Those praise songs

A few weeks ago I visited a church.  They combine their worship services for the summer and every other week the worship team or choir leads in worship.  The week I went it was the worship team. They were good, I knew the songs and sang along.

During the sermon the Pastor made a comment about singing "praise choruses" (which is ancient wording but I digress) and hymns at the beginning of the service.  A lady in the row in front of me quickly leaned over and said to her husband "we didn't sing any hymns!".  I automatically labeled her as part of the crowd that can't stand "Those praise songs".  I had to apologize (in my head) later when I realized she was probably of the opposite crowd.  The Pastor was unaware of all this happening and continued to use his illustration of praise songs and hymns in the sermon.  He was making the point that we all have a frame of reference when it comes to certain things in life.  We operate out of what we know. 

The Pastor talked about going to a meeting with church leaders and having a discussion about the type of music that is used during the service.  He asked the leaders "Where do you get your music from?"  The answer was awesome.  The church leaders said "We have a bunch of people here who have never heard hymns.  They didn't grow up in church, they don't have that background.  So they wrote songs using the style of music that they know."  They operate out of what they know.

Now, I've been in on the debates about Hymns versus Praise songs.  I, personally, have no problem with praise songs.  I grew up singing hymns, I can sing hymns in harmony without batting an eyelash, but I really prefer praise songs. They sound like the songs that I listened to as a teenager.  They meet me where I am.  Some of the lyrics to praise songs are inane...some of them just sound wrong when I'm in a funky frame of mind (see the chorus to "I'm trading my sorrows") but let's take a good look at some of the hymns and their lyrics and I'm willing to bet that there are inane and kind wrong sounding hymns out there as well. 


Praise songs vs. Hymns has been one of the biggest issues in the Church in the last decade or two and as I mull over the conversation between the church leaders as outlined above, I'm wondering if the issue isn't really about the style of music or the lyrics or the beat or the drums, guitar, bass and keyboards.  I'm wondering if the issue really is about new people coming in the door and suddenly changing things to so that the church operates as they are used to, as opposed to operating the way that the long-term tenants know and are familiar with.  I think that's probably closer to the truth.  Instead of coming into the church and becoming like everyone else in there, this new crowd came in and changed things up, operating out of what they know. 

Change is hard.  The reality is, though, that the Church must embrace some changes in order to be making a difference in this world.  Allowing gifted people to write songs out of their knowledge and understanding of God in the style that they are familiar with is a one way of opening the doors to the church and saying "Come on in, you are welcome".  It's simple and yet so complex.