Bottom line is you can’t throw out the foundation without the entire thing collapsing into chaos and it’s somewhat easy to spot this if you look at some of the congregations that have gone wholesale contemporary in all its forms having tossed out all the sacred music and hymnody that makes up the greater body of church music.

I definately choose to stay with my traditional approach but keeping in mind, more so than in the past, that contemporary worship music has its place and some of the good ones will be in the hymnals and song books in the future…. I mean who thought, back in the 1970s, that Gaither would be in hymnals? Some of their music was/is good and made it into our hymnals today so anything is possible.

However… excellence for Him is important. I think that, by allowing inaccurate notes, words on the slide show, or words sung, we’re communicating to those around us (on the odd chance that there were some seekers in the congregation) that our God isn’t worth our best. He is, was, and always will be.

I didn’t care for the mindset of one of the musicians I was leading where she’d not come to rehearsals but then expect to play on Sunday morning. Often rushing and missing some chords and notes.

I like 13ths and 9ths. dim7ths are so yesterday.

Now, we enjoy a home/family experience that is a bit freer, letting the kids pick some music that might be in the “book” or on the iPod. We include hymns and CCM stuff.

I see that the other worship / music thread doesn’t allow comments. Maybe because there are 200 of them already?

http://www.modernpsalter.com/

Tell me about it. I belong to the Lost Genre Guild, and that guild was formed SPECIFICALLY to give genre writers an end run around the Conventionally Christian (TM) market.

Because the Christian (TM) market reminds me of nothing so much as Furry Fandom. Drooling fanboys who don’t care how crappy it is, just so long as it floats their boat. Whether that boat to float is “Everyone has to have FUR! And TAILS!” or “Subjects limited to ‘Just like the latest fad, except CHRISTIAN (TM)!’, Uber-Squeeky-Clean G-rated (not even the word ‘breast’), a Bible quote every X pages and the required Altar Call Ending Where We Present The Plan Of Salvation to the Reader.” I mean, a lot of the CHRISTIAN (TM) genre stuff — from Left Behind to bonnet romances — is as checklist-formulaic as porn, complete to the “money scene” every X pages — Slacktivist’s blog coined the term (for Left Behind and its sub-genre) “Pre-Trib Porn” and “Porn for Christians” to describe such writing.

There is better stuff out there, but so far limited to small presses. It’s an uphill struggle against a Christian (TM) establishment dedicated to the Christian (TM) equivalents of Eragon, Twilight, and JIMBee bubblegum.

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SET THE TREND — MUSIC, LITERATURE, ART, WHATEVER — INSTEAD OF DENOUNCING IT THEN COMING OUT (USUALLY WHEN IT’S JUMPED THE SHARK) WITH OUR SANITIZED CHRISTIAN (TM) KNOCKOFFS?

http://www.crownandcovenant.com/Articles.asp?ID=139

I’m not a proponent of regular worship standards; I think Isaac Watts was wrongly criticized for the changes he brought to worship, which lead to the departure from exclusively using the psalter in worship. I do believe a metrical psalter could be used with music other than 200+ year old hymn tunes. New music could be written for the psalter which could compliment contemporary style and instruments. Contemporary worship music isn’t wrong, but simply one of the biggest blown opportunities. Rather than being used to put on a show, it could be used to reach a new generation.

I do agree that a theological paradigm has been place on contemporary worship, which is man-centered rather than incarnational; inspirational but scripture-weak; Christian without mentioning Christ. It is not new, but was introduced through nineteenth century revivalism. The challenge will be how to reform that paradigm without throwing out contemporary worship with the bath water.

I use the term, “man-centered” lightly, because it can be used to dehumanize worship.

We can be a little positive; there are some very good worship song writers out there who are bringing needed change; but no matter how good Chris Tomlin is, his music can never carry the service. Seminaries need to rediscover the lost art of hermeneutics. Communion, regardless of your view, needs to be treated a needed blessing, rather than a quarterly interruption to the worship schedule. Visual aids are helpful, but they, too, can’t be the meat of the service. A good thing can become nauseating through over-use or misuse.