Thursday was the main day of the conference. Three papers were given by Robert Letham, Graham Beynon and Ray Evans.
Bob Letham spoke provocatively on aesthetics, focusing on praying and singing and Graham Beynon took us on a very quick tour of Christian writings on the affections ending, obviously, with Jonathan Edwards. Ray Evanss, in typical style looked at where we are at today.
All three papers were very helpful.
Example quotes
Letham:
In the church, Calvin says, voice and song must spring from the heart or it has no value or profit with God. He strongly commended it. It exercises the mind and heart and keeps us attentive. The tongue was designed for this. Music was created to proclaim the praises of God, mainly through the assembly of believers.88 Singing was an ancient practice going back to the apostles. In it the godly mutually edify one another. Singing, with gravity, lends dignity and praise, kindles our hearts to an eagerness to pray. Our ears should be more attentive to the meaning of the words than to the melody. It is a holy and salutary practice.
Beynon:
In the church, Calvin says, voice and song must spring from the heart or it has no value or profit with God. He strongly commended it. It exercises the mind and heart and keeps us attentive. The tongue was designed for this. Music was created to proclaim the praises of God, mainly through the assembly of believers.88 Singing was an ancient practice going back to the apostles. In it the godly mutually edify one another. Singing, with gravity, lends dignity and praise, kindles our hearts to an eagerness to pray. Our ears should be more attentive to the meaning of the words than to the melody. It is a holy and salutary practice.
Beynon:
Edwards sees a parallel with preaching: God’s word must be preached rather than only read in books because,
…although these may tend as well as preaching to give men a good doctrinal or speculative understanding of the things of the word of God, yet they have not an equal tendency to impress them on men’s hearts and affections.
Evans:
... the church is still the church when we are living for God on Monday – it is the church scattered, not gathered. Without getting into the debate whether “worship” is a “Sunday meeting thing” or an
“everything we do” thing (the one tends to devalue the rest of the week, the other the actual gathering for “vertical” worship on Sundays), it seems to me that it is a both/and not an either/or thing. We leave church worship to go into a time of worship – living for God’s honour during the rest of the week in all that we do.
Evans:
... the church is still the church when we are living for God on Monday – it is the church scattered, not gathered. Without getting into the debate whether “worship” is a “Sunday meeting thing” or an
“everything we do” thing (the one tends to devalue the rest of the week, the other the actual gathering for “vertical” worship on Sundays), it seems to me that it is a both/and not an either/or thing. We leave church worship to go into a time of worship – living for God’s honour during the rest of the week in all that we do.
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