Posted on 04/12/2011 1:28:46 PM PDT by texmexis best
It's part of a larger pattern that I've noticed. In the Catholic Church, theological orthodoxy and liturgical traditionalism tend to go together. The same pattern does not hold among Protestants.
That is, Catholic parishes that are orthodox in their moral and theological teaching also tend to shun modern hymns (which almost invariably sound like substandard pop or soft rock) and stick to the masters (eg. Bach, Mozart, Palestrina, Handel, Durufle, Vaughn Williams, etc). They also tend to shun innovative liturgical practices, such allowing female acolytes, litergical dance, lay distribution of communion, and the like, and retain traditional liturgical practices, such as use of incense. Liberal Catholic parishes that tend to deviate from doctrinal orthodoxy are the exact opposite in their choice of liturgical music and practice. If you walk into a parish at mass and hear cheesy pop music with religious lyrics passing for a hymn, and some middle-aged woman prancing around in a leotard, chances are you've walked into a liberal Catholic parish.
Yet when I compare Potestant services, it seems to me it is the liberal Protestants that tend to have more traditional services and better taste in music.
I'm not trying to get into a debate. Just giving my honest assessment.
While not a fan of liturgical dance myself, I don't think it is fair to call neither the dance nor the holiday it celebrates pagan. After all, the Hebrews engaged in religious dancing during Old Testament times, and the historical record attests to the fact that Christians celebrated Easter as early as the first century, when the Apostles were still alive.
Of course, they didn't call it "Easter." That's just the English word for it. The early Christians, speaking Greek and Latin, called it "Paschua," the word for "passover," and that continues to be the word for "Easter" that is used in Romance-language-speaking cultures even to this day.
Have a Happy Easter!
I have never seen that distribution of music. It primarily depends on the Board, the Pastor and the Music pastor.
Contemporary Christian Music speaks to the hearts of many people and can change their lives. It changes hearts: we know this from the emails we get from people who have felt the lightning during a song.
Hey, if it works for you, that's fine. It's just not my cup of tea.
Fantastic!
It is fantastic. A wonderful way to celebrate Easter.
The whole church is totally jazzed over this.
Oh pishtosh....your’re just afraid someone might be having fun worshipping the Lord.
Good News!
The song in the video will be available later this week on Itunes...look up “Rise Up”
I cannot get that tune out of my head.
BTTT
I agree with your comments; however, I am always afraid of these sorts of emotionally-charged deviations from reverant worship eventually affecting the Catholic Mass, which has been the case at times.
Reverent, sorry. Firefox is flagging every single word as mispelled due to dictionary problems, so I missed the one that really was.
I suppose it is fine to have fun, even exuberant fun, while worshiping, if the activity is undertaken for the right kinds of motivations and increases ones faith. One who is given to excesses, however, would have to be careful to not shift over time from religious worship to secular dance as the primary focus. As I mentioned, the sacrificial Catholic Mass has a very different tone from this, although some have tried sacrilegiously to incorporate modern elements of music, dance and even charismatic excitement.
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