Mark Andrew Pope

I'm going to go slightly out on a limb and say the spine. I think if one keeps their mind on having a "tall spine" then most of everything else clicks into place - especially if you consider that the spine continues up your neck all the way to the skull. I don't necessarily think of a "straight spine" as healthy, because in making the spine straight, I think one might tense up the muscles in the torso in order to make the spine rigid - which is not healthy a

t all. So, a "tall spine", although not at all the end of posture conversation is definitely a good starting point!

Those five parallel lines are the "staff". Most, not all, but most of Western music can be expressed some way on the staff. It basically is like a measuring cup - you have lines that tell you how high or low a sounding note is and it gives the horizontal space (side to side) to allow for duration of that particular note. We'll talk about it more, but, if you see these 5 lines, then you know that you're looking at a musical staff!

I, personally, feel that it is very important which hymns and songs we sing during our worship times! It is my strongly held opinion that our hymns and songs must magnify the message that the pastor is presenting in worship. I've heard some say that they felt that it was not important to relate the songs to the message for the following reasons:

#1. People aren't paying enough attention anyway, so it doesn't matter what songs we sing.

#2. If we only sing about one theological issue or "subject", then someone may feel left out and need or want to hear something else that day.

#3. If we limit ourselves only to music that connects specifically to that Sunday message/scripture/season, then we may find ourselves having to sing music we aren't wholly familiar with. And, who wants to do that?

I will address these very quickly:

#1. First of all, give something for people to pay attention to - if the words they sing are meaningful and connect to something else, people can and will pay attention to that.

#2. If all the different thing we did in worship were completely disparate, then people will walk away confused and dissatisfied - not happy because one of the songs we sang that day seemed relevant.

#3. Yes, we may find ourselves singing texts and melodies that aren't familiar to us. But, I personally believe that congregations are smart enough and capable enough to learn new music and/or texts. And, I'll reiterate that if the content connects together in a meaningful way, then people will make the effort to understand and connect to every part of the worship time.