I just got back from church, and will soon be leaving to pick up my mother-in-law, and I wanted to share the joy of the day. So there's a little snow on the ground. So it's colder'n blue blazes outside. (I wonder: are blue blazes especially cold? Probably not.) I attend a little church up on north Lima Road, the Agape Church of the Brethren, and I'm happy to report that we sang five verses' worth of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" this morning, without the "benefit" of any praise band, praise team, or any of that stuff that's so prevalent in today's evangelical megachurches and wannabe megachurches. Not a single guitar, electric or otherwise; no drums; just the lady playing the piano. Not only that, but we also got all three verses of "Low in the Grave He Lay." Instead of maybe one verse of one of these, blended seamlessly with the loping dance-mix beat of four or five of those "Jesus is my boyfriend" praise choruses that people are so widely subjected to these days.
It was really, really good.
If you're an old dinosaur like me, or even a dino-sympathiser, you could do worse than come by and visit us some Sunday. I'm just sayin' ...
3 comments:
I know what you mean about "praise music" and can identify. Our church has a fairly full orchestra and I thoroughly enjoy their talents. They are very good musicians and the music director tends to shy away from the more "modern" stuff. He has to let some in for the sake of growing the church. If a church is going to bring in new Christians they've sometimes got to do things to attract them.
I've never been too big on the music and hymns aspects of church. 1-3 songs is more than enough for my tastes, but we usually have more like 5-6. I'm mostly there for the sermon and a bit of fellowship. In fact, I hate to hear a good sermon end.
The more verses of such hymns, the better. I love getting to sing all nine verses of Patrick's Breastplate, what can I say...
TW: thanks for your thoughtful comment. I like hymnal music primarily because the lyrics teach in a memorable way. Preaching is certainly important, too, along with the sacraments, corporate prayer, and so on. I guess what I'm trying to say is that balance is vital.
lemming: Don't gotta say nothin', not when you can sing -- all nine verses, no less!
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