I feel a discussion on worship coming on! James said: "As a 22 yr old I find it really disappointing and frustrating that so many young people are willing to settle for church that is simply as it always has been, just pump up the music and excitement. "As long as it provides the excitement of a mosh pit combined with personal security of being told my place in the world then who cares about the theology and the doctrine I'm being brainwashed with." "
That is an interesting comment. Three things: 1. I guess, in a way, I find it frustrating too. My question would be, what do you want Church to be like? The thing in that comment that I find most frustrating is "...young people are willing to settle...". Peter touched on it in his email also. We say we don't like the things the way they are, but we aren't willing to do anything about it - I have found it in Church, I have found it in cricket clubs. I guess another thing that I find frustrating is that because I, also a 22y/o, 'connect' with a more traditional style of worship, if I step outside my normal worship service my 'preferences' become outdated, invalid and just plain wrong. In the past I tried to bring things that I 'connected' with to a 'contemporary' service and was told unequivically that 'this congregation is not the place for that sort of thing' (and then get into trouble for not contributing to that service...). 2. I think that something we generally handle fairly well in the UCA is that we will not just look at things on face value and will actually use our worship time (and not leave it to small groups) to explore what lies behind things. Having been involved in Baptist Churches for 15 years before going back Uniting, something that I appreciate is to sit down on a Sunday morning/evening and be challenged to explore where my place in the world is, not being told where it is. It is something I try desperately hard to do when I am preaching, even if it is to an 'ageing' congregation. I think that there is something indescribable about getting feedback about how something that God put onto your heart has made others look at things in a new light. 3. Music in Church... I sympathise with your music problems Peter. I am finding Christian music and worship music really depressing at the moment. The opportunities that I have had in the past few months to find out what good 'contemporary' music there is out there have led me back to 'drivel' like Celebrate Jesus, Celebrate (and that was a Good Friday service) and such like, the songs that I was... well... sick of playing three or four years ago. That is why I tend to agree with Rob Hanks, and often use examples from Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly or U2 as musical items rather that trying to find some specifically Christian music. Colin Buchanan is good though. Am I missing something music wise? Finally, back to Australian Idol, Guy has a great opportunity here to do something positive for Jesus Christ, especially in the face of the negative press the Church seems to be giving! I didn't pray for him to win the competition (I was going for the Condo Kid), but I pray now that he might find the right way in which to effectively witness to his faith. Later Wesley ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
