Ways of Linking Christian Faith with Music Making:
Charles Hulin IV at LSMF 2000

1. Use music for exploring and proclaiming aspects of God’s character.
Composing, listening, and playing can all be ways of thinking about God. Ask yourself which of God's qualities are present in the music. Austerity, power, peace, love, tenderness, steadfastness? Using your imagination in this way can lead to a fuller sense and vision of God. Music addresses a part of our minds that words alone cannot reach. God wants our whole minds renewed. Music can play an important role.

2. Make music within the framework of consolation and adversity.
In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis states that there are two ways we meet with God in this life: consolation and adversity. It is possible to place everything we hear in music somewhere along a continuum leading from consolation to adversity. Of course there are infinite shades in between, but the two words embrace them all. Consonance and dissonance are traditional terms for elements of consolation and adversity. Tuning into the threads of consolation and adversity can put us much closer to the music and its impact.

3. Use scriptural ideation.
Many musicians copy lines from poems into their scores as subtexts to the notes they play. Many phrases and passages in the Bible connote distinct moods and mindsets. Certainly we can find similar moods and mindsets in our music.

4. Compose Christian programs for your music.
"Romantic" musicians of the Nineteenth Century did not hesitate to provide themselves and their audiences with programs that fit the music. We can use stories from the Bible or tell our own stories of Christian life. These programmatic plans can serve to motivate us privately, or we can share them with our audiences so that we can be more sure that their minds are directed towards our ultimate message. In an age when less and less people have a great deal of experience listening and thinking about music, sharing our programs could really help them to relate more deeply to the music and perhaps to God.

5. Evaluate your trust.
From time to time, ask yourself these types of questions: Whom or what do I trust in my music making? Who or what guides me in my music making? Tradition? Teachers? The audience? Intuition? God? We should probably not neglect any of these, but our formal training tends to ignore looking to God as a valid approach. The Bible, on the other hand, says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6