Your Heart of Worship
Music has been around since the beginning of time. Archaeologists have uncovered flutes made of clay and ivory that date back tens of thousands of years. In the 1950s, clay tablets containing what is thought to be the oldest known piece of music, “Hurrian Hymn No. 6,” an ode to the Canaanite goddess Nikkal, were excavated in Ugarit, Syria. On Christmas Eve in 1906, transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, Reginald Fessenden played “O Holy Night” on the violin in what is thought to be the first radio broadcast containing music.
What began as a locally televised music performance show hosted by Bob Horn on WFIL-TV, Channel 6 in Philadelphia in October 1952, became a nationally broadcast show on this day sixty one years ago: American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark, airing on ABC at 3:30 PM. Do you know the first song played on that first show? For those of you old enough to remember, both Elvis (1956) and the Beatles (1964) were introduced to the world on The Ed Sullivan Show. Casey Kasem hosted a Top 40 countdown show on the radio for close to forty years.
Needless to say, music and singing is a big part of our lives. We listen to music as we workout, while house cleaning, in the car, at concerts, wedding receptions, and most any other time and place, appropriate or otherwise. Music is about us, about how it makes you feel. Music often transports us back in time. Every time I hear “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens, I immediately go back to that first kiss with my then girlfriend, now wife Robyn. There is a genre or a song that speaks to every person. Since the first note was played, music has made us feel good. Sadly, today there are also genres that seem to invoke violence, hatred, discord.
There is one genre of music however that is not about us. This music is about the One it is being sung to. Worship music is intended not just to make us happy, but rather, it is the love song of our hearts sung to God. We are transported into the presence of God through worship music; music birthed from hearts hungry for God. The question isn’t “Did I like this song?” Instead, the proper question is, “Did God like it?”
John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, who was himself a musician, stressed that worship is not about us but about God, it is not “getting something” from worship, it is us giving to God because he is worthy of our praise.
The scriptures are filled with references to singing to God. Psalm 95 begins this way, “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” And the first verse of Psalm 96, “Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.”
So I ask you today, is your heart of worship focused on you or upon the One worthy to be praised? Changing your focus really does make all the difference!
Okay now for the answer you’ve been waiting for. The first song played on American Bandstand’s national television debut on August 5, 1957, was Jerry Lee Lewis’ rockabilly version of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”