Posted on 01/11/2014 8:08:33 PM PST by Benito Cereno
It happened again yesterday. I was attending one of those hip, contemporary churches — and almost no one sang. Worshippers stood obediently as the band rocked out, the smoke machine belched and lights flashed. Lyrics were projected on the screen, but almost no one sang them. A few women were trying, but I saw only one male (other than the worship leader) making the attempt.
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Same readings, though. Same rubrics. Man-repelling lyrics.
Hymns at one time were used to teach doctrinal truths when books were rare. They not only encouraged but edified the congregation and were considered part of the worship. There is no greater example of this then the Psalms which were sung perhaps not by the congregation (maybe) but by other to the congregation.
Few songs being produced these days do that. Our church has "blended" service where we do sing some of the old hymns and some newer songs. But the newer songs are carefully selected to convey doctrinal truths (yes, they're out there). The choir is made up of half men/half women.
But I've been in many, many churches where we sing, "How great is my God..." over and over and over until I've felt that I wanted to walk out. Eventually I did though not over the songs. And, not surprising, I can think of very few of those songs that we sung. Do we really think this is somehow edifying? Don't we know that God is great? This repetition and lost for words is a sign of spiritual decay in our churches.
It's a shame that few can think of things to say about God besides He's great? King David never seemed to be at a lost for word. And Come Thou Fount-now that is a great song and one of my very favorite.
Teach me some melodious sonnet Here I raise my Ebenezer Oh Jesus, sought me when a stranger Ode to grace, how great a debtor Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Come thou fount of every blessing
What great doctrinal truths it teaches us.
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Sung by flaming tongues above
I'll praise the Mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Hither by Thy help I come
Oh, and I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
Daily I'm constrained to be
And let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Seal it for Thy courts above
On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
announces that the Lord is nigh;
awake and hearken, for he brings
glad tidings of the King of kings.
Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
make straight the way for God within,
prepare we in our hearts a home
where such a mighty Guest may come.
For thou art our salvation, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward;
without thy grace we waste away
like flowers that wither and decay.
To heal the sick stretch out thine hand,
and bid the fallen sinner stand;
shine forth and let thy light restore
earth's own true loveliness once more.
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
whose advent doth thy people free;
whom with the Father we adore
and Holy Ghost for evermore.
Too many church bands are getting into the rock meme as far as volume goes - makes it hard to sing along when you can’t hear your own voice, much less the voices of the band singers, over the music. I find it ironic that they will let the music overpower the voices, when the voices/words are the heart of the songs. I also find it ironic that the canned tunes they play before services has a good volume mix where the music complements the voices instead of drowning them out.
Also some music ministries even change the tempo of the hymms to make it acceptable to contempary folks.
We sing at my LCMS church. My little girl asks all the time to sing “Like the Organ” at church.
Cut the worship leader’s budget. You’ll see no more light and smoke machines in a hurry. An idol is a good thing made an ultimate thing.
I like the Lutheran Service Book much more than the one we used to use. It is more like the old "Blue Hymnal" I grew up learning and had most of it memorized. We still sing one or two songs from the "With One Voice" worship book per month.
How would smoking affect your feet? Did you already have circulation issues due to diabetes?
I'm with you! We attend a mega church and their goal is to get anyone in the door, any way possible. The outside looks like a business park. The inside has no cross at the altar... just a dove. Not my thing.
For Christmas, we attended the nearest Presbyterian Church. The pastor used to be a really good speaker (when we attended years ago). The first words out of his mouth were something like, "Many think there is a war on Christianity. There is not. You should not react to what is being said" (it was a "turn the other cheek" approach I guess). That was enough for us..... our search for a church that fits us continues.
I wouldn't mind a band before services start and a choir during the service. I still want a small town church where you don't get lost in the massive congregation that needs 3 Sunday services to get everyone through the doors and no one knows who you are.
I can’t listen to the local Baptist station. There is one that goes ‘I heart Jesus’ that about makes me barf. In fact, the whole ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ genre is sickening, particularly when sung by males.
But stringed instruments such as the nevel and kinnor don’t make quite a big impression as trumpets.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church NA sings only Psalms. No better lyrical content than what God wrote.
They are all still very important.
Not always a safe bet. You need to do some research on each congregation. You can't make assumptions denomination (or even Presbytery) wide. You can find some as hip as your hippest Baptist megachurch.
That's like most of the Catholic churches around me. They preach "social justice" and the Evangelical churches preach Jesus and conservative values. I choose Jesus and morals (Evangelical/non-denominational) rather than amnesty and redistribution of wealth principles (Catholic church).
In my opinion, the anonymity of the megachurch defeats the purpose of the church. Fellowship gets diluted with sheer numbers because noboby knows anybody. I prefer churches with 400 or less members. There should be a social aspect to a church but it should be secondary to the spiritual message. Megachurches tend to focus on the social side to the point that the message tends to be secular to the point that God is almost an after thought. They tend to be like selfhelp gatherings where the message is believe in yourself because you are important and you can achieve and if you have trouble achieving come on back and we’ll tell you more about you because you need us and the power of positive thinking. They focus on the youth to make it become important to gather with their friends and have fun at the expense of any real message of salvation. Helicopter parents give in to their children and attend a church that does not serve their needs in order to make the kids happy. I guess if it shows a few people by accident the path to salvation it has done some good. But I’ll pass.
Nah. More likely the church itself. My church has a "praise team," a band, really, with some great singers. We have a lot of talent in that church. They play a variety -- some traditional, some southern gospel, some rock and some country. This is a church that is devoted to Jesus and Biblical Christianity. We all participate in the singing and praise. The Bible instructs us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord and it also instructs us to play instruments.
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