto Farm (you know, Ben Otto, the chief engineer par excellence?). Tonight Tim and
I got a surprise visit from Amy and Matthew too, which completely made my day.I would love to give some audio samples, but that would be like showing you my half-haircut. But I can tell you some of the songs we've nearly completed so far:
The Glory of Your Grace
The Heavens Declare
Someday
Your Name, Your Renown
All We Are (Unite Our Worship)
Be Thou My Vision
I'm also in the final stages of a few other worship songs and we should be recording those shortly. We'll most likely throw into the record a few of our favorites, "Away", "Who I Am" and "Run" (none of these are congregational worship songs, but their messages resonate) as well as the never heard "Fight or Flight", which is a very personal song from my experiences in the past year. I can't wait for you to hear this project!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Extravagant
Kissing my wife would not make me a good husband, nor would buying her flowers, writing her songs or laughing with her late at night. What would make me a good husband is fidelity, providing for her, honesty, being a spiritual leader for her and other not-so-visible signs of love for her. Without these I cannot be a good husband. But kissing, flower buying, songs and laughter flow out of our relationship naturally because of the strength of my love for her that is also expressed in fidelity, etc.
I think it can be the same in our worship of God. Raising hands, bowing facedown or tears do not make us worshipers. Loving God from the heart, obeying Him and loving our neighbors are our primary acts of worship. Without these, we are not worshipers of God. But our worship of God should manifest itself in the same ways that loving our spouse should.
How extravagantly do we express our love for God? Consider the following passage.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."
(Joh 12:1-8)
300 denarii is about a year's wages for someone back then. I'm not sure how much you make in a year- $30,000? $50,000? $80,000? Imagine taking a year's worth of your earnings, saving it all, buying something with it and pouring it out at the feet of Jesus.
No wonder the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. It was an unbelievable amount of perfume. The house probably smelled like that stuff for months after this incredible act of worship.
How does our worship compare to the example of Mary here? Does your act of worship fill the room and seem excessive to those around? Could you say that your worship is "extravagant"? Or do we stand around like the disciples and wonder why someone would do something so outlandish?
I think it can be the same in our worship of God. Raising hands, bowing facedown or tears do not make us worshipers. Loving God from the heart, obeying Him and loving our neighbors are our primary acts of worship. Without these, we are not worshipers of God. But our worship of God should manifest itself in the same ways that loving our spouse should.
How extravagantly do we express our love for God? Consider the following passage.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."
(Joh 12:1-8)
300 denarii is about a year's wages for someone back then. I'm not sure how much you make in a year- $30,000? $50,000? $80,000? Imagine taking a year's worth of your earnings, saving it all, buying something with it and pouring it out at the feet of Jesus.
No wonder the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. It was an unbelievable amount of perfume. The house probably smelled like that stuff for months after this incredible act of worship.
How does our worship compare to the example of Mary here? Does your act of worship fill the room and seem excessive to those around? Could you say that your worship is "extravagant"? Or do we stand around like the disciples and wonder why someone would do something so outlandish?
Louder still
I'm doing, sort of in fits and starts, a Bible read-through with Amy. It's a chronological one, so the layout is different and it's really interesting. Here is what I read the other day that blew me away (no, this wasn't all that I read that day :-)...
1 Chronicles 23:1-5
When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. David assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. The Levites, thirty years old and upward, were numbered, and the total was 38,000 men. "Twenty-four thousand of these," David said, "shall have charge of the work in the house of the LORD, 6,000 shall be officers and judges, 4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for praise."
Notice the number of musicians. So I thought about what that would look like, how it would sound. You know what they did to make music big and loud before they had amplification? They added people with instruments. How loud is one lyre? Not too loud. One cymbal? Approaching loud. Harps? I don't know, depends on the size, but not too loud. What about two? five? ten? Then imagine 4,000. Imagine the amount of air being moved, in time, in harmony, for the express purpose of the praise of the greatness of the God of Israel.
In David's day they didn't turn it up, they simply got lots and lots of trained musicians to make the music loud. Hundreds of musicians can be loud. Thousands of instruments would be incredibly loud.
Do you think that God was trying to make a statement to Israel about Who He is?
A number of years ago I attended an airshow. At one point in the show they had a Hawker Harrier, one of those Vertical Takeoff and Landing jets. Just before the jet took off, they cleared everyone far, far away and told people it would be really loud. I was not prepared for how incredibly loud that thing would be.
As the engine started pushing down air the sound became unbelievably loud. People who already had earplugs were covering their ears. What was incredible is that the thing hadn't even taken off yet. It just got louder and immeasurably louder. Funny, I haven't seen the Harrier there since. I think it overwhelmed everyone.
There is a sense of awe and fear when something is that loud. In our churches today, what are we saying about God with our volume? Is it "shock and awe" or "stealth"?
In the Psalms we are encouraged to shout God's praise and to shout for joy (20:5; 32:11; 33:1; 35:27; 47:1; 65:8; 66:1; 71:23; 81:1; 132:9, 16). Why is that? Is it so God can hear it way up there? I don't think so. I think we say something awesome about God in a shout that can't be said the same way with a normal volume.
Do we have a time to shout the praise of God in our churches? Does our volume ever get loud enough that we're shaking the building, making people outside wonder, "what are they doing in there?"
Or do we always keep our volume at a comfortable level, making great statements about God in not-so-great a way? Who is determining volume level- Biblical examples or guardians of the ear?
Of course, not every time is a time to crank up the volume. There are many times for weeping, repentance, silence. But we need to expand the dynamics of our worship to include the whole range. Do we range from pianissimo to fortissimo or just live in the middle of mezzo forte?
I think Matt Redman captures the heart of this in the title track of his album, Beautiful News.
Shout it out, let the people sing
something so powerful should shake the whole wide world
Make it loud, make it louder still
Savior, we're singing now
to celebrate Your beautiful news
1 Chronicles 23:1-5
When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. David assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. The Levites, thirty years old and upward, were numbered, and the total was 38,000 men. "Twenty-four thousand of these," David said, "shall have charge of the work in the house of the LORD, 6,000 shall be officers and judges, 4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for praise."
Notice the number of musicians. So I thought about what that would look like, how it would sound. You know what they did to make music big and loud before they had amplification? They added people with instruments. How loud is one lyre? Not too loud. One cymbal? Approaching loud. Harps? I don't know, depends on the size, but not too loud. What about two? five? ten? Then imagine 4,000. Imagine the amount of air being moved, in time, in harmony, for the express purpose of the praise of the greatness of the God of Israel.
In David's day they didn't turn it up, they simply got lots and lots of trained musicians to make the music loud. Hundreds of musicians can be loud. Thousands of instruments would be incredibly loud.
Do you think that God was trying to make a statement to Israel about Who He is?
A number of years ago I attended an airshow. At one point in the show they had a Hawker Harrier, one of those Vertical Takeoff and Landing jets. Just before the jet took off, they cleared everyone far, far away and told people it would be really loud. I was not prepared for how incredibly loud that thing would be.
As the engine started pushing down air the sound became unbelievably loud. People who already had earplugs were covering their ears. What was incredible is that the thing hadn't even taken off yet. It just got louder and immeasurably louder. Funny, I haven't seen the Harrier there since. I think it overwhelmed everyone.
There is a sense of awe and fear when something is that loud. In our churches today, what are we saying about God with our volume? Is it "shock and awe" or "stealth"?
In the Psalms we are encouraged to shout God's praise and to shout for joy (20:5; 32:11; 33:1; 35:27; 47:1; 65:8; 66:1; 71:23; 81:1; 132:9, 16). Why is that? Is it so God can hear it way up there? I don't think so. I think we say something awesome about God in a shout that can't be said the same way with a normal volume.
Do we have a time to shout the praise of God in our churches? Does our volume ever get loud enough that we're shaking the building, making people outside wonder, "what are they doing in there?"
Or do we always keep our volume at a comfortable level, making great statements about God in not-so-great a way? Who is determining volume level- Biblical examples or guardians of the ear?
Of course, not every time is a time to crank up the volume. There are many times for weeping, repentance, silence. But we need to expand the dynamics of our worship to include the whole range. Do we range from pianissimo to fortissimo or just live in the middle of mezzo forte?
I think Matt Redman captures the heart of this in the title track of his album, Beautiful News.
Shout it out, let the people sing
something so powerful should shake the whole wide world
Make it loud, make it louder still
Savior, we're singing now
to celebrate Your beautiful news
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