Tuesday, August 14, 2007

sacred cows

I was talking with a friend of mine last week when he mentioned, "well once the Vineyard systematically eliminates worship from the service..."

huh? First of all I'm assuming he means singing...and not worship. I think we get in the habit of thinking singing = worship and vice versa...

So I asked him if he was talking about dropping the music from 23 minutes to 20 - they sometimes go 20 and sometimes go 25...but there's always a discussion about what the sweet spot actually is.

He said, "no, I'm talking about dropping it to zero minutes"

That's something that just won't ever happen. Clearly the folks running the show would say that worshipping God through songs is their "pathway" - so that's not just going to disappear any time soon....so I pressed in.

It turns out that he'd heard some scuttlebutt about the possibility of a service with no music!!!

One time.

Just to see if they could use the same time to figure out if there are other ways to focus in on God, other than music. Could we do it through art? drama? video?

It was so ingrained in my friend that music HAD to be a part of the service, that the idea of not having music at even one service was the equivalent of taking down the cross from the front of the sanctuary.

I should mention that we have more of an auditorium....and there isn't really a cross in there either.

You could see people debating the -no cross up front thing for hours. The thing is, those people wouldn't go to my church...because there's no cross. Obviously if that was a huge deal - you would go elsewhere, right?

So that's not a hangup, but having one service without music is sacrilege?

I should also mention that the one service without music thing probably won't even happen. It's just part of one of those conversations that start with, "so what are some things we can do that will help people engage with the God of the Universe in a slightly different way?"

well that'll be the last time that happens...

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:38 AM

    wow. you just used the word "scuttlebutt" in your blog! 12 pts.

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  2. Anonymous10:15 AM

    A nun choir director in high school told us that praying to God was walking to God..but SINGING was RUNNING to God....
    I raised my hand and said "I just want to SKIP to God"...
    my knuckles can still feel the sting...

    Seriously, I vote for 12 minutes of music but can you get talented musicians to do that for just 12 minutes?

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  3. anything (worship, coffee, running, movies, sports, video games, etc.) without music is sacrilege. says the musician. :)

    seriously, i wonder from time to time what would be helpful in getting people to understand that worship isn't about us and our preferences/hang-ups. of course, i include myself fully in the 'people' i just mentioned. :)

    ps: peggy's question is a good one. i always feel a little weird asking musicians to play when we have shorter than usual sets (we do about 15-20 minutes of music usually). of course i know of a large church that has some of the best musicians in town, and they put hours of prep into what comes to not usually more than 10-12 minutes of music per service (about 4 services, so 40-48 minutes of stage time). so who knows...
    pps: it was great to see you and annie last week!

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  4. i love st. augustine's quote (others have paraphrased it)

    "true worship is sacrifice".

    i think the most worshipful time of the service is actuall the offering if people truly understand what worship is. it's not singing about loving and trusting God... it's actually doing it right where it usually hurts the most, our pocketbooks. this coming from a musician also. i love singing, and it does allow me to experience the presence of God, but that's not worship... worship is showing God that i love and trust Him.

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  5. of course there are many others ways of showing God our love and trust... the offering is just the really obvious one in the service.

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