Last post, I explored reinforcing hymns in worship with preludes/postludes and offertories based on the same hymn tune, per the request of an Old Worship New reader. Today, I’ll take up her other point: “play what I like” vs. “what’s fitting.”
I think this is sometimes more of a pastoral issue. For example, there are soloists in my congregation who, if they came to me with a solo that didn’t quite fit the lessons for the day, I could say, “You know, this would really work best in a few weeks. Let’s wait and plan it for that Sunday.” They’d understand and be perfectly okay with that.
On the other hand, if, say, a middle school or elementary school age soloist comes to me with a piece, I’ll probably be more inclined to have them play whatever, since for them, being involved is more important than the fittingness of their musical selection.
But what about myself? What about when I have things I want to play that are less fitting? I think the answer here has to be, “It depends.” There are times when I should probably play something that I know and love so that my connection and enthusiasm for the piece shines through rather than something that fits and doesn’t appeal to me as much. But there are also times when the piece’s appropriateness for worship needs to trump my personal tastes. That takes discipline and a willingness to sacrifice one’s own wants and desires for the good of the whole assembly.
In the end, this is a tension that needs to be sorted out in every individual context—no hard and fast rules can apply. How might this be worked out in your own congregation? Do you have examples of where this tension became apparent in your own experience?
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