To Chant or Not to Chant? That is the question.

There is a lot of ignorance among Christians about music. Fine music that praises God  takes many forms. One of those forms is the Gregorian Chant.

The Gregorian Chant is not a chant in the sense of rhythmically repeating spoken words, such as one might hear from certain pagan rituals or from certain ethnic groups.

Gregorian chants are made of music that has form, substance and melody. To think that they do not have melodies or rhythmic patterns is just musical ignorance.

Here are a couple of Gregorian Chants you might (or might not) enjoy:






Here's the thing. There are all kinds of valid praise and worship music. There is valid contemporary praise and worship music. There is valid traditional praise and worship music. There is valid Southern Gospel praise and worship music. There is valid country praise and worship music. There is valid choral praise and worship music, valid Native American praise and worship music, valid Eastern praise and worship music, valid African praise and worship music, valid reggae praise and worship music and valid praise and worship music of kinds I can't even think of.

When someone claims that contemporary music is somehow more valid in today's Christian society than Southern Gospel or hymns or praise choruses he is speaking out of ignorance.

The use of music is a two way street. Because one song is loud and accented on the 2nd and 4th beats and the other is softer and accented on the 1st and 3rd beats has nothing to do with its relevance, value or valid use in worship. Various styles of music a valid and meaningful.

What that really matters in Christian music is whether the music is faithful to right doctrine, whether the words chosen fit the music setting and whether the combination of music, beat, melody and tempo are pleasant to someone's ears.

God can be worshiped and praised in many different ways.