Music Notes

February has brought something new and exciting to Sewickley United Methodist Church: a new Sunday morning worship service. The 8:30 Contemporary Service, beginning February 1st, offers something new for SUMC members, as well as those in the community. With a focus on more modern praise and worship music and a different format of the worship service, the contemporary service will definitely enhance the music ministry at SUMC. I encourage you to come and check it out at some point during the month of February.

I’d like to share some of my thoughts and personal experience on contemporary worship. I am an organist and love traditional church music, having grown up in the First Presbyterian Church, downtown, where the organ was played very well and the choirs always did an excellent job. Yet, when I was younger, and through my college years, I felt somewhat distant from God during worship. I enjoyed the hymns, but I could not connect personally. While in college, I started attending churches that had more contemporary music, and I found that this was really helpful for my relationship with the Lord. I felt that the music was something to which I could connect, and I was free to sing with more passion and conviction. I even got to a place where I no longer enjoyed singing traditional hymns and church music because it felt so dry to me in comparison to the newer music.

That being said, my “worship pendulum” has swung back toward the middle since those years. Not only can I appreciate the emotion and passion that come along with contemporary music, but I also heartily enjoy the grandeur, majesty, and solid Biblical message of hymns and traditional church music, as well. I can use both to express my thanks to God, and to give Him praise and honor.

I share these thoughts because some in our congregation may wonder why we are even having a new service. Our traditional service is certainly worshipful and is enjoyed by many, as it serves their spiritual needs. But others may desire a different format in which to express their praise and thanks to the Lord. I have learned that God does not care how we worship—with what instruments or with what songs, but He looks on the heart. In John, Jesus told the woman at the well that God is looking for those who will worship in spirit and in truth. With sincere and grateful hearts, let us come before our Lord and Savior, whether with the organ and choir, or with guitar and drums. It is my hope that either within the contemporary service, or traditional service, you will feel drawn closer to God through the ministry of music, wherever you are in your walk with God, and however you best express your praise to Him.