Blessed Assurance:
Fallout from Contemporary Worship
Monte Nabors
The death of two elder statesmen, one a religious leader and the
other a politician, caused me to reflect on the way some
in the contemporary evangelical church respond to the older
generation.
The director of an assisted living center received a late night phone
call informing her that one of her residents had passed away. He
was a kind and gentle soul, a retired minister. Later the same
morning I learned about the care givers at the assisted living center
who had dropped by the dying minister’s room to express their love and
say their goodbyes. One of the care givers, a person with musical
talent, had been coming into the clergyman’s room each morning and
singing, “Blessed Assurance”.
The next day, the morning news carried the story
that the “lion of the Senate," Ted Kennedy, had died. I
switched from TV channel to channel catching all of the stories about
this man’s career and life. The accolades were many. His
contributions were recognized and applauded.
Later I reflected on those two deaths and the
respect that was shown these two leaders. I found myself quietly
singing the hymn Blessed Assurance. I had grown up with the old hymns of the church.
They called me to respond with faithfulness and helped shape my
understanding of the Christian faith. Many times during great personal
crises their words and music would flood my mind and renew my spirit.
Even in the loneliness of my struggle, hymns would give me a sense of
Christian community as they connected me with Sunday worship, and with
God.
And then I began to reflect on the trends in
worship today. There is generally a conspicuous absence of any of
the old hymns. If "traditional" hymns are sung during a
contemporary service of worship they are usually presented in a style
that fails to connect with anyone who has grown up with them.
A thought, which seemed to come from deep within my
emotional center, took shape in my mind. In many evangelical
churches today there is a near total disregard for the spiritual well being of
those whose life journey has brought them to the time of testing that is
common with aging.
We have determined to reach the "next generation," which is a worthy
commitment. Yet in the process we have become so preoccupied,
perhaps even so obsessed, with that task that the generation before are too often not considered important in the
ministry and life of the church. Their spiritual welfare is often
marginalized and their desires for songs and expressions of faith that
speak to them are too often ridiculed as "old fashioned." If their needs are
acknowledged it is done so in a condescending way by segregating them
into their own gray-hair "traditional" service. Such contemporary
expressions of the church are obscene expressions of the church-grown
"homogeneous unit" principle that was popularized in the church growth
movement a generation ago.
We sometimes refer to this as "worship wars," as if there are two (or
more) sides fighting with each other. I don’t think it is a war at
all. I think it is a cry for help from those who have been marginalized.
It is a cry from a drowning person seeking a life saver, a known anchor
in the midst of life’s final great battles.
To older Christians, contemporary worship with no acknowledgement of
their own historical tradition, often feels like a spiritual mugging. I wonder why the church cannot minister
to an entire multi-generational family. Have our theological resources
failed us? Or does the fault lie more in our own failures? Is it because we have for so long, divided our worship and
church experience into children and adult groupings? Perhaps we
are reaping what we have sown! Perhaps the adults who didn’t want
the distractions of youngsters in their adult services are now the
seniors who are being ignored by those grown children. And as the
children become young adult they no longer have the ability to worship
within the context of a whole community of people. Are both groups
handicapped to being only with those who are like themselves?
I only know that as one who is getting older, and whose spiritual
memory is no longer found in much of the church’s contemporary worship
experience, I can understand older folks who have lost their desire to
attend the church of their youth. Community that is
single faceted is not community at all. Failure to bridge all
generations, ethnic peoples, and groups reflects a loss of compassionate
caring, and raises questions about the very nature of the Church as a
diverse yet unified Body of Christ (Rom 12:3-18, 1 Cor 10:17, 12:12-26,
Eph 4:1-6). Such failure is simply Christian cultural narcissism.
Functionally, it is shunning, an earlier form of religious
excommunication.
It is not about
music and worship style. It is about Christian love, respect, and
community. It is about living out in practical ways what it means
to be a community of Faith.
O Lord, forgive us for our failures to be your people, authentically
and completely. Teach us what it means to be a family of God, a
people of God, the Body of Christ.
-Monte Nabors, Copyright ©
2009, Monte Nabors
and CRI/Voice -
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