Music behind prayer.

I don't find soft music behind prayer particularly evil, but I do find it distracting. I always have to listen to music when it's there, so there is no such thing as background music for me. Not good when trying to listen to someone pray. I know some people don't like it because it's sentimental or even manipulative. Well, a lot of things are manipulative, that's why we have 2 upbeat songs at the start of church and a quiet song just before the sermon—we're manipulating the energy of the meeting. Everyone does it.

A lot of churches who never have music behind prayer DO do background music during communion. To me, it's the same thing. If you want me to have a quiet moment reflecting and praying, music at the same time is distracting. Praying up the front, praying in my head, same problem with the background music. "What's that song… oh, it's How Deep… Hmm hmmmm hm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmmm… she just made a mistake! haha... and now she's playing it up an octave...". When I play during communion I play something nobody knows, and go as bland as possible. But last week I finished the song early and there were a few minutes of quiet while stuff was still being handed out, which I thought was actually rather powerful. So that's what made me think of this post.