I experienced a refreshing service yesterday at my home church. My church is implementing a traditional service in January and yesterday was a “dry-run” of sorts. The most traditional part of this new service is the music used during worship. The music; classic hymns that really have a way of establishing a kind of reverent atmosphere for worshiping the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus.
One of the hot-button issues in the church for many years has been that of music. This is as good a time as any for me to jump right in. My church has really gone “vanilla” over the last two or three years. As of late, it really seems to be nothing but the top ten of Christian music, week after week. The incredibly talented people God has led to my church seem to have closed the valve to their creativity.
Many churches across America have almost gone hymnophobic. They would not dare use a hymn accompanied by just a piano for example. Unless the hymn has been “rocked-up” by someone like Jeremy Camp, many churches won’t touch it. Please don’t get me wrong, I like Jeremy Camp and many of these versions of those classic hymns. I just think a nice mixture of the old and the new is just perfect.
I really thought my church was headed hymnophobic, until yesterday. I applaud the church leadership for establishing a service intended to appeal to those more traditional folks. I know I personally will be able to connect more fully with God in this traditional setting.
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I somewhat "stumbled" onto your blog from another site, actually, an email link from my daughter. But, you have stated many thoughts that are right on. The hymns are still around because they have stood the test. It will be interesting to see how many and which (if any) of the "contemporary" music will be around and still used 20 years from now, let alone, 200 or more. However, I will also say that, as a 60 year old pastor, the newer songs resonate with me more than the older hymns. Not sure why. Maybe because so many of them focus on Jesus and God and the relationship that we are to have with them and they with us. The whole music "war" in our churches has been used to divide and cause friction and turmoil among the people in the church. That cannot be from God. He is not the author of strife and confusion. God bless. Keep up the good word and good work.
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