{"id":227,"date":"2009-10-12T14:27:29","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T18:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=227"},"modified":"2009-10-12T14:27:29","modified_gmt":"2009-10-12T18:27:29","slug":"interview-with-me-about-music-and-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"Interview with me about music and worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/small>SUSTENANCE for the SOUL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music can be a means of worship, a prayer in itself<\/em>
\nBy LORETTA SWORD
\nTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN<\/p>\n

Music. With or without words, it\u0092s a universal language that transcends creed and color, dogma and doctrine.<\/p>\n

It\u0092s been around thousands of years longer than any of the world\u0092s religions, and in recent decades has become an integral part of many of them.<\/p>\n

For some, it is as powerful a form of worship as prayer, and more powerful than anything a priest or preacher could utter from pulpit, altar or revival-tent stage.<\/p>\n

For others, it is a unifying force \u0096 a communal act that binds together people of varied backgrounds who share a common faith \u0096 or fears, or doubts or hope. Although early religions forbade most instruments from churches and didn\u0092t allow song from anyone but the priests or other \u0093holy\u0094 men, hymns began easing their way into Catholic, Anglican and Protestant churches several hundred years ago.<\/p>\n

Then came gospel, a genre birthed in the fields of Southern plantation owners by slaves who weren\u0092t allowed a church, or even to worship in the open.<\/p>\n

Today, there are nearly as many types of Christian and religious music as secular music, and churches that once frowned on anything that didn\u0092t emanate from an organ, harp or choir now advertise praise band entertainment before or during services.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, some churches use music as a draw or pre-show entertainment \u0096 more window dressing than substance.<\/p>\n

But plenty have integrated song and instrumentation into the worship experience in a way that enriches it rather than detracting from it.<\/p>\n

Dave Foncannon, well-known as a member of the popular Fireweed bluegrass band and pastor at Pueblo Mennonite Church, grew up with the comforting acappella music that is typical of churches in his faith.<\/p>\n

He loves it still, and can conjure a crystal-clear image of his mother when he hears \u0093Sweet Hour of Prayer.\u0094<\/p>\n

But his soul is stirred by the sounds of strings, too, and the mournful and joyful ways they can blend with human voices. Surely, he says, those creations make God smile and weep, too.<\/p>\n

\u0093God is creator, and if we are an image of God, there is creativity that we are supposed to express,\u0094 Foncannon said.<\/p>\n

\u0093I was the first person to take a guitar into church and do special music.\u0094 The reaction, at first, was \u0093cautious, but supportive.\u0094<\/p>\n

Today, Fireweed often weaves its sounds into the messages he delivers from the pulpit, if not during services, then afterward. His worship messages often are embellished with his guitar and his voice, sharing favorite old hymns or pieces he penned himself.<\/p>\n

When choosing selections each week, he doesn\u0092t consider variety or what he thinks his congregation will enjoy, but \u0093what will take us to where we\u0092re going\u0094 with that week\u0092s worship topic, he said.<\/p>\n

\u0093Music is one of those ways our spirits can talk to God without words. For me, personally, it can be very spiritual. There are times that I pray just by playing music.\u0094<\/p>\n

Power to the people<\/p>\n

Ken Butcher, a lifelong music teacher who is retired as a deacon and musical director at Pueblo\u0092s Ascension Episcopal Church, says music \u0093is an integral part of worship for me \u0096 and always has been. Music can be a tool for good or for ill, and people have recognized that for centuries. Martin Luther used it as a means of giving power to the congregation \u0096 to the people \u0096 rather than the choir. It\u0092s a sort of democratizing influence\u0094 as well as one that unifies, whether there\u0092s harmony among congregants outside the walls of their church or not.<\/p>\n

That\u0092s not to say everyone agrees with him (when they\u0092re not swept up in the music). \u0093The presence of popular music in the church has been an issue way back to the 16th century, because popular music was creeping into the Catholic Church and the pope began insisting on certain standards. We still have that battle, about what\u0092s appropriate, in our denomination,\u0094 he said.<\/p>\n

\u0093Of course, music can be a substitute for a real spiritual experience; you can be so swept away in the music that you miss the message. So it can be both a blessing and curse. But it also can be an entree, a way to open the door of receptivity\u0094 in a closed mind or heart.<\/p>\n

Butcher conducts regular worship services for inmates at Pueblo County Jail and finds that beginning the services with a few hymns eases tension and helps him bring his listeners to a common focus.<\/p>\n

\u0093 \u0091He who sings, prays twice.\u0092 I use that phrase all the time when I go into the jail,\u0094 he said.<\/p>\n

\u0093The words can have whatever the meaning that the words have, but the music can add the dimension of emotions to it. It can reflect your mood or change your mood.\u0094<\/p>\n

Christian Piatt grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition, where music was a part of the worship scene, albeit it muted, carefully chosen and sparingly woven into the larger tapestry of church life.<\/p>\n

His uncles were in Baptist gospel barbershop quartets, he said, and some of the music he grew up is a comforting, nostalgic snapshot from his youth. But it\u0092s not what feeds his creative fire, or his faith, as co-pastor at Pueblo\u0092s Milagro Christian Church.<\/p>\n

\u0093Music is my direct line to the divine. That\u0092s how I got invested in organized religion after 10 years away,\u0094 he says.<\/p>\n

Universal messages<\/p>\n

Highly opinionated about the way some Christian music has been used (and what\u0092s good, and useful, or not), Piatt said he seeks out and shares what he believes are universal messages of spiritual longing and fulfillment in the music of secular artists, as well as his own compositions.<\/p>\n

For instance, he hears his own inner voice and that of many spiritual seekers in U2\u0092s \u0093I Still Haven\u0092t Found What I\u0092m Looking For.\u0094<\/p>\n

Piatt definitely wasn\u0092t looking to become a co-pastor or musical ministry leader when he met his wife, Amy (Milagro\u0092s pastor). He hadn\u0092t been inside a church in more than 10 years. Soon after they met, she invited him to come with her to a church in the Denver area and he went to appease her, \u0093to show her that I just wouldn\u0092t fit.\u0094 The music he heard there convinced him that he did.<\/p>\n

The congregation \u0093sat in the round, and there were people like me there,\u0094 he said. \u0093I\u0092m not a church-music kind of guy. I was like a rocker guy, and music was a very secular experience for me then.\u0094<\/p>\n

He heard some of both types of music, and more, at that church before being invited to play for the group himself. It took some talking from his yet-to-be wife and her pastor, but he finally agreed.<\/p>\n

\u0093I almost didn\u0092t make it through my first song because I just burst into tears. I had to excuse myself from the worship service to compose myself,\u0094 he remembers.<\/p>\n

\u0093I had allowed myself to be vulnerable with this group of people and I connected with something I had walled off for years,\u0094 he said.<\/p>\n

Later, he sang at a church in Boulder and the pastor there asked him if he would consider a job as musician at church in Fort Worth. Picturing a \u0093megachurch,\u0094 Piatt at first said no.<\/p>\n

Then Amy received a scholarship to the divinity school at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, so he decided to check out the church he had already judged.<\/p>\n

\u0093It was a small, open and affirming church. It deconstructed and reconstructed everything I knew about religion,\u0094 he said.<\/p>\n

A few years later, he and Amy (who since had married) moved to Pueblo to start Milagro, where he approaches his music ministry in much the same way she approaches her weekly message from the Bible.<\/p>\n

\u0093The music has to be about something bigger than one hour in church. It\u0092s about love and God, but also about struggle and pain. It\u0092s about all of those things because we are about all of those things,\u0094 Piatt said.<\/p>\n

Music reverberates at an almost primal level, he said, because \u0093probably before humans could understand the concept of a creator, there was music. What connects us is stories, and at its best, that\u0092s what music does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUSTENANCE for the SOUL Music can be a means of worship, a prayer in itself By LORETTA SWORD THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN Music. With or without words, it\u0092s a universal language that transcends creed and color, dogma and doctrine. It\u0092s been around thousands of years longer than any of the world\u0092s religions, and in recent decades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11,13,10,8,33,37,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}