By Angela Sipe, Feb. 2009

I was thinking again recently about the power of music.  Music impacts us.  How do we know this?  Hit the mute button during the scary part of an intense movie – the power is completely gone from the scene.  Not only that, but watching a movie at the theater, completely surrounded by the sound, versus watching it in the comfort of your living room, lights on, friendly noise in the background – it isn’t the same.  [My husband will recall the memory of me watching ‘Jurassic Park’ in the theater, eyes closed, ears plugged, saying “tell me when it’s over, tell me when it’s over”.]  I know that, as a musician, and just a comparatively sensitive person, that some of this might be more true for me than for others.  Still, it is true for all of us, I’m convinced.

We recently acquired a treadmill, because, as I tell my kids, having mommy ignore you for a half hour is way better than having mommy go to the Biggest Loser campus for 3 months.  And I found out that I don’t mind walking/jogging (much), so long as I have some hoppin’ tunes going.  But give me a slow song, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to die before it’s over. 

This is something I’ve struggled with as a worship leader over the years.  I remember going to a class at a conference where the teacher was encouraging us to take advantage of, i.e. manipulate; using this phenomenon.  “If you play this kind of song with this kind of chords and this kind of beat, it makes people enter in like this . . . “  Ugh!  And sometimes I feel like we, as overly stimulated, sensory overloaded American worship consumers, are spoiled rotten.  If I don’t like the music, it’s not my style, it doesn’t move me, I’m not going to worship.  How pathetic is that?  I had a day like that recently.  On the way to church the mp3 player, and once we got there the worship leader all chose my least favorite songs. 

On the other hand, God made us this way, to be influenced by the music.  We have examples in scripture – the prophet calling for a minstrel, King Saul calling on David – God made music to influence us, and us to be influenced by it.  (side note:  what we listen to impacts us – what are you listening to?)  At the same time, He calls us to stir ourselves up to praise Him, not just as an emotional response to music, but as an intentional response to all He is and does, when we feel it and when we don’t.  It is both/and.  We use music as a tool, a platform, an environment to deliberately give wings/words/life to our worship and praise.  And at the end of the day (and at the beginning) we discipline ourselves to worship in spirit and truth, on good days and bad days, on the mountains and in the prisons and hospitals.  The Lord was King at the flood, He sits as King forever.