Praise, Worship, and Other Things – Part 2

Musical style is a popular topic in churches these days. The arguments seem to boil down to Traditional vs. Contemporary. The main issue is this really does not describe the root of the problem. I’ll attempt to explain, hopefully without creating a new crisis.

Traditional, for the most part, describes what one is accustomed to hearing. This varies from generation to generation. Each generation has what they consider to be Traditional music. Generally speaking, in today’s current debate Traditional refers to hymns. More specifically, it refers to hymns written in the past two hundred years or so, from the time of Wesley forward. My question for those that prefer Traditional music is this: what was being sung in churches before these hymns were written?

Did you know the music of Wesley and others were not welcomed in all the churches of his day? Folks in those days preferred their “traditional music” over this new music that was being introduced. It caused quite a stir. So technically speaking, those that support Traditional music today are actually promoting the Contemporary music from a couple of generations back.

I remember in my teenage years the frustration I felt when leaders of churches in the 1970’s and 80’s refused to allow “contemporary” music to be used in worship services. Most of these songs were written by Bill and Gloria Gaither. Now, you would be hard pressed to find a church that does not use some of their music. That was only forty years ago.

Let’s take a look now at the argument used by those that prefer Contemporary music. The most common voice that I hear in this debate speaks of needing “new” songs. They say, “We don’t want to be traditional.” This group does not really understand what they are attempting to do. In essence, they are starting a new tradition! A tradition of being non-traditional is still a tradition.

I do not use these terms when I speak of Praise and Worship. Musical style is not the point. Age of the songs being sung, to me, is not relevant. The only thing that matters to me is this: Is the Lord being worshipped? If we can leave a gathering and answer this question with, “Yes”, then we have done our job. Let’s take the rhetoric down a notch, realize that we are all on the same team, and find a way to walk together down this road called Praise and Worship. We all have something to learn from one another.

Praise, Worship, and Other Things – Part 1

This article is the first of seven that were recently published in our church newsletter. I'll post the others over the next few day. I'd love to hear you feedback. I like to hear what you think about praise and worship.

Praise and Worship, for the most part, are used interchangeably in reference to music performed in a church service. There is much more to this than can be addressed in a brief article, but my “thumbnail” definition is: Praise is when we sing ABOUT God, Worship is when we sing TO God. There are times for both in the life of the Christian, and in our corporate gatherings.

In both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 we are instructed to use “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” to encourage, exhort, and edify “one another.” These are certainly not songs sung TO God, but rather ABOUT God for the purpose of blessing each other. The Hebrew word for this sort of thing is shabach, which means, “to boast about our God.” As a grandfather I am obligated to show pictures of my beautiful granddaughter whenever she is mentioned (and I usually mention her if no one else does). I love to boast about her because I love her so much. We do the same thing with God. When He is such a large part of our life we seek opportunities to boast about Him, to tell others what He has done in our life. The result of this is others get encouraged. It builds faith in them by hearing what God has done, and is doing, in others.

The other type of music is Worship. This is directed TO God. When we as a group of Christ-followers gather and begin to sing TO God it creates unity among us and we, by default, are drawn closer together. It helps develop a sense of purpose between us, and helps dissolve any issues that would try to keep us apart. Another effect of Worship is that as we exalt the Lord, He becomes bigger in our eyes and our problems or concerns become smaller. Our faith is increased, and trusting Him becomes so much easier to do.

My desire is that we do both when we gather as a body of Believers.

Easter, and the Ascension

For me, the Easter story is not completed until Jesus ascended to Heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. Here is the final scene from our upcoming Easter presentation. More will be added to fill in some of the details, but here is the bare bones.

The Ascension

Before leaving their sight for the last time, Jesus made a promise to send “another Comforter” to live IN us, to comfort us, to empower us to be witnesses, to guide us, to teach us. This was to be the Seal of the New Covenant. It was the earnest of our inheritance. Jesus was coming again, but until He comes the Holy Spirit will abide in us forever!

Each one had a choice to make. Go back to their “normal” lives, or begin a new life of telling how “I once was lost but now I’m found.” Each one that took on the New Covenant with its sign of baptism, and its seal of the Holy Spirit, has the God-given purpose of being Ambassadors for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now our heart’s cry is Maranatha! He has come, and is coming again!

Words, Words, Words

I know it will never happen. In fact, I think it will probably get worse as our devolves due to texting shortcuts and pure apathy toward spelling and diction. But, for us purests out there that still care, here is my latest set of words that give me pause.

Choose vs. chose (present and past tense of the same verb)
Loose vs. lose (following the above set of words the spelling is similar, but pronunciation is totally different)

English is hard!

On another note, do you recall the movie Bambi? Other that the infamous "We are always in danger when man is in the woods", there was another scene that came to mind recently. When spring arrived all the animals began to pair up. I forget the character's name, but I believe it was the owl that explained the phenomena as being "twitterpated". Today, that word would have a whole new meaning.

Half-attempts Are Not Enough

Yesterday I went to Walmart to find a humidifier. With the cold weather comes drier air which causes issues for sinuses (or should it be sini?). I entered the store and wandered toward the pharmacy area where this sort of thing is normally sold. I located the aisle and was surprised to find several different styles and models from which to choose.

I picked up the box of the model that caught my eye so I could take a closer look. On the front of the package there was a marketing blurb that said, "Be sure to pick up replacement filters." It then listed three different filter Model Numbers that would fit this particular humidifier.

I thought that would be a great idea, and the replacement filters were conveniently located right next to the humidifiers. There were several filters available, so I proceeded to locate the Model Number of the filter to ensure I chose the correct one. There was not a Model Number printed on the box!!

On the front of the filter box it also had a marketing blurb that said, "Use with xxxx, xxxx, or xxxx" which were the Model Numbers of the humidifiers that it fit. "Ah!", I thought. So I began searching on the humidifier box, only to learn that there was no Model Number on the humidifier!!

Someone had a great idea: place the corresponding Model Numbers on the packaging for easy matching. Someone else had a very bad idea: there is no need to place the Model Number of this device on the box. Two people, working for the same organization, made diametrically opposing decisions, leaving their potential customers frustrated and confused.

It is so important to have someone that sees the big picture review the process to ensure continuity. Be accountable to someone.

Aspiration or Aspiration

Many who know me are aware of my fascination with words; specifically English. There are many things that make me wonder about our language. It is almost as if some tried to make it hard just for fun. (Probably an English teacher.)

One of these words is “aspiration”. Look at the varied definitions of this simple word:

as·pi·ra·tion

Noun

1.

A hope or ambition of achieving something.

The object of one's hope or ambition; a goal.

2.

MEDICINE

The action or process of drawing breath.

The action of drawing fluid by suction from a vessel or cavity.

3.

PHONETICS

The action of pronouncing a sound with an exhalation of breath.

The thing I find odd about it is this: the same word that describes our reason for living is also a way of causing death. On one hand it is the inspiration causing us to soar to new heights of accomplishment, and the other ending our life before its time.

It seems we could find a way to limit the use of such terms. I realize it is because the root-meanings are the same. When achieving great things it tends to cause you to take a deep breath (aspiration), and choking to death also can be cause by taking a deep breath.

It’s just they have diametrically opposed outcomes. I know nothing will change because of my rants, but it helps me to vent them from time to time. Let me know some of you personal word pet-peeves.

Until then, keep on enunciating!

Virtual Reality and Gender Neutrality

Gender neutrality is not a new thing. There have been attempts to remove male/female reference from language for a long time. Some examples: aviator/aviatrix is now pilot, waiter/waitress is now server, steward/stewardess is now flight attendant, chairman/chairwoman is now chair, etc. There were, and probably still are, attempts to remove gender language from interpretations of the Bible; things like replacing "man" (when speaking of the human race) with "all people".

Most of this is quite harmless and does not adversely affect things. However, the latest movement toward gender neutrality has a much deeper reach and is potentially harmful.

A coworker recently made an observation about the current debate regarding gender identity. He said, "When the debate came up regarding creation versus evolution, the mantra of the day was, 'We have science. We can prove evolution. You only have emotional feelings regarding creation.' But now with gender, we have science to prove the gender of an individual, but the mantra has changed to, 'It's based on how we feel (identify).'" Diametrically opposed arguments.

Here is where I see things at the moment. I'm a computer programmer so I see much of my world through technological terms. There are simulators where you can create any computer you can imagine. However, these simulators are running on a physical computer. There may not be any similarities between the physical computer and the virtual computer that it's running. The virtual computer becomes whatever we want it to be.

In similar fashion, each person is born male or female (I realize there are some born with both sets of genitalia). The chromosomes determine male or female. If there is a Y chromosome your body (physical computer) is male. Your brain (the virtual computer) can imagine anything it wants about who you really are, but anything other than, for example, a Male in a Y chromosome body, will be in conflict with itself. Surgery cannot correct it. Hormones cannot correct it. Both only apply a modification to the virtual computer.

I don't know the answer to the current issue of gender neutrality. I know demonizing speech is not the answer. If someone says, "Ma'am or sir", to someone whose virtual self does not "identify" as their physical self, there is no hate intended. We used to call that "being courteous".

There is an entire vocabulary being created that everyone is expected to adapt so we do not offend anyone. You can get some idea of it here. The challenge with this is knowing which virtual computer is running inside the physical one. It is impossible to know, based on outward appearance, whether someone is "identifying" as something else.

I hope we can find a way, on both sides of the argument, to deal with each other in a civil manner. I know I say this often, but if we can just talk to one another without veins popping out of our neck it would be a great start.