Author Archives: Mark

The long arms of music

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More and more I’m discovering that music reaches into places that nothing else can.  It is interesting that God gave us eyelids to shut out sight, but nothing equivalent to shut out sound.  Having said that, viewers of the recent royal wedding may remember junior bridesmaid Grace Van Cutsem’s efforts to block out the noise of a boisterous crowd.  Sound in general, but music in particular has a way of sneaking in and having its way with us.

Of course, so do words.  Words can cut me or soothe me, make me wise or lead me astray, bore me, tire me, or inform me, either of the loftiest complexity or of the most mundane necessity.  Words carry meaning: we process and respond.

But music’s assault on my mind and my heart is unique.  It is disarming.  It seems to connect directly with my emotions.  It’s almost as if I don’t get the same opportunity to process cognitively as I would with words.  And when I do try to process the music, sometimes its power can slip away.

Some music makes me crunch up my face with distaste; some makes me feel like moving around and dancing; some music makes me want to sing; some music even brings me to tears.

Music is used by advertisers and film-makers because it seems to help their respective causes.  Nothing like a painful jingle… we might not like hearing it repeatedly, but we’ll never be able to forget it, and neither will we be able to forget its association with a particular product.

Film music is often not so memorable.  But I’m not sure it’s meant to be.  When the film-maker wants us to feel the emotions of a particular story or event more deeply, it seems that there are some fairly tried and true methods of using music to do so.

Funnily enough, we don’t always agree on “what is music”.  I remember older relatives criticising music of the youth for having no melody; or for being too unpleasant to listen to; how could it be in the same category as their own favourites?

To some extent music gives us a soundtrack for our lives, not just our movies.  We remember events by songs we were listening to; we remember songs by the people we associate them with.  Often the words aren’t even remotely important.  Although sometimes they are made many times more important by the tunes to which we sang them.

I read not long ago a quote from Yip Harburg, the lyricist of the song “Over the rainbow”: Words make you think a thought; music makes you feel a feeling; a song makes you feel a thought.

It’s a slight exaggeration.  I’ve certainly had words spoken to me that make me feel a feeling.  But Harburg does point us to the fact that song is so important in human life.  When words and music are joined together, we are in for a wild ride.

So for the church, this a treasure given straight from the hand of God.  We have words of eternal life, and a language that speaks directly to our hearts.  How could we possibly go wrong?  Surely this means that our churches are full of meaningful, passionate response to the gospel!

Well, yes they are.  In every congregation in which I’ve ever led singing, there have been people who have been demonstrably affected by the singing of the gospel of Jesus.  People of all walks of life are impacted by our songs: regulars and visitors, professionals and blue collars, men and women, old and young.  I am always heartened to see people who may not fit easily in a social sense singing their hearts out: people with disabilities, people who struggle socially, people who have suffered severely or carry great burdens.

And yet, sometimes things do go wrong with our music.  Sometimes we fear its effects on our hearts and tone it down; sometimes we take advantage of its ability to affect people’s hearts and wind it up.  Sometimes we are just too caught up in ourselves for the songs about the gospel to affect us and it doesn’t matter how good the singing is: our hearts and minds are elsewhere.

I love it when our pastors and congregational leaders lead us without fear, without manipulation, and without self-absorption.  Just as God reaches out to us with the long arms of the gospel of Jesus, so he also uses the long arms of music to reach into our souls.

 

Revelation Conference Website Launch

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This week the website for the brand new music and ministry conference went live.  Check it out.  www.revelation.org.au

Registration is all online.  Consider coming along and being part of the inaugural event.

There’ll be launching of new music (including my own new album), a whole heap of really interesting and thought-provoking workshops, plus we’ll be delving into the whole question of how our gatherings need good music!

I can’t wait to share the stage with Nicky Chiswell and Geoff Bullock – 2 artists for whom I have enormous respect, and from whom I always expect to be challenged and uplifted.

Join us!  Take the Friday off work.  Travel if you have to.

Hope to see you there.

New Album, New Conference

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“Revelation: Music and Ministry Conference” is kicking off this year.  Here are the details for your diary:

14-16 July at Immanuel College (Novar Gardens)
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Main Speaker: David Peterson (can’t say it’s no relation, but can say it’ll be very good!), author of “Engaging with God: a Biblical Theology of Worship”.

Guest Artists: Nicky Chiswell and Geoff Bullock

An then there’s the CD…

The CD will be launched at the conference.  Can’t wait.  New musical directions for me.  The CD will be in 2 halves: first half a bunch of new songs recorded in the studio.  The second half a range of old hymns and a couple of my own songs recorded live at Mens Katoomba Convention.

More info to come…

Put your hope in the Lord

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Put Your Hope In The Lord

For old times sake…

This song appeared on the old “Every Promise” album that Emu music put out just before they became Emu music.

I was just listening to it the other day and admiring the production.  This song was recorded by Greg Dixon at Aphek Recording Studio.  It was pre Pro Tools days, recorded on ADAT tapes.  Drummer was Mitch Farmer, Bassist was Mark Lau, Guitarist was Rohan Mansley, Saxophonist was Con Campbell.

The song is in the playlist for Mens Convention at Katoomba this Feb/March.  What do you think?  Is it an easy song for congregations?

Trinity Music Conference 2011

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After 6 years of thinking about running a music ministry conference at Holy Trinity, I’ve decided (after prompting and prodding from others, plus the emergence of a number of key people to help run it) that it’s time!

So July 14-16 2011 is the proposed date for the conference, to be held in Adelaide.  It would have 3 evening sessions (Thurs, Fri, Sat) plus a range of daytime sessions during the Friday and the Saturday.  It’d be during school and uni holidays, so we’d hope to pick up a good number of students.  But we’re also hoping many workers will see the value of the conference and take the Friday off work.

Here’s why I want to run a Trinity music ministry conference:

  • Music ministry in church is harder than ever: think no more one-size-fits-all hymnbooks, think copyright hassles, think pulling contemporary bands together from largely untrained amateur musicians.
  • Church’s expectations are higher than ever: think massive growth in the Christian music and worship music “industries” and the demand for sounds that will attract a new generation.
  • The cost of doing it poorly is higher than ever: think how we’ve thrown out liturgy and replaced it with more music – so music really needs to be good, given how few prayers and biblically structured patterns we have in our services.
  • Holy Trinity is a big church with lots of resources that we want to share for the sake of the kingdom.

So it will be at Trinity music conference, but I’d really love to have people there from all sorts of churches.  What do you think?  Give me your thoughts… What could we include to guarantee that we’d see you there?

Cool ~ Relevant … what’s the difference?

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What’s the difference between cool and relevant?  Honestly, I’m not asking because I’m worried about my image or my fashion.  Gave up that fight ages ago…

I’m asking because so many people in Christian churches, and especially the music scene, seem to be doing their best to be cool.  Is this helping us connect with the world in which we live?

For years, a couple of Christian friends have been telling me that one of the things we should be doing is showing the world that we can be cool too.  Oh dear… even the idea of that sounds lame.  I mean surely you either are cool or you’re not.  I’m not entirely sure what cool is, but whatever it is, it seems to be something that you’ve either got or you don’t.  Perhaps it’s some level of confidence or an ability to be yourself in a way that makes people want to be like you.

What do you think cool is?

One thing’s for sure, there seems to be a contradiction in terms when we say, “I can be cool too”.  The point is, the cool ones are the ones everyone else wants to be like.

So what is it to be relevant then?  And is it any better than being cool?  Lots of churches are trying to be relevant to the communities in which they operate, and I’m often seeing genuinely good attempts to understand out context and connect ourselves with it.

For example, the city workers’ ministry that my colleague Craig Broman works with hosts events that regularly have as many non-Christians as Christians, partly because of the fact that something about these events has connected with the people being invited.

I wouldn’t say the events are uncool, but they’re certainly not trying to be cool.  And yet the proof is in the pudding: they’re getting people along…

I wonder if relevance is something we should be aiming for in our outreach to our community and in our music, more than coolness?  Perhaps it’s ok for us to be doing contemporary music, because it’s one of the languages of our generation…  Perhaps the thing about relevance is that it something we do for the purpose of communication and connection?

On the other hand, my gut tells me that ‘coolness’ (I hate the term, actually) is something that is all about trying to impress.  On this reckoning, trying to be cool might actually harm our efforts to be proclaiming Jesus to the world, because the very essence of Jesus’ ministry was not about trying to impress people, rather it was trying to love them and reach out to them.

He actually never said, “I am the Messiah, isn’t that cool” or even anything remotely like that.  He definitely sought to communicate his identity, which he did by asking pointed questions and by performing miraculous signs.  And he definitely did want people to follow him and to be like him… but it certainly wasn’t about trying to be popular.

No sooner had his disciple Peter acknowledged to him that Jesus was indeed the longed-for Messiah, Jesus told him about the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice: of laying down your life for others.  Those who want to be like him are to be like him in this.  Those who want to proclaim Jesus will have no hope if they are trying to impress.  I can’t see how trying to be hip will ever win anyone for Christ.  It’s almost pointing people in exactly the opposite direction…

Do you remember the song “Jesus was way cool” by King Missile?  I think it missed the point.

So I’m wondering if relevance is about connecting and communicating with people, whereas coolness is about impressing them.  No wonder I feel so weird about the whole idea of coolness in the first place.

What do you think?

Where are the words

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Where are the words (downloadable version: right click)

Ok, here’s another new song… “Where are the words”, recorded on the same night as “In the name of love” here at Holy Trinity Adelaide.  This song has already appeared in a more mellow version on the Emu Music album: Songs for little rooms.  Hope you like it!  Let me know your thoughts…

In the name of love

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Have a listen to this new song, “In the name of love”.  This recording was done straight off the mixing desk (plus a stereo mic of the room) at Holy Trinity just this last Sunday (8th August).  Tell me what you think.

Mark[audio:http://www.markpeterson.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/In-the-name-of-love.mp3|titles=In the name of love]

You can get a free score of this song here.

Vision Day 31 July 2010

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Today was very significant for music ministry in the Trinity network of churches here in Adelaide. We just ran our first network music vision day. 68 musicians from across our 5 centres came together to think about who we are and what we’re doing in our ministry.

So what’s the big deal?  Well, first of all, this time last year we were only 3 centres, but in the meantime (after several years of planning) 2 more centres were planted at Mount Barker and Northeast – see www.trinityadelaide.org.au.  So there’s a real sense that we’re getting bigger.

But although it’s wonderful to see the numbers growing, I’m also really buoyed by the positive attitude of so many of our musicians to the opportunities that lie ahead of us.  God has really blessed us in our ministries, and we have an opportunity to bless others with what we have.  In what ways?

Well among other things, we want to run our first music conference next year.  It’s been a long time coming, but 2011 is hopefully the year we can pull it together.  The enthusiasm of the team for doing this was perhaps best illustrated by the fact that there was basically a cheer from the crowd today when we announced the plan.

Why a conference?  Well certainly more training.  I think we have a real issue with the contemporary music that we play in churches today, that it really does put considerable strain on our volunteers, and it also is hard to get training for anywhere else.

But more than training, we need Biblical perspective.  Today’s talk from Paul Harrington was extremely challenging and encouraging about God’s grand vision in Ephesians.  It was wonderful to be reminded of the part we play in this cosmic unfolding.  I wish we’d had more time to be able to delve more and more into what the scriptures say about our music ministry role… but perhaps here is where a conference will be useful.

The more I’m involved in music ministry, the more I believe that spiritual maturity of our people is not only the enabler of our ministry, but it is also the goal of our ministry.  I continue to pray that God would transform us, use us, teach us and exalt Jesus through us.

The New Website Is Here!

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Welcome to the new website! It’s based around a blog now, so you will see the content grow as it goes! For now, consider signing up to the email list or rss feeds to hear about what’s going on here and of new releases coming up. Thanks for visiting!