{"id":428,"date":"2003-07-22T22:43:39","date_gmt":"2003-07-23T03:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=428"},"modified":"2003-07-22T22:43:39","modified_gmt":"2003-07-23T03:43:39","slug":"ideas-on-worship-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"Ideas on Worship (I)"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Youth Committee meeting last week, Bill unveiled the plans for the “Yo Service” which will be a worship service during the Sunday School hour with contemporary elements in it. (I don’t use “contemporary worship” because a.) it’s a buzz term; b.) it’s more just adding some contemporary music; and c.) there is a marked difference between “contemporary worship” and just adding a few more modern elements to worship.) It will be loosely based on the Lutheran service order for the Eucharist with a layout that’s kind of like this:<\/p>\n

-2 songs
\n-Prayer
\n-Reading of the Sermon Text
\n-Sermon
\n-Prayers
\n-Eucharistic Preface and Prayer
\n-Words of Institution
\n-Distribution of Communion
\n-Final Prayer
\n-one more song
\n-Dismissal<\/p>\n

We’re looking at this taking about 45 minutes so that the last 30 minutes can be spent in Sunday School discussing the sermon\/lessons. The youth could then attend the regular service with their parents or some could work in the nursery during the 10:45 service. The idea is to give them some worship that’s perhaps a little more modern than worship normally is at the church and give them a bit more of a chance to get involved.<\/p>\n

My feelings on the subject? I commend Bill for putting the sketch together because I know what his feelings are on contemporary worship. I’m just a little irritated because the youth who brought it up frequently doesn’t even show up on Sunday because her parents (who are the youth leaders ironically enough) don’t show up. When she does show up, it’s usually the 8:00 service which is about 80% older people. The choir *does* some modern anthems at the 10:45 service and she never attends that. Basically, I feel like this whole thing is pandering to her and I’m really even wondering if she’ll show up if we do it. (Putting it bluntly, let’s consider the source of the whining about adding contemporary elements to worship.) In other words, I’m not incredibly in favor of this. I’m giving Bill support and input on it since I *have*<\/b> relevant experience in this area; but both Jon (who also has relevant experience) and I expressed our concerns about this.<\/p>\n

Why am I so against starting a contemporary worship service at St. Paul’s? Well…<\/p>\n

  • Our church has ultra-traditional worship… and is growing.<\/b> Yes… we’re growing. Our worship is *VERY* traditional but it is so incredibly well-done that people are attracted to it. We’ve had some of the students from the local university<\/a> join the church and many of our youth actually *enjoy* the older hymns. We might reach a few of the youth who hate the traditional worship who are already part of the church but will it really cause us to grow?<\/li>\n
  • We as Lutherans have a very rich spiritual heritage and it would be wrong to compromise it.<\/b> We have a very wonderful and rich theological, musical, and cultural heritage as Lutherans and a lot of the contemporary music elements obviate it. Our older hymns are theological rich in addition to being musically aesthetic. A lot of the newer music is simply “rah rah Jesus” or something I could sing to Jesus if He were my boyfriend. *shudders at the thought of some of that music* You can have the sacramental parts of the service but you have to find music that compliments it or you can easily move away from the sacramental and salvific focus of worship. I know that Bill will make sure that we stay faithful to all of this; but there will also be the pressure to make it into a Calvary Chapel or Vineyard type service, which is *NOT* acceptable in a Lutheran congregation. Lutheran churches that do this<\/a> are apostates and traitors to the faith traditions that have been cultivated for the last 500 years. (The church I am criticizing claims to be an ELCA congregation<\/a> but has relegated the Eucharist to an optional twice-a-month activity outside the worship service<\/b>. I can’t even claim that they are Christian at this point because the Eucharist is so fundamental to faith.)<\/li>\n
  • It is hard to do a “contemporary service” well.<\/b> About 90% of the contemporary worship services I have watched or attended are either senior citizen magnets, performances (as opposed to genuine worship), glorified camp sing-alongs, people showing off their sub-par guitar skills, or are filled with people going through the motions. You really have to have a professional musician orchestrating it because the average Joe doesn’t understand balancing instruments and voices. At the seminary, one of the teams did a week of contemporary worship and three of the five days, I walked out in tears because worship was so horrendously awful. (I am really scared of how the person who arranged the music will pastor because he really did a crappy job of it.) The service needs to be worshipful and it shouldn’t just be entertaining the people. One church I attended in the L.A. area had a professional band and 12 “praisettes” all dressed identically leading worship — it was like robots in worship and this was in addition to the sermon being absolutely awful and the big screen TV showing the playland that was supposed to be witnessing to people the next weekend. Another service I attended in northern Ohio was someone playing melody on a keyboard with a worship singer and it was me supply-preaching with everyone else being 65 and over. The good services I’ve attended? Well… the ones I helped with at High Street<\/a> andChrist<\/a> were really good (and no.. I’m not tooting my own horn — I would be the first to admit if worship was crappy). Another nice one (in a Lutheran context) was Roseville Lutheran Church in Minnesota. The liturgy was adequate but the music was very well-done and the sermon was excellent. They strove for that balance though and I could tell that a lot of work had gone into making it work.<\/li>\n
  • There is the assumption that all the young people want is rock and roll.<\/b> I did a survey last year for my Ministry of Worship class and gave people three options: traditional (A), contemporary (B), or a blend of the two (C). Most people said a blend with traditional being the second choice. Um yeah… all we want is rock and roll. Many of the people who chose the blend commented that the newer stuff was good but that they did really like the older hymns. My ultimate preference would be a blend of the two if the blend could be done respectfully because a lot of the youth at the church *like* the older hymns but would probably also enjoy some Maranatha pieces or some Rich Mullins or even some of the Gospel stuff from This Far By Faith<\/i> (the African-American hymnal put out by the ELCA).<\/li>\n

    Since I’ve criticized contemporary worship, I should balance it and point out some flaws with traditional worship:<\/p>\n

  • It can get boring if people are just going through the motions.<\/b> It’s actually pretty easy to sit there and go through the motions in a traditional liturgical service. Believe me, I’ve done it — the mornings after Junior Prom and Senior Ball were two examples. Liturgy can be alive but the people have to want to make it so.<\/li>\n
  • The music can be ghastly and the choir anthems can be horrible.<\/b> Traditional church music is absolutely beautiful when done well but… you need a good organist and you need a choir director who knows their craft well. You also need some good voices in the choir and a balance. This year is the first time I’ve ever sung in a choir with as many men as women and it was fun to do pieces such as All We Like Sheep<\/i> from Handel’s Messiah<\/i> because we *had* tenors and basses and good altos and sopranos. The choir should also be *leading* the hymns in the congregation, not performing them.<\/li>\n
  • There needs to be some joy in the liturgy and an understanding that these words have a life of their own and are used for a purpose.<\/b> I love the concept of “explanation Masses” in the Roman Catholic Church because they educate the people as to *why* they do what they do. I think we Protestants could learn from our Catholic brothers and sisters in this respect. The liturgy is ancient and the creeds and prayers are used because they mean something<\/b>. You have to have this sentiment in the church for traditional worship to be attractive to people.<\/li>\n
  • Trying to contemporize traditional liturgy can really obviate the rest of the service.<\/b> [Insert snarky rant on the evils of inclusive language] I have seen more harm than good done to churches because the pastor or liturgist (if your congregation can afford to have one) has decided to be *creative*. The creeds have been the bedrock of faith for the last 1500 years — they do not need to be re-written to include the birds and the trees and the moon and the stars. Liturgical dance can be done but frequently, less is more and it really should be done sparingly. (I have seen some pretty awful services where liturgical dance has been present. I’m really of the mindset that certain things should not be expressed in the sanctuary.) The prayers should be to the Lord Almighty, not to Sophia<\/i> or Our Mother in Heaven or even the Creator\/Redeemer\/Sanctifier (the inclusivized Trinity which is really a good example of the “let’s put God in a box” attitude). I could not (in good conscience) take Communion at a service where the prayers were offered to the above people, nor could I participate in a service where the creeds have been “modernized”.<\/li>\n

    Well… y’all know where to find me, so feel free to comment. Part II will be up tomorrow or the next day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At the Youth Committee meeting last week, Bill unveiled the plans for the “Yo Service” which will be a worship service during the Sunday School hour with contemporary elements in it. (I don’t use “contemporary worship” because a.) it’s a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p38xoO-6U","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-filled.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}