Makna Ungkapan “Petiklah Kecapi Baik-Baik” Dalam Mazmur 33: 3 Sebagai Upaya Peningkatan Kualitas Pelayanan Musik

Pelayanan musik adalah sangat penting dalam ibadah. Karena itu Kitab Mazmur juga menyatakan hal-hal mengenai pelayanan tersebut. “petiklah kecapi baik-baik” memberikan pengertian bahwa pelayanan musik bukanlah semata-mata menyangkut kemampuan memainkan alat musik saja. Tetapi lebih jauh dari hal itu adalah menyangkut kedalaman batin pemusik dalam penyembahannya kepada Tuhan yang menyangkut keseluruhan kehidupan sang pelayan tersebut. Ia adalah orang yang benar di dalam Tuhan: ia adalah seorang yang memiliki hati yang telah dibaharui oleh Tuhan, dia adalah seorang yang dosanya telah diampuni, telah diselesaikan di hadapan Tuhan. Dia adalah seorang yang jujur artinya dia adalah seorang yang berintegritas dan tidakada kemunafikan. Seorang pelayan musik yang benar adalah yang memiliki sikap yang benar yang jiwanya penuh sukacita dalam memuji Tuhan, yang hatinya penuh dengan pujian kepada Allah. Dia juga dapat memainkan alat-alat musik dengan benar: ia memahami musik dengan benar dan memahami bagaimana bermusik yang dikenan Tuhan. Seorang pelayan musik juga memiliki kesungguhan hati dan perlu mempersiapkan dengan matang melalui latihan-latihan sebelum memulai pelayanannya. Seorang pelayan musik juga adalah seorang yang tiap waktu mengharapkan kasih setia Tuhan, sehingga ia tidak mengandalkan dirinya sendiri, yang hatinya penuh pengagungan dan kekaguman kepada Tuhan. Ia hendaknya mengetahui alasan kenapa ia bermain musik dan melayani musik dengan baik-baik. Ia mengerti alasannya yaitu karena Firman Tuhan telah menjadikan segala sesuatu, bahwa Tuhan yang ia layani adalah yang memiliki rancangan ygng menentukan sejaah umat-Nya, yang perhatian-Nya kepada manusia seluruhnya, dan Ia adalah Tuhan yang menyelamatkan orang yang takut akan Dia. Pemahaman akan hal-hal tersebut akan sangat berpengaruh pada seluruh ibadah dan kemajuan penyembahan umat kepada Allah dan kehidupan umat yang mempermuliakan Allah, Sang Juruselamat. Music ministry is very important in worship. Therefore the Psalms also state matters regarding the ministry. "Pick the harp well" gives the sense that the service of music is not solely concerned with the ability to play an instrument. But further than that it concerns the inner depth of the musician in his worship of God concerning the whole life of the servant. He is a righteous person in God: he is a person who has a heart that has been renewed by God, he is a person whose sins have been forgiven, resolved before God. He is an honest person meaning he is a person of integrity and no hypocrisy. A true music steward is one who has the right attitude whose soul is full of joy in praising God, whose heart is full of praise to God. He can also play musical instruments correctly: he understands music correctly and understands how music is pleasing to God. A music steward also has sincerity and needs to prepare carefully through exercises before starting his ministry. A music steward is also someone who is always expecting God's love, so he does not rely on himself, whose heart is full of admiration and admiration for God. He should know the reasons why he plays music and serves music well. He understands the reason that is because the Word of God has made everything, that the Lord he serves is the one who has a design that determines the history of His people, whose attention is to the whole human being, and He is the God who saves those who fear Him. Understanding these things will greatly affect the entire worship and progress of the worship of the people to God and the lives of people who glorify God, the Savior.

“Preaching to the Choir and Being Played”

More than the coupling of women with gay men in vocal music participation is the impenetrable work spouse relationships that occur between the preacher and the chief musician. Protected by compensation arrangements and confidentiality expectations that favor the pastor as boss, that coupling is the dominant relationship in African American Christian religiosity. With this in mind, I wonder what are the ways in which men’s collective participation in vocal music ministry has come to function as a form of eunuchoidism to handle women in churches, while granting access to men who are phallogocentrically oriented, at the very least via their servile affinity for phallomusicocentrism or multivalent male-centered music-making. Undoubtedly, there is a pervasive investment in men’s cocreation after their own kind, a creative enterprise that reasserts dominance and pre-eminence. The unspoken connections and privileges afforded through this system are beguiling to the very best of men.

William Newbern and Youth Hymns: The Music Ministry of the C&MA in South China in the Mid-Twentieth Century

American missionary William Newbern (1900–1972), one of the first C&MA missionaries to China, is known as the father of the Hong Kong Alliance Bible Seminary. Newbern, a successful evangelist and educator, also made a major contribution to Chinese hymnology in the mid-twentieth century, especially in his editorial role in preparing Youth Hymns, whose hymns are still used in Chinese churches today. As primary sources, I use mainly his autobiography ( The Cross and the Crown), his articles in Alliance Magazine, and his music commentaries Narrating Hymns ( Shengshi mantan).

Heaven, Hell, and Hipsters

Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll attracts unconventional churchgoers. Hipster youth ages 18–25 comprise the core of the church’s 12,000+ weekly attendees – surprising, amid Driscoll’s controversial promotion of strict gender binaries and fundamentalist theology. Furthermore, the Pacific Northwest boasts the country’s lowest rate of church affiliation (Killen 2004). How, in this so-called ‘religious none-zone,’ has Mars Hill grown rapidly among young adults? I suggest only a portion of Mars Hill’s regional growth relies on content preached in the pulpit. Using ritual theory (Collins 2008) and non-linguistic semiotics (Turino 2008), I posit a connection between Mars Hill’s music ministry and Seattle’s vibrant indie guitar rock scene. By identifying Mars Hill’s mimicry of local concert culture aesthetics, I argue that secular ritual in a sacred space has created a potent ritual environment (Sylvan 2002), contributing massively to the church’s appeal among a majority “unchurched” demographic.

Verkondiging deur musiek: 'n Aspek van kreatiewe geloofskommunikasie

Communicating faith creatively through musicThe question of music ministry has become a focal point in the Dutch Reformed Church. The debate arises primarily from discontent about rigid and uninspired musical practices in the church. These practices are promoted and affirmed by one-sided theological views, according to which the spoken word as God's Word, is over-emphasized, and proclamation through music and other means is denied. In some Reformed churches this one-sidedness led to responses in the form of a music ministry with new one-sided approaches. In this article it is argued that music, singing and other forms of art need to be recognized and promoted as ways of communicating the Gospel on various levels. An encompassing strategy for creative communication of the faith within a more active liturgy needs to be developed. Liturgists need to be well-trained for such an encompassing task.