Chapter 13 – God is Not Choosy When it comes to Music!
Their Latter Day Jesus by Pearl Adams – Chapter 13: My name is Clarence Ulrich from Bonn. My father, a technician with DaimlerChrysler AG, relocated from Bonn to Stuttgart in 2001. At that time, I was in my second year at the University of Bonn where I was studying Musicology. Since I could not move with my folks, my parents rented a one-bedroom flat for me close to the institution where I stayed throughout my undergraduate and post-graduate years.
In 2005, I left the University with a Masters in Musicology and joined them in Stuttgart. I had confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour before I entered the University so I was looking forward to enjoying fellowship with God outside the confines of a campus with its unhealthy distractions. In Stuttgart, my eldest brother Krasner introduced me to his fiancée, Theresa Schroder, a member of Redeemers Ministries.
I was surprised that my brother was dating a Pentecostal woman because my parents, staunch Catholics had opposed my embracing Pentecostalism. Of course, I tried to maintain a middle ground by following them to church whenever I was at home.
Theresa and I hit it off right away. After our discussion, I agreed to follow her to church the following Sunday, as I had promised to attend service with my parents the week we met. Immediately we parted, I brought out my laptop and opened to the website of Redeemers’ Ministries. My main interest was its Music Department, which displayed extensive materials, including lyrics of both ancient and contemporary songs. My interest was aroused.
Theresa arrived on the dot of eight am and we arrived the church thirty minutes before the commencement of service. That gave me enough time to look around the expansive complex. I could not interact with the Director of the Music Department as I was told that he was in prayer with the choir. What I saw in the church enthralled me and I decided to make my spiritual home there. I was still taking everything in when one of the pastors climbed the podium to kick-start the service.
I did not have any problem flowing along, as most of the songs raised during the worship session were popular tunes. After the sermon, those attending the church for the first time were called to the altar and I joined them for documentation. I took that to another level by attending new members meeting the evening of the following day, followed by my registration as a member of the Music Department.
I turned up for choir practice the Wednesday of the same week. However, the Choirmaster told me that I would only be allowed to sing in church after attending rehearsals for six weeks. At the end of the probation period, the Music Director, Riemann Dietrich congratulated me for my performance and advised me to deposit some money for two pairs of uniforms for a start. From that humble beginning, I rose to the position of Assistant Music Director in 2009, two years after joining the church. It was then that I was exposed to church politics for the first time.
While I was an ordinary member of the choir, I was insulated from such issues. In fact, I deliberately shut my ears to gossips peddled by other choristers. I did not want to be distracted from my goal to enjoy God and serve him the best I could in the Music Department. The only difficulty I had was coming in agreement with some of the songs the Music Director approved for the choir each month.
When I became his Assistant, I raised the issue with him in the privacy of his office. He did not respond for more than three minutes. Afterwards, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “You may not understand a lot of things I do. One day you will if you remain in this church long enough to take over from me.”
What Dietrich said was like a prophecy for three months later, he was nominated for a year’s course in at a Bible School in Nuremburg to prepare him for fulltime ministry. As the acting Music Director, I had to screen the list of songs for each month submitted by the choirmaster. After my clearance, the list would then be personally handed over to Bishop Hegel by the Music Director. I had no idea the Bishop would make his own input until the fateful Saturday I went to see him with the list.
The visit to the Bishop’s office was my first since I joined the church and I did my best to maintain my composure as the man had a very imposing personality. As I entered his office, he greeted me with a familiarity that put me at ease. After scrutinizing the list, he ticked eight songs for the upcoming month and asked me to ensure that the choir maintained requisite standards.
I thanked him and as I stood up to leave, he cleared his throat and beckoned on me to return to my seat. Without any inkling of trouble, I complied. He cleared his throat again and said, “The Choirmaster came to me yesterday to talk about some wonderful songs he included in the list for last month which you failed to bring to my notice. Are the two of you working at cross-purposes?”
Bemused, I merely smiled and shook my head. How could I be working at cross-purposes with the choirmaster when both of us were in church to serve the same Master? I did not want to give the Bishop the impression that I did not take serious on the issue so I took time to explain why I left out the songs in question. I said, “Sir, the lyrics of the songs the Choirmaster referred to were not appropriate for worship. I felt whoever wrote them stringed worldly songs together and used some scriptures to legitimize their use in church.”
As I finished speaking, I was expecting my leader, an ordained Bishop to commend me for sparing the church the embarrassment of popularizing worldly tunes. I was therefore not expecting his outburst. He glared at me and shouted, “Who made you the purveyor of songs presented in this church? Are you Jesus Christ? What do you mean by worldly tunes? Young man, I have not appointed anyone to dictate to me what should be done in this church.
I owe no man any apology because no man brought me this far. Do you not know that what you have done can stifle the gifts of budding songwriters? I want you to go back, look at those lyrics, and include them in the list I have already approved for next month. That means you have to drop some of the popular tunes from the list. Let us experiment with the new ones and see how other worshippers react to them. Stop trying to play God and you will not have any problem with me. With that, he returned to his seat and I left his office totally disoriented.
With no one in mind to turn to for counsel, I went back to my office and shut myself in. I tried to pray but words failed me. Perhaps it was my orientation that was faulty I thought. I remembered my contemporary music teacher in my undergraduate days, William Kohl. He was a dedicated Christian and a man to the core. One day, a student came to the class with a music album released by a popular American gospel artist, Joel Graham.
He handed over the disc to Kohl who promptly slotted it into the MP3 system in the music laboratory. The entire class sat through the one-hour rendition, with some students moving to the rhythm of the fast-paced songs. When the music stopped, Kohl who was sitting in our midst went back to his table. I noticed that there was a frown on his brow. I was still mulling over his sudden mood swing when he said, “I take it that you guys enjoyed these tunes. Of course, you should. He turned to me and said, “Tell me Ulrich, what the phrase ‘worship in praise’ means to you?
I shifted in my chair because I did not know the angle he was coming from. Actually, I hated making a fool of myself in public. Before I could say anything, he walked over to a bookshelf close to his piano and picked up a copy of the Bible. He walked over to where I sat and placed the book on my desk. I was trying to fathom what he expected of me when he said, “Open the Bible to Exodus fifteen from verse one to twenty-one. Thereafter, read 2 Chronicles chapter twenty from verse nineteen to twenty-one.” After I had done reading the passages, Kohl said, “There is a theme that runs through the two Scriptures that I want all of you to take note of, if you must appreciate the concept of worship.
A typical musician has just one audience- his fellowman. That is why he aims to please people with either the lyrics or rhythm of his songs. It is not so with a Christian whether singing alone or in the choir. The Christian worshipper has just one audience- God. That is why the two Scriptures you read used words like ‘praise the beauty of holiness’, ‘praise the LORD’, ‘praise the God of Israel’ and ‘sing unto the LORD.’
Why is it necessary to minister to the Lord and not to the people? When Christians worship the Lord, Psalms chapter twenty-two verse thirty tells us that, he ‘inhabits the praises of his people.” It is when he comes down to inhabit our praises that his presence makes things happen. Without the presence of God, you can string words together and find a tune for it and other worshippers will hale you, but God will not be present to pour out his blessings. Any song not raised to the Lord in worship is entertainment, pure and simple.”
I left the class that day determined to be a God-worshipper indeed. It was with that attitude that I joined the choir at the Redeemers Ministries in the first place. Now confronted with the Bishop’s criticisms, I started wondering if my music teacher had not gotten it wrong. Even as that thought crossed my mind, I knew Kohl indeed spoke for God.
There and then, I made up my mind to resign my appointment and move back to my parents’ church. If there was anything I could not stand, it was hypocrisy. I could not imagine myself pretending that all was well. Having settled that, I picked up my Bible and left the office.