Standards 10.1.2026

     I listen to a lot of music. Most of what I listen to throughout the day will be some sort of instrumental music. I alternate between forms of classical, jazz, and ambient music to provide a mix of musical ideas that keep my mind engaged when I am studying scripture. As I have grown more sophisticated in my tastes I have learned some of the basic theoretical tenets of how music works. This not only helps one to appreciate music it helps you to understand how various genres of music relate to one another. 

    My listening has made it clear exactly what makes some tunes stand out, what allows those basic melodies to be so memorable that they are able to cross the boundaries of genre to be identified as “classics” or “standards”. Because my listening moves across several genre’s my application is somewhat different than the dictionary definition of “standard.” Here is my conclusion. There are some tunes that transcend genre. They can be arranged as simple jazz-piano improvisations, filled out with an orchestra, transcribed as a folk or pop tune—even morphed into rock or elevated into classical structures and the basic tune remains.

When I think of a standard tune, I am impressed by a universal flexibility that allows a text (song) to transcend its original compositional context. The following elements are essential to this flexibility. 

• Basic Idea—A “Standard” will generally be based on a very basic idea. A simple phrase, theme, chord, measure or concept. Something complex in origin will not likely be capable of restatement. 
• Tolerates differing arrangements (re-contextualization)—My best advice here: listen to Miles Davis version of Someday My Prince Will Come. This song, written for the Disney movie Snow White is largely considered a standard, not because of its role or performance in the film but by rearrangement and re-contextualization such as Davis’s rendition. It is instantly recognizable and at the same time wholly different. 
• Regularly quoted by other works—Standards have a life outside of original context. When I was a youngster, teens were introduced to the wonder of Rachmaninoff, not by picking up a copy of the composer’s Second Piano Concerto at a record store but by listening to Eric Carmen’s All By Myself. It might be stretching my point to consider Rachmaninoff’s #2 as a standard, but Carmen did show that it was eminently quotable. 

The Point

    Standard songs transcend original context. They are embedded in their time and place but continue to speak in widening contexts. Similarly, good preaching begins with a specific message, drawn from a specific text, proclaimed before a specific congregation, yet if that sermon is to be effective it must be grounded in the standard repertoire of the pulpit. Sermons can be unique but not sui generis. I only rarely repeat a sermon, but I could. Despite their specific compositional circumstances, good sermons are (or should be)  a part of the “standard repertoire” of preaching. A little bit of re-contextualizing and a sermon I preached at home can be adapted for a revival or used at camp. We need to keep something vital in mind here: The line between unique and weird can be hazy, and often when I am the one writing the words I miss the distinction. The preacher must be careful to avoid the faddish lest the congregation tire or become infatuated with novelty. 

    As a preacher you will develop a voice and a style. You will develop a personal approach to moving from a text to preaching themes, points, and big ideas. You will learn how to arrange various materials so that you can “quote” and draw from deep wells of spiritual nourishment without slavishly footnoting or knavishly stealing material. 

    As I listen to great musicians select, arrange, perform, and re-contextualize tunes I am always struck by how deeply they must be immersed in the “literature” of their craft to create beautiful music. Herein the lesson. To become a flexible preacher who can work within the context of the standards and practices of preaching we need to be deeply, wholly immersed in the study of our craft. Biblical Studies. Theology. Philosophy. History. Biography. Literature. Old or new, local or universal, Clear or opaque, we must linger over our books to keep from become programmatic, pragmatic, or pedantic. 

    We preach with the guarded hope that people will listen and benefit from our preaching. That will only ever happen if we keep to the task. We will enlarge upon this topic of standards throughout the month. I hope that through our hard work God blesses His Church through the proclaimed word.