Awake

Contriving a Lesson for the Church out of Tolkien's Silmarillion

My brother, Brant, asks some interesting questions about the nature of music and its use in the worship of God -- especially in church settings. He also discusses how people purpose music to attempt to "set the mood" or "get" people to behave or feel a certain way.

But the point that Brant brings up that interests me the most is the issue of personal preferences verses community preferences. What happens when an individual decides to exert his personal choice for music (or whatever it might be) in the context of a community? (That is, he makes this decision not in a vacuum, but in the midst of his community.)

I believe J.R.R Tolkien has an interesting take on this question in his book, The Silmarillion.

The first chapter, "The Music of the Ainur," describes the story of the creator, Illúvatar, and how he made first the "Ainur" (even before he made the World). He gave each of the them a "theme of music" to sing before him. And since each of the Ainur only comprehended a part of the mind of the creator, as long as they sang by themselves, or only a few at a time and with the others listening, their understanding of Illúvatar grew only very slowly. But as they listened closer to each other, the Ainur came to a deeper understanding and "increased in unison and harmony." The remarkable thing is what happens next. What the creator, Illúvatar "willed" next was that they sing in harmony together "a Great Music" which he would sit and listen to and "be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song."

All was going well; it was the greatest music ever played by the Ainur -- it seemed to be without flaws (all those rehearsals must have paid off!). But then,

...as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Illúvatar; for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself. (emphasis mine)

Mmmm. Now that strikes a familiar chord, if you'll forgive the pun. A musician or band member wanting to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself? Worse yet, a leader in the church wanting to increase his own glory? Yeah. Unfortanately, yes, this does strike a chord.

But what intrigues me today in this story is why Melkor decided to interweave music that was not in accord with the theme of the creator: he was impatient to see Illúvatar make something out of the "Void" that existed. (Because, in the story, the Ainur were made first, even before the world.) Now eventually Illúvatar did show them through a vision what will be as a result of their interwoven themes into a "Great Theme"...but they were to wait a little while.

I think a similar thing is true for the Church today. There are some in the Church who can get so enamoured with the "theme of music" that has been given to them by God [1] that, they come to truly believe that they are actually entitled to increase the power and glory of their "theme" under the pretenses of filling a perceived void in the Creator's kingdom [2]. Instead of listening intently to the others around them and together growing in understanding of the Creator and increasing in unison and harmony, the "Melkors" of the Church entertain a thought in their mind of their own making that is not in harmony with the others nor is it gladdening to the heart of the Creator. And as such it becomes "discord," done at the expense of harmony. The sad thing is this self-centeredness and feeling of entitlement is actually motivated by something noble: to see a void filled with something noble and beautiful [3]. And unfortunatley, the "Melkors" of the Church think that noble and beautiful thing is them!

So to get back to one of Brant's original points, leading the congregation into a deeper understanding of worship may very well help answer some of these difficult questions of worship, music, and community. But I submit (with perhaps some backing from Tolkien, of all people), that leading the Church (including its leaders!) into a deeper understanding of "harmony"[4] may help answer a related (greater?) question of "how can we gladden the heart of the Creator?" [5]

I don't know, though. Just a thought.

Amber's "Metaphor du jour" to Christianese Dictionary
[1] Themes of Music -> Spiritual Gifts
[2] Void -> The Kingdom to Come
[3] Fill the Void -> Advance the Kingdom
[4] Harmony -> Unity (see John 17)
[5] Gladden the Heart of the Creator -> Glorify God