I'm doing music at church on Wednesday nights for about 25 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade girls. Just three songs a week usually. You'd think it would be easy, right?
A fifteen minute a week commitment?
Yeah, that's what I thought too.
I want to build relationships with these girls. So I asked for their input.
Fyi: Not sure I would recommend this.
See, I have sweet, sheltered girls whose minds have been diligently guarded by their parents. They love the Toby Mac, Brit Nicole, K-LOVE type music.
I can do this on Wednesday nights. (Since I have no guitar playing skills and the boys stole my husband who is my personal guitar playing guy, I'm stuck playing youtube videos anyway...)
But I also have girls who love Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift - and want to sing their songs for Wednesday nights.
Problem!
I'm not going to argue with their parents here, but I watched Justin Beiber videos on youtube for "research".
Let's just say I could only stomach two.
He's a sweet-faced, cute kid until you see him dancing around provocatively with 20-some year old women in bikinis.
Wow. Wish I could erase that from my brain.
Anyway...I'm going tonight armed with a few verses to explain why I pick the music I do, and we're going to have a little chat.
Maybe it will go way over their heads. After all they're 10, 11, 12 years old. Maybe they'll be annoyed with me and write me off as old and boring. And maybe one or two of them will remember the Word of God next time they decide what to put into their minds.
Anyway, the point of this is I'm practicing on you! Be excited. I always have to write down important things before I say them to make sure I thought them through right first. I envy people who can say exactly what they mean the first time without re-wording it in their heads 15 times first...
So. Here goes.
Ephesians 5:18b - 19
" Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."
I might just stick to this one verse. Don't wanna beat them over the head with a bunch of "shall nots".
I love this "making Melody" phrase. I feel like it sums up my whole life. This is what I want any music that comes out of my mouth to be about.
My story goes like this. I grew up listening to what my parents told me to listen to - read Sandi Patti and Steve Green. My goal in life was to sing like Sandi Patti. I sang ALL the time. I remember my poor parents reminding me at practically every meal that it's rude to sing and/or hum constantly while eating. (Yes, I know. Now my kids do this too...)
Still today I ALWAYS have a song in my head. This morning when I woke up the first thing that popped into my head was, "Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne. Crown You now with many crowns. You reign victorious!"
In highschool, it was SO NOT COOL to listen to KROA. So I started trying to fit in. I wanted to avoid the - get in the car with your friends and not know whatever really popular Celine Dion song is playing and sit there like an idiot while everyone sings along but me - awkward situation.
So I started listening to Britney Spears and whatever else was on.
I clearly remember being in the shower one morning singing, "Hit me baby one more time" when all of a sudden I thought, "I don't even know what this means?!" "What is this crap I am putting in my head???"
And I decided I was done.
So I purposely pick music with really good words. I'm pretty picky about it. Annoyingly so, my husband would say. He loves all kinds of music. And he informs me that my "awesome words" music has a tendency to be BORING.
But I love it.
It puts my mind on Jesus all the time. And keeps it there during my crazy days.
Hmmm... That's all I have. I'm afraid it's not going to go over well with pre-teen girls.
Help!
A fifteen minute a week commitment?
Yeah, that's what I thought too.
I want to build relationships with these girls. So I asked for their input.
Fyi: Not sure I would recommend this.
See, I have sweet, sheltered girls whose minds have been diligently guarded by their parents. They love the Toby Mac, Brit Nicole, K-LOVE type music.
I can do this on Wednesday nights. (Since I have no guitar playing skills and the boys stole my husband who is my personal guitar playing guy, I'm stuck playing youtube videos anyway...)
But I also have girls who love Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift - and want to sing their songs for Wednesday nights.
Problem!
I'm not going to argue with their parents here, but I watched Justin Beiber videos on youtube for "research".
Let's just say I could only stomach two.
He's a sweet-faced, cute kid until you see him dancing around provocatively with 20-some year old women in bikinis.
Wow. Wish I could erase that from my brain.
Anyway...I'm going tonight armed with a few verses to explain why I pick the music I do, and we're going to have a little chat.
Maybe it will go way over their heads. After all they're 10, 11, 12 years old. Maybe they'll be annoyed with me and write me off as old and boring. And maybe one or two of them will remember the Word of God next time they decide what to put into their minds.
Anyway, the point of this is I'm practicing on you! Be excited. I always have to write down important things before I say them to make sure I thought them through right first. I envy people who can say exactly what they mean the first time without re-wording it in their heads 15 times first...
So. Here goes.
Ephesians 5:18b - 19
" Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."
I might just stick to this one verse. Don't wanna beat them over the head with a bunch of "shall nots".
I love this "making Melody" phrase. I feel like it sums up my whole life. This is what I want any music that comes out of my mouth to be about.
My story goes like this. I grew up listening to what my parents told me to listen to - read Sandi Patti and Steve Green. My goal in life was to sing like Sandi Patti. I sang ALL the time. I remember my poor parents reminding me at practically every meal that it's rude to sing and/or hum constantly while eating. (Yes, I know. Now my kids do this too...)
Still today I ALWAYS have a song in my head. This morning when I woke up the first thing that popped into my head was, "Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne. Crown You now with many crowns. You reign victorious!"
In highschool, it was SO NOT COOL to listen to KROA. So I started trying to fit in. I wanted to avoid the - get in the car with your friends and not know whatever really popular Celine Dion song is playing and sit there like an idiot while everyone sings along but me - awkward situation.
So I started listening to Britney Spears and whatever else was on.
I clearly remember being in the shower one morning singing, "Hit me baby one more time" when all of a sudden I thought, "I don't even know what this means?!" "What is this crap I am putting in my head???"
And I decided I was done.
So I purposely pick music with really good words. I'm pretty picky about it. Annoyingly so, my husband would say. He loves all kinds of music. And he informs me that my "awesome words" music has a tendency to be BORING.
But I love it.
It puts my mind on Jesus all the time. And keeps it there during my crazy days.
Hmmm... That's all I have. I'm afraid it's not going to go over well with pre-teen girls.
Help!
2 comments:
Music can serve a lot of different purposes. It can lift your spirits, make you want to dance, console you when you're feeling blue, put you in a mood to worship, or make you think about things. Ask the girls what the music they like does for them, and listen without judging its merits. Then talk about what music does for you and why you want to have music that promotes worship in church. There are lots of good reasons to listen to good music whether it's "Christian" or "secular." Help them make sure the reasons they want to listen are good ones. (Wanting to fit in is not a bad reason, for example. But if you only listen to music to fit in, then you are missing out on a world of music that is very good but not very popular.)
Hmmm...I wish I had read this before I went to church, Chip. I'm not a huge fan of labels for music just because I've heard "Christian" music that isn't worth listening to and "secular" music that is. I'm not sure I made that very clear. I do spend most of my time listening to worship music, though - mostly because that's what I want running through my head while I'm washing dishes and making supper and whatever else.
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