Greg Crawford wrote: >Hillsong has been a prolific supplier of contemporary Christian >music, but most of it in my experience is even shallower than the proverbial >rock pool.
>What worries me more is the possibility that this is not just the thinking of an >isolated sect, but a general characterisation of the majority of younger >generation Christians. Well, Greg, drawing "general characterisations" of a cohort generally goes under the name of stereotyping. It's true that no stereotype works unless it has some observations to support it. But that doesn't make stereotyping - or the various "-isms" that develop from it - a useful basis for discourse. Better to seek out, find and affirm the cases that provide a basis for hope. Where I worship in the evening, we sing a conscience gospel with names of middle-aged writers like Brian Wren, Robin Mann, John Bell, Shirley Erena Murray - along with a slather of work by younger names that are sponsored by events like National Christian Youth Convention. Interestingly, these works of these fairly senior writers are better known to the evening crowd than to our morning congregation, which is still largely bound between the covers of AHB 1977. (Sing Alleluia is there but so inconvenient to carry to your pew with all the other stuff.) When all is said and done, a service that preaches a theologically sound, social justice gospel, and which sings these ideals in the best-crafted hymns, is nothing but a clashing cymbal or a sounding gong if exercised without love. Some of the shallow stuff of Hillsong has connected people around the world, because they are love songs, and everyone understands songs of devotion. Brian Wren has written about the legitimacy of this form, although it's not his style. I don't want to make excuses for the wrong teachings or possible emotional manipulation that could be going on. But let's not be monochromatic in our expression of faith and community, either! David ------------------------------------------------------ - 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 ------------------------------------------------------
