Pastor’s Point: The music’s too loud!!! revisited…
One of my favorite scenes from Back to the Future is when a young Marty McFly is auditioning for the battle of the bands before a panel of teacher/judges. In a cameo appearance, Huey Lewis (himself an ‘80’s rock star in real life), plays one of the uptight teachers who must inform Marty that his band’s sound is “just too darn loud”. (Catch the scene online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZ8FvjsbKE)
It’s an ironic moment meant to get a laugh, but it also reminds me how subjective art and artistic tastes can be, even over the simplest ingredients like volume. What is too loud for some is not loud enough for others. Our technical director Darren Mitchell, and our sound engineer Nick Smith, work very hard to strike a balance, given the various styles and generations they have to work with on any given Sunday. Their heart attitude is amazing in all this—very humble and very teachable. Above all they want to glorify God and their goal is to make the technical part of corporate worship “invisible,” so to speak. The less aware of it that we are, the more likely the worshiper can focus on the message in the art.
Recently I ran across this humorous, tongue in cheek, ‘adaptation’ of one of Paul’s letters (don’t think it made it to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit). My suspicions about its veracity are only strengthened by the fact that I don’t believe too many Corinthian church buildings would have had pipe organs. But as a parable for what it’s like today trying to appeal to everyone’s “volume preference,” I find it instructive.
1 And It Came to Pass, when Paul was at Corinth, he and certain disciples came upon a mob that was stoning an organist. 2 And Paul said unto them, “What then hath he done unto thee that his head should be bruised?” 3 And the people cried with one voice, “He hath played too loud. 4 Yea, in the singing of psalms, he maketh our heads to ring as if they were beaten with hammers. 5 Behold, he sitteth up high in the loft; and mighty are the pipes and mighty is the noise thereof, and though there be few of us below, he nonetheless playeth with all the stops, the Assyrian trumpet stop, and the stop of the ram's horn and the stop that soundeth like the sawing of stone, and we cannot hear the words that do come out of our own mouths. 6 He always tosseth in variations that confuse us mightily and he playeth loud and discordantly and always in militant tempo, so that we have not time to breathe as we sing. 7 Lo, he is a plague upon the faith and should be chastised.” 8 Paul, hearing this, had himself picked up a small stone, and was about to cast it., but he set it down, and bade the organist come forward. 9 He was a narrow man, pale of complexion, dry, flaking, thin of hair. 10 And Paul said unto him, “Why hast thou so abused thy brethren?” 11 And the organist replied, “I could not hear them singing from where I sat, and therefore played the louder so as to encourage them.”12 And Paul turned around to the mob and said loudly, “Let him who has never played an organ cast the first stone!” 13 And they cast stones for a while until their arms were tired and Paul bade the organist repent and he did. 14 And Paul said unto him, “Thou shalt take up the flute and play it for thirty days, to cleanse thy spirit,” and afterwards they returned to Corinth and sang psalms unaccompanied and then had coffee and were refreshed in the faith.
Attributed to Garrison Keillor: manuscript edited and corrected.
tad
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