- Styles in everything change—in fashion, in music . . . And sometimes they come around again. In an earlier post we mentioned the importance of watching for new directions in music ministry and perhaps being a trailblazer.
Lots of great hymns and gospel songs were written in the popular styles of their day. John and Charles Wesley did it in the 18th Century, as did Martin Luther about two hundred years before them.George Frederick Handel did it, too, in the eighteenth century, though not in the style of the parlor but of the concert hall. He borrowed freely from himself in setting the scriptures to music for Messiah,using a number of tunes he had composed previously for other purposes. One of his great sacred choruses had originally been a tune about a silly goose.
Handel’s Messiah was at first banned and boycotted by many churches. Unlike Bach, who was primarily a church musician, Handel was best known as a composer of operas, a field thought by many in the church to be worldly. So Messiah was considered by some not worthy of association with the Holy Scriptures.
Speaking of pop music not being worthy of association with the Scriptures: you may be surprised to know that some of the Scriptures themselves were probably originally set to pop music.
Often when you see the term, “To the Chief Musician,” in the Psalms, it’s followed by an instruction from the lyricist, explaining how he wants the Psalm set to music.
The Amplified Bible tells us that the chief musician was instructed to set Psalms 45 and 69 “to the tune of ‘Lilies’ (probably a popular air).” The New Living Translation calls ‘Lilies’ “a love song.” Asaph used the same tune for Psalm 80.
Apparently one of the top hits of the day was a song called “Do Not Destroy.” David specified its tune for Psalms 57, 58 and 59, and Asaph used it for Psalm 75.
David specified three other tunes, “The Hind of the Morning Dawn,” “Silent Dove Among Those Far Away,” and “The Lily of Testimony,” for Psalms 22, 56 and 60.
King David’s Psalm 8, (O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!) was, according to the Amplified Bible, to be “set to a Philistine lute, or (possibly) to a particular Hittite tune.” The same instructions were given by Asaph for Psalm 81 and by the sons of Korah for Psalm 84.
Whichever it may be, this was not a “religious” style. The Philistines were archenemies of the Israelites, and the Hittites were a heathen people only partially subjugated by Israel! God had warned Israel against worshipping their gods but apparently had no problem with co-opting their musical styles. So what’s this about pop music not being worthy of association with the Holy Scriptures?
During the Reconstruction Era after the end of the American Civil War (1865) and up to about the turn of the 20th Century, songwriters wrote in the popular styles of the day—the same kinds of melodies and harmonies that people were singing in love songs and parlor songs—in an effort to communicate the gospel to their own generation.
These songs were used in evangelistic rallies, street meetings and churches, and they served well. Many of them were so repetitive, so full of simple rhyme that they “hooked” their way into people’s memories. Hardened sinners would go away humming the catchy tunes, unable to forget them.
With these inescapable melodies were planted snatches of the message that kept coming back and working conviction in questioning minds, sometimes for days afterward. These simple songs were powerful tools of the gospel, even as the great hymns have long been repositories of Christian doctrine.
The principle of keeping current was being carried on with great success, but it didn’t last. Truth never changes, but culture does, and if we don’t change with it, we become out of step with the generation we’re responsible to evangelize.