A challenge to anyone who finds themselves singing a song of Christian worship.
Do not sing another "Christian" word until you know explicitly what it means.
I don't want to hear another "Hallelujah", "Amen", "Bulwark", or anything else along those lines unless you can confidently explain its meaning to another person.
Christian worship is so often (and rightfully so) looked upon with great skepticism by non-Christians. We have a group of people giving in to, what appears to be, mass hysteria and mindless chanting of words including some that, I'm quite sure, at least 50% of the congregation do not understand. I am in no position to judge the position of person's mind and soul, but by observation I would be willing to bet that a surprising portion of the tears, convulsions, and "hallelujahs" are elements of a mass hysteria, more than actual personal interaction with the Almighty. I cannot say that, though, without also saying that I am more than confident that the remainder are real, true, and blessed events.
What I honestly would like to see is an explanation slide (overhead / bulletin insert / announcement) before every song that slips in any of these Christianeze words. I want someone, a person entirely unfamiliar with the Christian church, to be able to walk in to an event and be actually able to understand what is going on. What good is it to them if they don't understand it.
Step by step, we can slowly move ourselves away from the image of a bunch of mindless religious fanatics.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
A challenge
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Remember the bronze snake Moses lifted up in the wilderness to heal the people from the snake bites? The Israelites kept it as a reminder of what God had done but as time passed, it lost its meaning to the people and because that, it was destroyed. Our rituals, songs, prayers, whatever all came about as ways of getting real with God in worship but often as time goes on, the meaning is lost to us and rather than rediscover the old meaning or find new ways to get real with God, we trudge on with our traditions and rituals. A good example of this are our old hymns. We sing them but do we ever stop and think about what the words are saying?
I remember singing "The Old Rugged Cross" during our Easter service last spring and suddenly feeling so broken over the words "..the emblem of suffering and shame." We've glorified the cross and no longer connect the reality of such a horrifying way to die. Ever since that experience, I've tried to always think about the meaning of the words and phrases used in the songs I sing or listen to during worship and incorporate that practice into all my forms of worship. It's helped me maintain the focus and complete honesty that has otherwise been lacking.
You've touched on a very important topic here. Thank you for posting this. :-)
Post a Comment