Last night, my family and I enjoyed some nice, patriotic music. We also heard other music which was religiously themed, but not, in my opinion, appropriate to be played or listened to on the Sabbath. As Elder F. Enzio Bushe once said, "divine light develops in places of peace and quiet." There was nothing peaceful or quiet about most of the music I heard last night.
In that music's defense, I'll admit that its lyrics helped me to draw my thoughts toward God and reminded me of a few true principles, but I could hardly feel the Spirit testify to the truth of those principles, mostly because of the music. Whether it was because the Spirit wasn't comfortable around such music or whether I simply couldn't hear the Spirit over all the noise, either way, listening to that music was not a spiritual experience for me. Our missionaries are instructed to "not listen to music that... dulls your spiritual sensitivity by its tempo, beat, loudness, lyrics, or intensity." I'd say that much of last night's music matched that description.
In our church, we take a more reverent approach to worship music. We play music more quietly, on a piano or organ only (usually), and the congregation sings along... without clapping. The lyrics of our music invite the Spirit, and the relative peace and quiet of our music allows Him to stay. I look forward to the hymns we'll sing in church today because I know I'll feel the Spirit as we sing them, which, unfortunately, is more than I can say about the worship music I heard last night.
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