Missing the Boat

I’ve been reading a book called unChristian by David Kinnaman for Seminary.  In essence, the author has done research on perceptions of Christianity by both believers and non-believers.  The results are staggering.  Most concerning is the apparent lack of difference between Christians and non-Christians on many issues.  Here is an excerpt from the book.  He has just finished talking about the generational gap among believers concerning what they believe to be morally acceptable.

Here is another interesting point of comparison:  just 5 percent of born-again Busters say they have recently given someone “the finger.”  But compared to this vulgar gesture, born-again Christian young people are three times more likely to have had sex outside of marriage in the last month (18 percent), five times more likely to have gotten drunk (24 percent), and five times more likely to have purchased a lottery ticket (25 percent).  They hold up thier middle finger much less frequently than they use profanity in public (36 percent), view explicit sexual content in a magazine or a movie (36 percent), or say mean things about each others (40 percent).

Thoughts?

Contemporary and Traditional

I was sitting here reading a couple more pages from Unceasing Worship.  It seems to be one of those books you can only read a bit at a time, so that you can digest and wrestle with the ideas presented.  Anyway, as I was reading, I had an ADD moment.  I think it’s sad that Pastor Flack, the video guy, the sound guy and I are the only ones that get to worship in both the traditional and contemporary services.  I think it’s such a shame that so many members of our congregation are missing out.  Of course, for me, the traditional service is where I’m confronted by new music with new melodies and new thoughts in lyrics.  I mean really, here at 8:00 every Sunday, we sing the great (and sometimes not so great) hymns of old.  The senior saints gather with a couple of younger folks and we sing together from a foundation a century old.  There’s something nice about that.  There’s a bringing together of sorts.  Then there’s the "contemporary" service for second and third hours.  Oh how I wish that the senior saints could worship with us in the third hour.  A group of people largely consisting of college age and young professionals packs into the sanctuary and sings a new song to the Lord.  We sing old songs too, but sometimes in a new way. ;-)  But what I think is the best part of the third service is the volume level.  Not that singing louder is more spiritual, there are just more people in the space!  It’s cool to be in a room with the next generation (of which I’m slightly a part of) that is sold out for the Lord.  Not sure how to facilitate this (space problems), but some time we need to have one service for the entire congregati12pt;">be the body of Christ.  We need to introduce the hand to the foot, the fingers to the toes!  We need to realize that worshiping Christ is not about meon.  We need to sing out the hymns of old alongside the new songs of this generation.  We need to , it’s about us.

Worship Matters

Worship Matters just posted a set of videos from Bob Kauflin on worship leading. This first video was great, and I thought what is presented applies to us all, not just worship leaders.  See the rest of the videos at Worship Matters.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/teY8g8TBmUU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00

Hallelujah?

Okay, so long time, no write.  I need to get back into the habit I suppose.  Matter of fact, after I write this random thought, I might even add another entry on David.

So, here’s the thought.  I have the album, Arise: A Celebration of Worship playing in the background.  It’s a great album, it has tracks by Paul Baloche, Don Moen, Jared Anderson and Lincoln Brewster to name a few.  Anyway, I’ve listened to this CD before, really, I have.  Many times that I have listened to it, I have never reallylistened to the whole thing I guess.  Anyway, here’s the link to the song that caused this blog reaction:

A New Hallelujah (Lincoln Brewster)

Listen to it.  Remind you of anything?  Yeah, that’s right, Shrek.  Can you take a song that was used in Shrek as a worship song?  Here’s the original song used in the movie written by Rufus Wainwright (I could write a whole blog entry on naming your child Rufus).

I’ve heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don’t really care for music, do you?

It goes like this:

The fourth, the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty

in the moonlight

overthrew you

She tied you

To a kitchen chair

She broke your throne,

she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I’ve been here before

I know this room, I’ve walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you

I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch

love is not a victory march

It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you’d let me know

What’s real and going on below

But now you never show it to me do you?

Remember when I moved in you?

The holy dark was moving too

And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above

And all I ever learned from love

Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you

It’s not a cry you can hear at night

It’s not somebody who’s seen the light

It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I track with the song through verse 1.  I start to track the Biblical story of verse 2, then he looses me big time.  “Maybe there’s a God above.”  Really, do we not know?  “It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.”  Wow.

Here’s my point.  Lincoln Brewster has kept only the parts of the song that maybe could be interpreted as worship.  Here’s Lincoln’s version:

I love You Lord with all my heart

You’ve given me a brand new start

And I just want to sing this song to You

It goes like this the fourth the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

My heart and soul are praising

Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah

I know that You’re the God above

You’re filling me with grace and love

And I just want to say thank You to You

You pulled me from the miry clay

You’ve given me a brand new day

Now all that I can say is

Hallelujah

Does this work?  I mean the lyrics are spot on.  They really are.  Can you detach a song from its connections to Pop Culture? People would have the reaction of, “I think I know that song.”  You could probably make a good case for the seeker sensitivity of the song.  But is that really the goal of worship in the church?  I would say no.  What are your thoughts on this adaptation?  Does it work, or not?

Rush of Fools

I’ve been listening to the new Rush of Fools album for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve really gotten into it.  In particular, I’ve been listening to The Only Thing That’s Beautiful in Me.  Look at these lyrics.

Just like the ocean waves

You crash on me

Just like a tidal wave

You ruin me

Just like a hurricane

You devastate ev’rything

that needs to change

(And) You are the only thing that’s beautiful in me

That’s beautiful in me

And You are the only thing that’s beautiful in me

That’s beautiful in me

Just like a mountain peak

You lift me up

Just like a desert stream

You fill my cup

And like a heart that beats

You are the blood that covers me

You cover me

(And) You are the only thing that’s beautiful in me

That’s beautiful in me

And You are the only thing that’s beautiful in me

That’s beautiful in me

And all I can say is thank You

Thank You

And all I can say is thank You

Lord thank You

And all I can say is thank You

Thank You

This makes me think of Romans 8 where it says, However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit , if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you… If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Then follows the scripture I cling to, Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword…But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer though Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor delpth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.