Thanks for this, Jim. You put into words what I have not been able to. Tim was roughly the same age as my sons. My mind keeps going to the "this could have been one of them" scenario. It was certainly the saddest story I have ever had to cover in my writing career, yet at the same time I was so profoundly moved by the solid consistent faith that was on display, especially during the memorial service (which I watched via livestreaming). And the outpouring of solidarity from more than three hundred congregattions (nearly 100,000 people) in setting aside a part of their own worship service, far, far from Ancaster, to lament and stand in faith with the Bosmas and the Ancaster CRC was truly awe-inspiring.
I think we're already seeing the growing chasm between contemporary worship and traditional worship being played out intergenerationally. At a recent funeral, teens and early 20s attenders did not know any of the hymns, and at graveside could not recite the Apostle's creed. After hundreds of years of hymns being inter-generational, we seem to be reaching a time when songs that those in their 30s know are different songs from the 20-somethings, and different still with the teens. Never mind the hymns that only the 40s and over know. There is no continuity or shared experience, it seems.
The contemporary songs today that have depth in both words and music will stick, and the rest will be sung for a year or two and die away. That is not new. When we all sang out of the same hymnal, the songs with depth and sing-a-bility were sung often and the ones that were difficult, dull, or whatever, were sang so seldom that many were dropped from subsequent versions of the hymnal.
I welcome new songs that are theological sound and meant to be sung by a congregation, not a performer. So I wouldn't classify myself as only weeping over the change, and as for resources for making wise choices, I would say Sing A New Creation would be a good start as opposed to introducing every new song that comes down the pike just because someone on a praise team likes it.
However, if one is in a congregation where contemporary is "in" and an occasional hymn is only thrown in for the "old folks" then the whole conversation about resources and what we can learn is moot.
Posted in: CRC Church Order Commentary
I've got my order in ....
Posted in: Current Issues
I wouldn't be bored if you listed more!
Posted in: We Believe. Help Our Unbelief.
Thanks for this, Jim. You put into words what I have not been able to. Tim was roughly the same age as my sons. My mind keeps going to the "this could have been one of them" scenario. It was certainly the saddest story I have ever had to cover in my writing career, yet at the same time I was so profoundly moved by the solid consistent faith that was on display, especially during the memorial service (which I watched via livestreaming). And the outpouring of solidarity from more than three hundred congregattions (nearly 100,000 people) in setting aside a part of their own worship service, far, far from Ancaster, to lament and stand in faith with the Bosmas and the Ancaster CRC was truly awe-inspiring.
Posted in: Living in a Time of Radical Change
I think we're already seeing the growing chasm between contemporary worship and traditional worship being played out intergenerationally. At a recent funeral, teens and early 20s attenders did not know any of the hymns, and at graveside could not recite the Apostle's creed. After hundreds of years of hymns being inter-generational, we seem to be reaching a time when songs that those in their 30s know are different songs from the 20-somethings, and different still with the teens. Never mind the hymns that only the 40s and over know. There is no continuity or shared experience, it seems.
The contemporary songs today that have depth in both words and music will stick, and the rest will be sung for a year or two and die away. That is not new. When we all sang out of the same hymnal, the songs with depth and sing-a-bility were sung often and the ones that were difficult, dull, or whatever, were sang so seldom that many were dropped from subsequent versions of the hymnal.
I welcome new songs that are theological sound and meant to be sung by a congregation, not a performer. So I wouldn't classify myself as only weeping over the change, and as for resources for making wise choices, I would say Sing A New Creation would be a good start as opposed to introducing every new song that comes down the pike just because someone on a praise team likes it.
However, if one is in a congregation where contemporary is "in" and an occasional hymn is only thrown in for the "old folks" then the whole conversation about resources and what we can learn is moot.