i have been thinking more about praise and worship music as it relates to the emergent church. In my last post I quoted from Paul Mayers excellent writing on why we're not singing anymore.
After some research for this post it turns out that this song is actually not a "hymn." The compline choir sang it as though it were a hymn. But, hmmm, clearly the wikipedia article says it was written in 1984!
What makes something a hymn as opposed to a "worship song"? Its age?
For me personally I associate positive and negative experiences with different kinds of church music. For example, songs like Lord I Lift Your Name on High, My Life is in You Lord, or Open the eyes of my heart Lord.... (sorry there is no nice way of saying this) make me want to jump from a moving car. This is because I associate them with church fakery, false piety, mega church gatherings, corruption and just in general, they have the tendency to be repetitious and even used in some cases as a kind of assault on the people.
I am not trying to attack charismatic churches, I am just saying that for me personally, I see this repetition as a kind of mental violence. Conversely, songs such as As the Deer and others, for me, are associated with positive church experiences, so they sort of get a pass as being authentic. How convenient for me!
To get back the main point of this post, certain songs carry different meanings for different people. Different people have different experiences and that's great. God knows I don't want to be "intolerant"!
I guess I am just trying to figure out why certain worship styles agitate me so much? Is it because I am secretly jealous that some people experience spirituality differently ? I don't think so, well I sure hope not. Is it because I think that people who have what appears to be transformative spiritual experiences to songs like "O Lord, you're sweet let's wash each other's feet" are insincere just because that does not match the way that I experience God? Yeah I think that might be part of it, for me at least.
This is going to sound really, really bad, but I don't like it when people raise their hand like they are "feeling the spirit." That is not the way I feel "the spirit", not that I am even claiming to be able to understand what "the spirit" even is.
That's part of it too. How can these people know they are really experiencing God when they raise their hand or whatever? Are they trying to let everyone else know they are experiencing God? To me that seems like some kind of religious gesture done for the benefit of other people, probably because if I were to raise my hand, that's what it would mean!
Well, I am sure I sound like a judgmental, terrible person. Lately I have been thinking how amazing it is, the things I will justify doing in the almighty name of being "honest".
Last night I went to a Compline service. At this weekly service a small choir stands at the back of the church chanting prayers and singing hymns while people meditate, chant along, or pray etc. I really don't have adjectives that do justice to this service. The sound of the choir singing is so beautiful that it is very, very difficult to explain what exactly is really happening. I have really never experienced anything like it before.
Anyway one of songs they sung last night was "As the Deer".
the way they sang it was like water.Anyway one of songs they sung last night was "As the Deer".
What makes something a hymn as opposed to a "worship song"? Its age?
For me personally I associate positive and negative experiences with different kinds of church music. For example, songs like Lord I Lift Your Name on High, My Life is in You Lord, or Open the eyes of my heart Lord.... (sorry there is no nice way of saying this) make me want to jump from a moving car. This is because I associate them with church fakery, false piety, mega church gatherings, corruption and just in general, they have the tendency to be repetitious and even used in some cases as a kind of assault on the people.
I am not trying to attack charismatic churches, I am just saying that for me personally, I see this repetition as a kind of mental violence. Conversely, songs such as As the Deer and others, for me, are associated with positive church experiences, so they sort of get a pass as being authentic. How convenient for me!
To get back the main point of this post, certain songs carry different meanings for different people. Different people have different experiences and that's great. God knows I don't want to be "intolerant"!
I guess I am just trying to figure out why certain worship styles agitate me so much? Is it because I am secretly jealous that some people experience spirituality differently ? I don't think so, well I sure hope not. Is it because I think that people who have what appears to be transformative spiritual experiences to songs like "O Lord, you're sweet let's wash each other's feet" are insincere just because that does not match the way that I experience God? Yeah I think that might be part of it, for me at least.
This is going to sound really, really bad, but I don't like it when people raise their hand like they are "feeling the spirit." That is not the way I feel "the spirit", not that I am even claiming to be able to understand what "the spirit" even is.
That's part of it too. How can these people know they are really experiencing God when they raise their hand or whatever? Are they trying to let everyone else know they are experiencing God? To me that seems like some kind of religious gesture done for the benefit of other people, probably because if I were to raise my hand, that's what it would mean!
Well, I am sure I sound like a judgmental, terrible person. Lately I have been thinking how amazing it is, the things I will justify doing in the almighty name of being "honest".
