Creativity and Innovation in Worship (Psalm 33 Devotional)
Sing to Him a new song, play skillfully with a shout of joy. – Psalm 33:3
We serve a creative God. He is the inventor of all arts, including music. Music wasn’t our idea, but His. And He desires new songs be sung unto Him. Creative, unique, individual, and original.
Most Christians know that King David wrote many of the songs in the book of Psalms. And that he was a highly skilled musician - good enough to get a gig playing for the King! But many don’t know that his son, the great King Solomon, followed in his father’s footsteps.
He wrote over 1000 songs and invented instruments to play them on!
Imagine the worship leader at your church saying at his next worship team rehearsal, “I wrote a new song that we’re going to perform this week.” For some churches, this would not be much of a stretch, but for many, it would be a shock!
But then imagine him handing out odd-looking contraptions, some with strings, others with keys, others baffling looking like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! Then imagine the worship team’s dismay when the worship leader proclaims, “And we’re going to perform this new song on these new instruments!”
Throughout the ages, the church has been on the cutting edge of creativity in music and the arts. From Jubal, the first musician mentioned in the Bible, through David and Solomon, to the extraordinary music of Bach and the High Church age, followers of God have consistently innovated in music and the arts.
Much music, now ancient and accepted, was once on the leading edge of creativity. Imagine the first monks who broke off from plainchant. All singing the same melody and then beginning to add harmony, different voices singing different notes. It seems so normal today but at the time these were sounds never heard before.
Or think of the first church composers who introduced counterpoint - line moving against line rather than stacked harmony. People would have been shocked and amazed never having experienced music so complex. Think of Bach improvising live on the newest and most radical instrument ever invented up till then - the pipe organ. It would have been an incredible experience for the listener coming into church on a Sunday morning!
The church was the leading innovator in the arts at one point in time. But unfortunately, that is rarely the case today. Churches are slow to adopt change. Some churches think that the Lord’s presence doesn’t show up if the music isn’t traditional hymns written centuries ago played on instruments designed during the Enlightenment.
Or when it does, it is often a mere follower of the popular culture. (Many modern churches, who think they are on the leading edge of culture, sound more like a 1990s U2 concert than something truly innovative.)
But God is calling us to something more. New sounds, new approaches, new songs, played skillfully for Him. He is the great Creator, the great Innovator, and Artist. And we are fashioned in His image, designed to create fresh new sounds in fresh new ways. Pray that the same God Who breathed all things into existence from nothing would breathe fresh new creativity into the music of the church.
Questions for Thought:
The church once led artistic innovation. How is the church perceived today?
Why is the church resistant to change?
How do you feel about changes in music at your church?
