Week 7 Day 2: Scenarios about Music Style Preferences

This is an extra resource for people going through the Pure Praise worship study:

For Week 7, Day 2: With John 13:34-35 and Romans 12:10 in mind, let’s consider the following situations between Christians. Were the characters in each of these short stories loving and honoring toward one another, or were they unloving and selfish?

Scenario #1: Joe bought a CD of his favorite kind of music, Alternative Christian Rock, as a Christmas gift for his girlfriend, Jenny. He told her they could listen to the music when they were together in her car. Problem is, Joe knew that Jenny couldn’t stand Rock music. She preferred Bach and Beethoven!

Scenario #2: A youth praise team decided it was time to “show those old people some good music for a change.” So they did a modern song on a Sunday night that had screaming guitars and loud drums. When the senior adults cringed and placed their fingers over their ears, the students didn’t bother to turn down the volume; instead, they played more loudly than usual.

Scenario #3: The young adults of a local congregation asked if some of the new, more “contemporary” choruses could be included in the Sunday morning music services. However, the charter members voted down the younger crowd. They rejected the idea without even sitting down to talk to the “young folks” and consider their reasons for wanting the change.

Scenario #4: Sarah was asked by a friend to come and sing a solo at her friend’s church. The friend explained that the church was more reserved and traditional than most. So, even though Sarah personally preferred singing a more contemporary song, she selected an older piece she thought the people there would enjoy and relate to more.

Of all the people we just read about, which one got it? Which one seemed to understand and embrace the principle of sensitivity toward other believers? It was Sarah. She was willing to put aside her personal preferences and “agendas” and focus, instead, on ministering to the people she was to minister (and, therefore, minister to her Lord! – See Matthew 25:40).

(c) 2007 Dwayne Moore. Permission is granted to copy and use this with worship teams going through Pure Praise.