Better to Worship in the Pew Than the Pulpit?

One of the benefits of having to sit in the pew more often than I was used to before my illness is not only to hear more good preaching but also to be more “involved” in the worship of God.

Like many preachers I’ve often found it difficult to get fully engaged in corporate worship. Partly it’s because of the sense of responsibility for leading the service; partly it’s the burden of having to preach shortly; but it’s also partly the “distance” from the congregation.

On a platform or in a pulpit you hear the general volume of the gathered voices (if the instruments are quiet enough!), but you don’t get to hear the subtle and beautiful pathos in individual voices. Keep reading

Professor Murray is fortunate to attend church services where he can hear individual voices in the congregation. In a large number of contemporary churches the band is so loud that the people in the congregation cannot hear themselves singing, much less hear each other.

The loudness of the vocals and the accompaniment is intentional. A typical explanation is that contemporary worshipers want to "feel" the music as well as hear it. The loudness of the vocals and the accompaniment also spares them the embarrassment of hearing their own singing and comparing their own efforts with those of the semi-professional and professional vocalists in the band. The unspoken message is that the people in the congregation generally do not sing well.

A truth that is ignored is that most people in the congregation can learn to sing well if they are given an opportunity to do so and they are asked to sing hymns and other songs that are accessible to the average singer. Only a few people have "flat" voices and "tin ears." What these churches are doing is actually destroying people's confidence in their singing ability.

Rather than praising God with one voice, as exhorted by the Scriptures, the people in the congregation sing along with the band or listen to the band. They could do the same thing with ear buds and an I-pod. What is seen in these churches is not so much corporate worship but parallel worship. Parallel worship is similar to parallel play. The following explanation of parallel play was taken from a Wikipedia article on the subject:

Parallel play is a form of play in which children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another's behavior. Children usually play alone during parallel play but are interested in what other children are doing. This usually occurs after the first birthday. It usually involves two or more children in the same room who are interested in the same toy, each seeing the toy as their own. The children do not play together, but alongside each other simply because they are in the same room. Parallel play is usually first observed in children aged 2–3.

I suffer from tinnitus in my right ear and loud bands (and loud preachers) aggravate the condition. I skip the worship set during the Sunday gatherings of the church with which I am sojourning and I sit as far as I can from the sound system speakers during the sermon. A number of studies have shown that the particular sound level of the band in a typical contemporary church is high enough to cause ear damage. I see no point in further damaging my ears, which I damaged listening to loud rock bands when I was younger.