Can I thank you for your excellent post? Your questions are ones that I have asked myself and there certainly is an aspect of self gratification I have to admit.
The reason that we need to change our music (not the message obviously!) is that some of the music we play is deemed dreary and now fails to inspire and raise the level praise. The other Sunday, we played our opening hymn (a psalm) on organ only. Nobody knew the tune and the tune followed no patterns. The congregation mumbled and stumbled its way through. the comments at the end weren't favourable.
When we play the more up to date songs which, by most measures these days, are fairly sedate (King of Kings, Oh Church arise etc.) the congregation become visibly elevated in their praise, the singing becomes louder and more energetic and I believe that God is praised more earnestly.
The second part of my response is the slightly selfish bit.
Most old hymns cannot be played on guitar and if they can, the guitar cannot be strummed but only finger picked. That said, I am fairly good at finger picking but many of our old hymns require a skill level way above my capability and, even then, they don't really sound right. Modern hymns are designed to accommodate guitar and I feel more included in the praise as a consequence.
The other and main reason that drives my need is the story as to how I came by my church guitar.
For a while I had been dissatisfied with my Takamine. It didn't sound right or feel right. Previously I had been into a music shop and had played a Tanglewood TW45 which played beautifully and sounded perfect. I couldn't justify the purchase of that guitar so kept playing the Takamine. I still looked on the second hand listings for a used one. I couldn't find one anywhere.
One weekday, I had taken a day off to go into Belfast to lodge a cheque into the bank. This only took a short while and I still had plenty of time on my parking ticket. There had been an excellent guitar shop about a mile out of town that I had been told had shut down. For some inexplicable reason, I started walking to the shop that I knew had shut down. As I was walking, I couldn't explain why I was going. The only thing I can remember thinking was "I wonder what's there now?".
Anyway, I got to the shop and it was, as I expected, in darkness. I looked in the window and could see movement so I pushed the door and it was open. I was surprised to see that there was stock still on the wall. I asked the guy behind the counter if I could take a look around. He said that I could but I was lucky to find him there as he was only there for a little while doing an audit. The shop had been shut for weeks and the stock had now been bought by this guy's company.
I walked to the back of the shop where I could remember the acoustic guitars had been displayed. I looke up at the top row (about six feet up) and in the very corner, in the gloom...what did I see? It wasn't the TW45 I had been looking for but the top of the range flagship guitar, the TW47!!
I asked if I could play it. The guy got it down for me and was exceptional with its gold hardware and its solid mahogany construction. When I strummed it, it really sung! I then looked at the price tag...£699. It was expensive and my heart sank.
I asked the guy about the price and he thought for a bit and said;
"If you have it today,you can have it for £500 and I'll throw in a hard case"
I still have the guitar and it will stay with me, praising God until I die.
The reason?
God got me that guitar. My journey to the shop was nonsense. There was no reason on God's earth why I should have made that trip but I did. God led me to that guitar so I could use it to lift the praise in his church.
God works in a fantastic and miraculous way. He uses our skills to contribute to his glory.
God want's me to lift the praise.
Amen to our glorious Lord God Almighty!
I just love him!