Posted on 03/21/2017 3:30:30 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It was a joy to finally visit your church a couple of Sundays ago, and to worship with the believers there. You know I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Just as you promised, the pastor is an excellent communicator and a man who loves God’s Word. His sermon was deeply challenging and led to some great conversations with my children.
Now, you asked me why it looked like I wasn’t singing. I know that was probably a little awkward, so thought I’d send along a brief explanation. Primarily, it’s because…
…I was not familiar with the songs. Your church has a tremendously skilled group of musicians leading them and it was a true joy to hear them play and sing. They sound as good live as they do on their album! But, unless I missed something, all of the songs on that Sunday were drawn from their own music. There weren’t any hymns in the service or even any familiar worship songs. So it’s not that I didn’t want to sing; it’s just that I didn’t know the songs. I want to be fair—every church has some of its own songs, and there is nothing wrong with that. I tried to follow along the best I could so I could learn some of yours, but even then…
…the songs weren’t congregational. Most of them seemed to have been written with the band in mind more than the congregation. What I mean is that they were unpredictable and often went beyond my vocal range and ability. This made them tough to learn and difficult to sing. Sometimes I would just begin to think I had it, but then…
…your singers would ad-lib. Twice through that final chorus they sang it one way, but then on the third they did something I didn’t see coming and just couldn’t follow. Was I supposed to follow them up the scale as they went high on that final chorus, or was I supposed to stick with the original melody? I didn’t want to mess it up, so figured I’d better keep it quiet. I might have had help there, but…
…I couldn’t hear the congregation sing. I wanted to learn from the people around me, but I couldn’t hear them. A lot of them seemed to be singing along, but they were far quieter than the band. Don’t get me wrong, I love loud music and often crank it to silly levels when I’m at home or in my car. (I’ve even got it at an obnoxious level as I write these words.) But as I understand it from Colossians 3:16, a key element of congregational worship is hearing the congregation. Singing is in the realm of “one-another” ministry, meaning that we are to sing for the other people there. But that was tough because…
…it felt like a performance. We were in a darkened room sitting on theatre-style seats. The band was on a brightly-lit stage at the front of the room, singing their own songs with the volume cranked right up. This set a context that struck me as more concert than church. I really enjoyed watching the band and listening to them, but it felt to me that they were doing rather than facilitating the worship. So finally I just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Now, please don’t think I’m trying to rekindle the old worship wars. I believe there is room in congregational worship for both traditional hymns and modern worship songs. I love them both! But the way the music was structured and implemented in your church was just not conducive to congregational worship. It was good, it was professional, but thinking about it now, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps it wasn’t a bit too good and too professional. I wonder if the desire for excellence may have robbed it of much of its usefulness. It’s worth considering: If our desire for excellence puts the music out of reach for the congregation, perhaps we’re pursuing a wrong definition of excellence.
I enjoy singing in church. I’m not half bad. Am not half good either.
Music is a gift God gave to mankind. Hymns are not as much about us singing to Him as they are about us locking the things of God into our hearts and minds.
No offense intended to anyone.
I once attended a Apostolic/Pentecostal Church in Colorado Springs in the 1970s. At the time, it was very popular and well-known there.
Many, many regulars spoke in tongues or prophesied. After about a month, the religious education director said to me:
“Alas, I see your not speaking in tongues or prophesizing during worship... What’s wrong?”
I replied, “Well, you know I almost did once but it seemed I would be faking it. It just didn’t feel real...”
He replied, “Go ahead and just fake it, then. The Holy Spirit will start speaking thru you after a while.”
Well, I was shocked, actually, to get that response.
I also noted that because this guy had brought so many of us young GIs into this church, from various bases around: Cheyenne Mountain (me), Peterson AFB, the Air Force Academy, Ent AFB and Fort Carson, he was given a new Cadillac from the pastor, as a reward for bringing in almost 200 of us.
Anyway, the whole setup disturbed me, so I stop attending.
One of the guys who lived in my barracks still was going, and he told me later that the same RE at this place had him give an allotment from his paycheck, because, dig this, he ate at the chow hall free, so he didn’t need food, and he lived in the barracks, so he didn’t need to pay rent, so he could give most of his pay to the Lord!
I think he was asking all the young single military men to do so. Cadillacs are NOT cheap.
I’m with you, I miss the hymns, the organ, piano, choir. Now all they have are loud 7-11 songs - seven words repeated eleven times. Not to my taste but what ya gonna do?
My dad had a bad singing voice. It used to bother me a bit; but now that he's gone to his God, I'd give a lot to hear him sing "... to tell the old, old story, of Jesus and His love" just one more time!
Very sad testimony for that denomination.
I wonder if anyone ever called them on the fake stuff and coercion to tithe.
My earplugs go in as soon as I go in the worship center. Great singers and musicians but horrible songs. Totally unsuitable for congregations. Lots of people don’t come in until the music is over.
Traditional Latin hymns and chants. No chance of some goofy rah-rah song creeping in. The only non-Latin hymn at my parish is the recessional, but it's always appropriate -- either a traditional English hymn, God Bless America, or something of that nature.
I love 7-11 songs. God’s really not dead -he’s surely alive. Repeat 11 times and move on.
Yeah, when I was young I went to all kinds of different churchs. The Pentecostal one was different from all of the others. I will say they were more enthusiastic than all of the other churchs. However I could detect they were bringing some of this on themselves. They were going into trances. Once they knocked out a glass pane by my pew. I don’t see the reason for it so I left.
But maybe they are *mindful* repetitions...
Me too.
That story reminds me a little bit of my friend’s experience when he visited a Charismatic/Pentecostal church 20+ years ago. He should have known right there that it was going to be a problem when the “pastor” was female.
He said they all sat in a circle, and different members in the group began speaking in tongues while he just sat there trying not to break out in nervous laughter.
After the meeting, the “pastor” approached him and asked if he had ever received the gift of tongues. He said that he had not.
So, she told him that she would teach him. She said, “Just start repeating, ‘Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah’ over and over again until the Spirit takes over!” So, he reluctantly tried.
After about five-ten seconds, he felt stupid and stopped. At that point, the “pastor” got excited and and asked, “What happened? Did Jesus get a hold of your tongue?!”
He sarcastically replied, “No, I think it’s this gum I’m chewing!”
And with that, she gave him a dirty look and walked away...
I think he should put whiskey in his Latte.
The church had Lattes I presume.
A Latte Churches like this usually do.
.
Lots of hymns are based on apostate doctrine.
To sing them is to deny the word of Yehova.
.
“Doesn’t the Bible exhort us against mindless repetitions in our worship?”
The Bible warns us to avoid “vain repetitions”.
“Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and call it a day, I say.”
There you go!! The hymnals in our church’s racks are “Great Hymns Of The Faith” — probably my favorite hymnal.
I attended services in a church once where the pastor announced they were going to introduce a new song to the congregation.
He went through the words and in a couple of places pointed to scriptural references behind a thought the words expressed. Then he had the musicians demonstrate the music, by itself, and ended with one vocalist going through the words with the music. Then, with the lyrics shown on a large screen, he took the congregation though singing the song together.
I appreciated the process, as I’m sure other visitors and any new members probably did too.
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