Ok. I realize I'm probably overstating things here...but consider this: with the continual use of mp3 players for the past several years people have been able to wake up, go to work, work, play, eat, go home, and go to sleep in the presence of continual music that has been entirely selected by the individual. Hundreds and thousands of songs edited to PERFECTLY match the taste of the individual.
To do that in 1910 A.D. one would have had to have a live orchestra in one's room, and in one's buggy, and in one's office, and walking around with you all day! What an AMAZING transformation that has taken place during just a hiccup in the world timeline.
SO: In previous generations families consisted of extended generations of people gathering for worship and for meals and parties, with traditional folk music being taught by the older generations to the younger generations with only the slightest variations through the years. BUT NOW, a family of parents aged 60 and 50 and kids aged 25, 18, and 10 could have practically five different generational preferences of sound that can all be catered to through the music industry.
No wonder it's tough to get people to come together as one body and worship God through music--families can't even take a road trip with a single set of music playing in the van!
So how can Christians like me help people in this environment to truly, deeply, spiritually and emotionally connect with God and worship God? One church I know does almost no music at all, thereby avoiding the situation altogether. That's definitely the easiest road to take. Yet that seems dangerous to me since music such a powerful force in our culture. Would we then be saying, "we want to teach you how to think, but we'll let MTV teach you how to feel?"
Ideally we could achieve the older style of multi-generational common music, and in some settings we do (like when we sing "Amazing Grace" at funerals). Yet, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches who have demanded that this approach be taken seem to have little ability to connect with non-Christians and make little evangelistic impact. After all, someone who's into Shakira or DMX doesn't immediately connect with most quarter-note-dominant- organ-accompanied traditional church music.
So for now, I don't see any choice but to cater to the individualistic needs of people by specializing our musical offerings in Christian worship--and then pushing at selected times for events of inter-generational unity and pushing at multiple times for all generations to learn at least a minimum of inter-generational music (i.e. Amazing Grace). HOWEVER, this is a difficult and miry road to navigate...so if you have any better suggestions I'm all ears!
What do you think?
Local kids plead for school
2 weeks ago
2 comments:
I think that a lot of the Christian artists out there are helping bridge the gap; that is, Lincoln Brewster, for example, doing a highly contemporized version of some old hymn. Hence, the melody and the lyrics are handed down, but in a style that today's worshiper can identify with.
That then, leads to more awareness, perhaps even curiosity on the part of the younger listener, to ask "what's the origin of THAT old gem?" and allows for some further exploration.
But we can't force it on them. Even an organ-driven old-rugged-cross rendering of "Amazing Grace" was cutting edge and heretical to some earlier generation, who wanted that loud, sacreligous pipe monstrosity out of their sanctuary.
I don't know if we truly can force intergenerational or cross-style worship anymore. Take one local United Methodist church who has an annual Christmas hymn sing; when the praise bands play their songs, some people hate it; when the Choir gets up and sings their organ accompanied version of silent night, the high schoolers are usually glassy-eyed with boredom.
So maybe, the intergenerational division is here to stay...
Great points, Pat. We had one of those experiences recently that you mention in your second paragraph. The band was playing a hymn...I believe Fairest Lord Jesus...and later a teenager was telling her dad how much she loved that new song! That was pretty sweet.
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