A Lutheran pastor and friend, John, told me the other week that the definitions for "traditional" and "contemporary" church music are "music that I like" and "music that I don't like!"
I've been thinking a lot about John's joke – partly because I think his joke is both accurate as well as funny and partly because church music is all too often not a "joking" matter to church people. How I wish it were otherwise. How I wish we were able to "joke" a little more about the many humorous aspects of church life, including our own passionate preferences for church music of both the traditional and contemporary varieties.
I've also been thinking lately about a huge "gap" in my own theological and scriptural education - regarding the place and the importance of music in Jesus' life. In all my years of reading and studying scripture and theology, I can't honestly remember anyone speaking much (or even at all) about music in first century Palestine (that is, in Jesus' time.) Was I just asleep the day of that lecture?!
Even though I don't have the facts or scholarship to prove it, I firmly believe that Jesus was a lover of music – just as he was a lover of God and humanity. I believe that Jesus recognized a good song (either traditional or contemporary!) when he heard one, and could sing with the best of them! And given his culture and proclivity for parties, I bet he could hold his own as a dancer too!
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