Posted on 05/30/2013 4:02:14 PM PDT by rochester
There has been a good deal of discussion recently about the Praise Team/Praise Band phenomenon, a phenomenon that has become a liturgical commonplace........
(Excerpt) Read more at secondnaturejournal.com ...
Excellent analysis of why praise bands in evangelical worship are so problematic.
My “denomination” (they hate to be called that, but they are), the churches of Christ, have a rich tradition of congregational praise singing, done totally acapella. Even though I love instrumental Christian music as well, I treasure signing praises with my church!
Bump for later read.
Ole, accustomed to a mainline church went to a seekers’ service on Sunday. He came home and his wife, Lena asked him how it was.
“Well,” he said, “it was interesting. They did something different. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses?” said Lena. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re Okay, I guess. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said Ole.
“What’s the difference?” asked Lena.
He replied, “Well, it’s like this. If I were to say to you, ‘Lena the cows are in the corn,’ that would be a hymn.’
Suppose, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ‘Lena, Lena, Lean, oh, Lena, Lena, Lena, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN CORN.’ Then if I were to repeat the whole thing five or six times, that would be a praise chorus.”
I’ve never heard a praise team like the ones that this author describes. And I’ve heard a lot of praise teams. The voices of the congregation can always be heard in unison above the instruments. Not saying they don’t exist, but they certainly aren’t all like that. I happen to love hymns, but see no problem with the newer music. As long as the words are true, I can sing them.
“Even though I love instrumental Christian music as well, I treasure signing praises with my church!”
It really is beautiful.
Love you Jesus, love you, love you Jesus...
My problem with so many of the praise choruses is that they are overly subjective, and the focus becomes “me, myself, and I” and especially my “feelings”.
Agree.
I agree. My church has maybe 10 musical groups. (I'm not sure of the number because some are subsets of others.) The congregation is known for enthusiastic singing, no matter who is leading at a particular service.
Issues with the volume of instruments or the choir need to be addressed by the leadership of the congregation. "A little more volume for Singer A, and a little less for Singer B, please. We want to be inclusive, but she's leading the whole church way flat!" "Please turn down the bass, it's rattling everyone's fillings."
You’ve heard about the 7 Eleven choruses. 7 words sung eleven times. That about sums it up.
It's a song about the Lord.
Oh, Goody. A chance for all the old folks to opine about how much they love singing the same centuries-old songs over and over again.
Sing to the Lord a new song...
... at least sing one that has been written since man harnessed the power of steam.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You
Leave off the subjective part and it would be perfect.
Look through the centuries of Christian music and in every era there were thousands of hymns, chants, etc, and of each era only a handful or so have truly endured.
Wheat has to be sifted from chaff. No matter what the actual style, the music “contemporary” to a particular age is 95% chaff.
I love that song.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.