I don't pretend to know nearly as much about the heart of the contemporary form of worship, so I speak as an observer rather than an insider. But I must say that I have been blessed, impressed and challenged on many occasions while being around those who are immersed in the contemporary worship. I make it a habit to cultivate relationships with young people who are passionate for Christ. I have been around many on mission trips, in youth services, and at large gatherings. Their worship is honest, genuine, heart-felt and demonstrative. For them, worship is less about the community gathering and more about a personal encounter with the Spirit of God during worship. They are passionate about their music and the effect that it causes in them during the worship experience.
Once again, I am more of an observer and I welcome correction of my observations, but it appears to me that the "singability" of the song or even a knowledge of the words is less important than having the song in the air creating the atmosphere that ushers them into the presence of God. Standing, arms uplifted, eyes closed, this worship experience seems to close in around the individual and there is no hurry for those involved to move on to other elements of the service. If the song goes on, no problem. If the words are not entirely known, no worry. It is present, and the worshipper has an exclusive audience with their Lord.
Two other major differences from traditional worship exist: New songs are introduced regularly, and the quality of the musicians and vocalists is usually quite good whether there is an entire worship band or just one person with an acoustic guitar. Today's contemporary worship leaders are quite gifted creatively and musically. The chords are different, the rythymns are different, and the phrasing is different and this is the major source of conflict with those who prefer the traditional songs. Just as a new song begins to become familiar, it goes away in favor of a new song, hence the charge that the new songs have no "staying power". I answer this charge by saying that as this is a fairly new genre of music, it is going through an explosively creative era and there is a constant weeding out of the songs which will not endure. The songs in our hymnals represent only a fraction of the songs written during that era, but only the hymnal songs made the cut. Since they are published in a book and the others have vanished, it gives the illusion that the songwriters of that era wrote only classics. But many of the songs written decades ago had no staying power. Forty years from now, a hundred or so songs from this era will still be known. Prediction- Shout To The Lord will make the cut; I Went Into The Enemy's Camp will not.
The potential shortcomings of contemporary worship is the opposite of those of traditional worship. Rather than becoming dry and formalistic, the contemporary form lends itself to the potential of narcissism, and the constant chasing after the new and fresh. This reveling in the individual experience can result in a prideful, self-righteous spirit that dismisses the perceived lack of spirituality of the older set. We disregard the community of the believers at our own peril.
I do envy the passion and emotion that our young worshippers display during the worship service. There is something simple and profound in the individual experience. An old hymn describes being "shut in with God in a secret place" and I see that in the worship experience of the contemporary worshipper. We old guys can learn a lot about appreciating the "fresh" and being more concerned about connecting with God than with how many times we sing the chorus.
Tomorrow I will attempt to propose how we can all worship in the same room.
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