This is a head up that I have started a new project called Calming the Psalms. A description is over there in the first post. Basically I plan to put the entire book of Psalms into my own words. My goal is 2 or 3 postings per week. Check it out, and let me know what you think.
Shalom.
Sometimes we are encouraged by friends in ways that surprise us. In past postings I have shared about my morning coffee days with my two very traditional friends. These two are very much into the traditional music scene in the Methodist church: choirs, robes, organs, the works. One of these friends will attend a contemporary worship service when the chance arises, but the other generally would not. He makes no bones about this: "I just don't like the music!" Given that I have been intimately involved with that music at that church for most of the last decade, I very much appreciated his honesty, if not his taste in music.
So, the other day, I heard that he had changed his position. He now liked praise music. He still didn't want to listen to it, but he liked it.
Huh?
Well, it turns out he had a discussion with a mutual friend at church, a wonderful 60-something grandmother. He found out several things: first, that she really liked the music. Not a surprise there, since she had been attending the contemporary service for years. More importantly, she explained how the music facilitated and encouraged her worship. This is what struck my traditional friend. The last thing he thinks about while experiencing contemporary Christian music is enjoyment, much less worship. So this was quite a revelation.
So now we have a convert. Someone who values praise music as highly as traditional music. Values, but not enjoys. I love that! How many of us can claim to accept things in our lives that really get on our nerves, but we know are important to others. How much love for our fellow Christians that shows!
Can you name anything in this category? Specific examples?
I'd like to think of myself as tolerant and accepting, but there are definitely things that bug me. For me, when there is song playing behind the spoken pastoral prayer, I have a hard time focusing on the prayer. I've been told by others that such songs really help. I'm sure there are aspects of the worship service that don't do anything for me, yet I know are important to others. It's hard to just ignore things but I believe it is important and a very fundamental part of "Do unto others." I hope you agree.
Shalom.
Literally, bibliolatry is the worship of a book. There a short but interesting Wikipedia article available. It touches on the bits related specifically to Christianity, where one worships the Holy Bible as opposed the the Holy One. I've witnessed the process of Bible study and Bible inerrancy leading to Bibliolatry. (I'll use upper case Bibliolatry to indicate the specific worship of the Christian Bible.) How does this happen? What would Jesus think about it?
So, this is a tricky road to walk. Yes, we want to fall back on the Bible as a guide and blueprint for this earthly life. But, strong the temptation is to quote scripture instead of prayer to consult the one who inspired the scripture. After all, much of the Bible requires interpretation. Putting things in historical context is one great service that trained pastors and teachers can do for the rest of us. Without this background and context, the road to Bibliolatry gets more slippery. This is when we risk quoting things, and potentially modifying our behavior in ways that the scripture was simply never intended. Nothing is worse than thinking you are on the path to salvation when Jesus just watches and shakes his head in sadness.
Can we spend too much time in the Bible? The obvious answer is no, but then to what level do we exclude other Biblically-mandated activities such as prayer and fellowship? Can we not learn as much about God from these activities as we can by academically studying the scripture?
I don't have the answer, but I am frequently frustrated. It is hard to hear very knowledgeable folks - with literal knowledge of Bible contents - quote scripture without even considering the meaning, or the specific application at hand. Even the Truth, when misapplied, does no service to the King.
Shalom.
So at yesterday's coffee ** we got onto the topic of worship and leading worship. All three of us have spent plenty of time on the platform making music for various congregations. Their experience has been primarily in a traditional setting as choir members working for very classically-minded choir directors. You may have figured out I'm mostly into rock and roll church. The discussion was in principle a simple one: should those leading worship necessarily be worshiping?
Now, anyone who has ever done anything like this knows that some days you are just distracted, but I'm not talking about your bad days, I want to focus on the best case, when circumstances are ideal.
The conclusion from my traditional friends was that they virtually never worship during their musical presentation. They are too concerned with any number of things, such as the complexity of the piece (will they hit that difficult note in the 27th measure?) or their appearance (is their robe on straight?). Believe me, I wish I was making these up. But that sounds like a put-down, which it is not my goal. These are real, honest revelations of what goes on in their heads on Sunday morning.
All worship leaders (including those leading via music, speaking, or prayer) balance the need to be connected with God, to appear to be connected with God, and to facilitate the connection of others to God. My choir friends weight these in reverse order: the facilitation is most important, followed by the appearance. Actual personal connection is not on their radar Sunday morning. (To be fair, they will describe times of real worship, but they are not in the corporate setting Sundays.)
I guess I just don't see it that way, but maybe there are folks in the pews who need this. Since we can't read others' thoughts and hearts, I can't say what's really going on. Still it is difficult to hear words like "I couldn't worship this morning because they forgot to move that speaker to the side." Again, I wish I was making this up. Are the connections between people and God so tenuous that something so trivial (to me anyway) can interrupt the divine praise that is genuine worship? Or is there ever real corporate worship going on for these folks?
I have a lot more thinking to do on this one.
Shalom.
** you might have read past posts about morning coffee conversations. While most posts have related conversations with my very progressive pastor friend, this coffee was with two good friends who are from a church point of view very traditional.
