I didn’t realize people who believe the KJV is the only inspired Word of God still existed! I should have known better. I saw this banner today at lunch. I remember visiting a KJV only church years ago when I was in college – they had a tract as you walked in that had a picture of a guy holding an NIV Bible… falling into the pit of hell.
It’s a strange world of worship these days when you market your church as traditional. It is a market niche, and I’ll bet they get a lot of (cranky) people.
Saddleback pastor Rick Warren has stirred up controversy with his recent comments about supposedly building bridges to Muslims.
Matthew Starner, Director of Worship & Arts at Journey of Faith in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has a few ideas for selecting quality worship songs:
There are times when I look at the traditional church and think to myself that they might be onto something.
Just think about how it works for us Lutherans: At the synodical level, a group of musicians, pastors and theologians come together to review hymns, approve them, catalog them by theme, scripture and season and assemble them into a hymnal, complete with a guide for which hymns to use on each Sunday of the church year. They do all the heavy lifting and now the local church music director has a large batch of appropriate hymns from which to choose – often as many as 800!
For those of us not primarily using hymns or the hymnal as our primary source of music, all that work gets moved to the desk of the local church music director. For those of you out there like me who are charged with finding good worship songs, here’s some pointers that I try to keep in mind.
Matt Guevara of the Cory Center for Children’s Ministry talks about finding worship music that will keep children engaged:
Here’s what to listen for:
Action. Does the music move you? Is the rhythm and sound so catchy that it will get a 4th grade boy up out of his chair? I do not think every worship song requires actions, but songs that promote it are helpful.
Instruments. Children have defined musical tastes. They like to hear a band. Most children’s music does not sound anything like the kind of music from TV Shows children enjoy.
Open your software of choice. Add the lyrics. Play.
So is the preparation of the typical church using lyrics presentation software. It works. The lyrics are on screen and God is sung to and about. But what if a few simple treatments could be applied between “Add the lyrics” and “Play” to take these good presentations and turn them into great presentations?
Praise God “what if” is a reality. Here are a few things to try. Continue reading.
Tyler Braun writes that worship wars might be a good thing:
Someone asked me recently what the current discussions were surrounding the “worship wars.” I told him that I honestly thought, despite there being pockets where this war was ongoing, the war (especially in the western US) is over. For those of you in the dark on this, the worship wars are essentially church disagreements over the musical style used in worship. Typically it is a fight between traditional hymns and contemporary choruses being used during church-wide gatherings.
Yes, I truly believe the worship wars are over.
But I don’t believe this is 100% a good thing. Continue reading.
By DAN SEWELL
Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners pressed for time or reluctant to come inside the church for the Lenten observance.
The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati offered the ashes Wednesday evening for people of all faiths beginning around 5 p.m. in the church parking lot. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, which concludes after 40 days with the celebration of Easter, and the faithful traditionally have a smudged cross drawn on their forehead.
Bridget Spitler, the church’s secretary and building manager, said the church had received a lot of positive feedback for offering the drive-thru ashes.
“Some people may not be too comfortable coming in for a serious service,” she said, adding that people with severe arthritis or other ailments that make attending the service uncomfortable also appreciate the drive-thru opportunity.
The pastor will provide a church brochure and a Lenten booklet, and the church offers a traditional Ash Wednesday service inside at 7 p.m.
It’s a first at her church, but some other churches have also taken more-informal approaches to the ashes. There’s even a Web site called Ashes to Go.
The Rev. Teresa K.M. Danieley of St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis said the ecumenical effort began in 2007, with ashes given to some 100 passers-by outside a coffeehouse. The practice has spread, with clergy members offering ashes outside commuter trains, at bus stops and on street corners around the country.
“Ashes to Go can be a powerful way for people to encounter Christ where they are, in the midst of their lives,” she says on the website.
Cincinnati Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said for the Cincinnati region’s many Roman Catholics, getting ashes still calls for attending a service.
Some Cincinnati area Catholics might be taking part in another Lenten tradition: McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches were pioneered in Cincinnati in the early 1960s by a franchisee, the late Lou Groen, who was trying to offset business being lost when Catholics abstained from eating meat on Fridays.
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