I hate the term worship wars. It's one thing to bicker about musical style, it's another thing entirely to contrict constrict your view of worship so narrow that it only includes music. But, as cheesing off as that is, that's not what I broke my hobo-blogger silence to write about. Change gears.
If you really look at the underlying motives of the 'worship wars' you will discover that often music is only an external symptom of a deeper problem in the community. Sometimes, however, communities will be functioning just fine and people will be arguing over music perhaps just cause there's nothing better to do or because everyone else seems to be doing it. Change gears again.
Now, I'm not someone who likes to hang blame for anything on race or denomination, and I won't say anything denominationally here, but have you noticed that the 'worship wars' seem to be occuring in primarily white churches? I don't have any evidence to back this up, all I have is personal experience. I have been to several hispanic churches with only one service consisting all ages from infants to the elderly worshipping together to the music of what is essencially a rock band. Is there a voice here crying out against this music calling for a return to tradition? Not in my experience. Instead, there was a loving and close knit community who cared more for each other and for worshipping God than about music. I have been to AME churches where the music has certainly not conformed to the 'traditional' mold some of us WASPs have been harkening back to but also is not 'contemporary' in the way that Sunday morning sounds like what you hear on KPMS (popular music station). I have been to several Messianic Synagogues in which the music doesn't conform to any mold, the congregation comes from all different racial backgrounds and no one complains.
So what is it about white people? Why do we have such a hang up on our music? Seriously! Graahghh! That's it. I'm out of here.
If you really look at the underlying motives of the 'worship wars' you will discover that often music is only an external symptom of a deeper problem in the community. Sometimes, however, communities will be functioning just fine and people will be arguing over music perhaps just cause there's nothing better to do or because everyone else seems to be doing it. Change gears again.
Now, I'm not someone who likes to hang blame for anything on race or denomination, and I won't say anything denominationally here, but have you noticed that the 'worship wars' seem to be occuring in primarily white churches? I don't have any evidence to back this up, all I have is personal experience. I have been to several hispanic churches with only one service consisting all ages from infants to the elderly worshipping together to the music of what is essencially a rock band. Is there a voice here crying out against this music calling for a return to tradition? Not in my experience. Instead, there was a loving and close knit community who cared more for each other and for worshipping God than about music. I have been to AME churches where the music has certainly not conformed to the 'traditional' mold some of us WASPs have been harkening back to but also is not 'contemporary' in the way that Sunday morning sounds like what you hear on KPMS (popular music station). I have been to several Messianic Synagogues in which the music doesn't conform to any mold, the congregation comes from all different racial backgrounds and no one complains.
So what is it about white people? Why do we have such a hang up on our music? Seriously! Graahghh! That's it. I'm out of here.
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