Music and Religion Philosophy
Our own experiences by Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

       Christian music has been a part of my life whether it was picking out hymns on an old piano, singing them in church on Sunday, listening to Lanna and friends play them at home on the piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and dobro guitar, or even here right now in McDonalds as I do my school work.  I love all types of music, but old-time hymns are my favorite such as 

"Little Is Much When God Is In It."  

Some of the churches where I have worshiped prefer the traditional hymns whereas others incorporate contemporary Christian music into their service like 

                    "Here I Am to Worship."  

        I have had many years to become exposed to different types of Christian music that reflect God’s Holy Word.  Weddings and funerals are also times we seek peace through comforting words sung in religious settings.  The following is a video of a commonly used song during funerals that was written and composed by famous country artist, Vince Gill. 

   “Go Rest High on That Mountain” performed by: 
Clemson College students at Stumphouse Tunnel in Mtn. Rest, S.C.

      

       Music and song are a way of praising the Lord.  When there is a fifth Sunday in the month, my home church has what we call a fifth Sunday Singing.  There is no sermon preached that Sunday.  We worship the Lord through song and music.  Other Sunday’s the music is very programmatic.  The music selection goes along with the scripture readings and reinforces the meaning of the text/sermon.  An example of this would be a sermon that was telling about the birth of Jesus Christ and the songs for the service would be “That Boy Child of Mary,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,” “Joy to the World,” “Il est ne, le divin Enfant (He is born, the Holy Child).”

        While our services at Sardis Methodist are very structured and do not deviate much from the bulletin, Pleasant Hill Baptist’s service is more lead by the holy spirit.  The following image is an example of the order of worship for a fifth Sunday singing at Sardis United Methodist Church.       

      

       Music has a way of impacting people in a more spiritual way than just through sermons and can lead individuals to Christ.  It unifies the Church as a whole.