"Contemporary" Worship

I like to do a lot of thinking about music in The Church and how it is used and utilized in the context of worship. My prayer throughout seminary is that as I learn and grow, my interpretation of music in worship might grow and create new shape as well.

I have a lot of thoughts. Not all of them are well organized (including this one). I won't share all of them now either.

As I was sitting in rehearsal this evening for worship on Sunday, I did some more thinking about the songs we choose, how we learn them, how we sing them, the role that instruments play, and the general approach.

The church that I am leading at currently refers to all songs used in celebration (new or old) as hymns. Coming from a culture and background that runs (no, really...sometime that is literal) from the use of the word "hymn", I found that pretty interesting.  Because we have a smaller crowd during the summer, we have been meeting in a smaller room than normal.  That means a few things, but mostly it means that the lyrics to the songs are printed on a sheet that everyone reads off of.

The former worship leader (his last Sunday is this Sunday) made a comment to one of our team members (the one who puts together the bulletin each Sunday) tonight that it might be good to figure out a way to put the sheet music (at least melody and lyrics) in a smaller form on the page.  You know, like a version of a hymnal.  His point, and it's probably a good one, is that with a new song, it might be nice for people to see the melody along with the text.

One of the things that I try to do in almost every instance is to figure out a way to present a new song that can teach the congregation the melody.  Once they grasp hold of the melody of the Chorus, then they have a home.  They'll be a little lost throughout the verses, but when we return to the Chorus, they'll be home again.  After all, it's a nice feeling to feel comfortable in the midst of the unknown.

Something occurred to me though.  Most of America's Christians grew up singing from books (called hymnals).  At some point, when it became cool and necessary to do so, we moved away from this.  The youth did it first, at least in my experience.  Instead of everyone having a hymnal, they had a transparency (real creative name) that had a copy of the hymn on it.  Then they read it off the wall from an overhead projector.  But the grown ups had more money.  They invested in a projector.  Like, seriously, a nice projector.  And they started using a program called Microsoft PowerPoint (remember when Microsoft was innovative?).  Yes, it required some coordination, a little setup, and someone in the back to press the space bar at the end of each slide, but it just seemed cooler than holding a book and it looked better than a black and white transparency.

So, as music changed, people weren't reading melodies anymore. The songs got a little easier to pick up on, the melodies simpler, and sometimes...the lyrics less involved (oh snap, I said it).

How did this all work? Well, sound systems made it easier to follow a leader and a rock band made it seem cooler.

Here's the thing though...music lost it's sense of...organization.  Don't get me wrong, today's worship music is organized VERY well, but it is all behind the scenes.  Without a sheet of music to read, congregations were less aware of how many times a chorus or refrain were repeated and were less aware of how a song was laid out. This allowed a sense of...creativity.  We were no longer following the organist who was simply playing through the four part harmonies.  The music got a little more complex, and a little more rudimentary at the same time.

Here's my point.  Because all of this happened, the music required something of the listener, it required their ear.  In order to pick up on a song, they must do a couple of things: 1)listen 2)follow 3)learn by ear.  They could no longer just read, there had to be some sort of thought put into the process.  If you wanted to participate, you had to figure it out.

We haven't really seen this much creativity and thought from so many (meaning...not just the composer) in music in worship since early church music.  We haven't seen this type of use of "the ear" since Gregorian Chant.  You may not agree, but I really think it is true.

The Pros:

  • Creativity
  • More participation
  • Easier to recreate (a lot of Guitar players can play G, C, and D, not as many people could play the organ)
  • Developed a sense of "ear" moreso than reading harmonies from a hymnal
  • Made the church more approachable for first time visitors

The Cons:

  • Wasn't as "High Church" as we were all used to
  • Made hymnals all but obsolete to these services
  • Made it very possible for the average Christian never learn to read music
  • Created riffs in many congregations
  • Made it possible to attend church and not participate
  • Made writing music for the Church a commercialized thing (think Willow Creek, Chris Tomlin, CCLI, copyright infringement)

I think it has changed the Church. Mostly for the better. Most of the cons listed above are due to closed minded thinking.

Although that is just how I see it.

More to come on these ideas in the future.

-B

Courage and Love in a Complicated World

Julio Diaz was mugged when getting off the subway on his way home. The way he handled it will touch your heart. Victim Treats His Mugger Right

Honestly, I didn't believe this story at first. I read it once, listened to the recording of him explaining it, and read it again. Incredible story of caring, courage, love, and the ability to see potential in another person who may not see it in themselves.

My only question is, if the mugger had not been a child, if he had been older, how would Julio have reacted? Would he have maintained the same courage? Would he have still given him some money?

Julio's NPR picture is below.

-B

Judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character

My wife has begun a Gluten Free diet and so because of that, choosing meals and preparing them has become a whole new challenge.

Inevitably, we ran out of enough food to prepare anything for dinner, and of course, we didn't realize this until late in the evening. To her credit, she did try a gluten free pizza crust, but I can vouch for its disgustingness.

So, because we didn't want to spend the cost of gas to head to Harris Teeter (our equivalent of Publix, or as close as your can get) we headed to Food Lion right up the road. We drove up, parked, and walked toward the entrance. To the right of the entrance, there were three African American men and a White man sitting on some boxes outside the store.

I did what many privileged Americans do, tried not to make eye contact.

But I heard one of the guys scream "Hey Sir, I got a question!". I looked up and noticed that he was actually yelling toward a guy walking OUT of Food Lion. The guy immediately responded, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry".

To which the other guy responded. "Its just a second..." So the guy (probably good to mention that he was a young, white, college aged guy with his girlfriend) said, "Im in a hurry, but what?"

Now would be a proper time to explain that the guy sitting outside the Food Lion was what some refer to as...sketch. His friends didn't exactly look inviting and they were hanging out...outside a Food Lion.

So the (presumably homeless) guy responds by motioning toward himself and saying "come here!". You guessed it, the other guy wasn't budging. He just turned toward his car and repeated, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry". It was at this point that I became even more intrigued.

The (presumably homeless) guy said "Are you really that scared of me?" with a tone that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. Allison ran toward the entrance.

I think they exchanged some more words and the college guy walked off.

As we were checking out, two of the men that were hanging outside were inside the store, by the door...eyes bloodshot. It was really clear that they were looking and waiting for someone to leave. The cashier didn't say a word to them.

As you can imagine, Allie and I picked our exit carefully. We checked out, headed straight toward the car and tried not to look around.

Listen, I try not to judge by race. I really consider myself to be one who gives as many people a chance as possible. I give thanks to my parents, family, and friends for raising me to give people the benefit of the doubt and "judge by the content of character rather than the color of skin".

However, I cannot blame the guy who walked away AT ALL. When placing myself in the same situation, I wouldn't have even looked up. Was he really that scared? I'm not sure. Was I that scared? Yes. Was it the color of his skin? Maybe. Was it where he was? Yes. Was it an alarming of a situation to begin with? Yes. Was it the fact that he said couldn't ask the question from a distance, that he needed the other guy to come closer? Most definitely.

It reminded me of this.

It had What Would You Do? written all over it.

I was fine with the situation until the guy asked "Are you really that scared?". He had no right to say that. Was he playing the race/homeless card? I thought so.

I thought to myself, what would my grandfather have done? My grandfather is a very kind and loving man, but he looks upon other groups of people who aren't like him...differently than perhaps you and I do. Is this the type of attitude that leads to the homeless being looked down upon? Is this the type of attitude that just reenforces racism? Is this the kind of attitude (that of the homeless man) that leads to terrible, dumb, stupid emails spreading virally? I think so.

Again, why couldn't he just ask his question from a distance?

It was a daunting experience, and I doubt that we will ever return to Food Lion because of it.

To add to the night, we had one more experience that just rounded it out. On the way home, we dropped by Wendy's because Food Lion had nothing Allie was interested in. The lady that took the drive-thru order, Hispanic who barely spoke English. Making the whole ordering process rather difficult. The man who gave us the food was from somewhere in the middle east with a rough accent that made it very hard to understand when he tried to explain something. Not to mention, we got off without straws or spoons.

I try very hard not to judge based on race. But situations like this make it hard. I mean, I can see where the extreme racists get it. It's not fair either. Its not fair to the country, it's not fair to the people, it's not fair to the culture.

People who are different than us scare us. People who make situations difficult just because they are trying and cant keep up make it frustrating. People who use the fact that they've been treated differently to be a martyr in a new situation make it darn near impossible.

I guess it has to call on us all a little more to try a little harder.

-B

UPDATE: Women in Ministry

Silly me, I didn't do a whole lot of research before I posted the clip. As far as I can tell, this is the General Assembly of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN).  Think Lee University.

They met in Orlando, FL late last month.

I have posted a question on the youtube video to ask the owner what resolution this was and I'll be waiting for a reply.

According to Wikipedia and Religious Tolerance, The Church of God (Cleveland, TN) started ordaining women in 1909.

This clip doesn't appear to be a conversation that a church who has ordained women for 100 years would be having.

I have looked up and down their website looking for a statement, finding none.  If you can find it, let me know.

Regardless, this man is still ridiculous.

Women in Ministry

I've been behind on my JesusNeedsNewPR reading recently.  Props to my good friend Rob Tucker for pointing this one out. For those who don't read Matthew Paul Turner's blog, give this video a watch.  It's sickening.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1NTQYk9dfM]

Matthew Paul Turner went on a little rant on it at his blog.

Here's the thing: It's 2010 out in the world. Gays and Lesbians are fighting for marriage rights. We carry phones in our pockets that are really mini computers. Our president is an African-American. We had a woman run with a real chance of winning.  We can literally get on the internet anywhere in the world from our phones(you just can't make phone calls). If we want a new album or movie, we can buy it...without thinking twice.  The President Tweets (although it's mostly a 20-soomething intern).

And you know, the UMC has been ahead of the game in many ways with Women's rights.  Women have been encouraged and supported in ordained ministry since 1956. That was before we stopped using the word "colored" to describe those whose ancestors we enslaved.

The conservative churches are so far behind.  And they're probably going to stay there, because of their principles. Make no mistake, they want to stay there. And they may be making a good point, maybe The Church shouldn't be all about following the culture.

But I don't consider equal rights for those called to serve God..."following the culture".

I think of it as expanding the Kingdom.

-B

What will save The Church?

One of my main goals in life is to see that this church thing gets figured out. I heard a stat not long ago that 20% of United Methodist Churches in the Florida Annual Conference were growing.

Wow. Pretty cool.

Wait a second, that means that 80% of UMC churches in the Florida Annual Conference are either maintaining or dying.

That can't be right. However, when I quoted it to others, they didn't even blink.  It was like..."Yeah, duh, that's true".

Given, people (bodies) aren't the only way to judge the effectiveness of The Church, but it's often a good indicator of how we're doing. More People = Doing Something Right. Less People = What's Going Wrong?

Again, generally.

I couldn't find a source for it (and still can't) but if this is true....something is ridiculously wrong.

I then heard someone else say (seriously less than a month ago) that the contemporary music movement might save The Church.

Really?  I mean, I can see saying that ten years ago.  But to be honest, contemporary music may have brought in more people, but it doesn't appear to be saving The Church (I use the capitals purposefully.  Perhaps I'll write a blog on why later).  And this is coming from someone who believes in contemporary worship more than anything. And someone who practices it regularly.

Here's the thing:  Music is not going to save The Church.

What do I think is going to save The Church? Disciples.

-B

Hope for Tomorrow

My friend Rob Tucker reblogged (can that be used instead of ReTweet?!) my post of the clips for young United Methodists interested in pursuing ordained ministry. He also said that he felt a bit discouraged.

However, no one can say that I am cynical because I found this part to be especially inspiring(sorry about the audio...this was my third try):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvyLNQnkypc]

Keep your head up TuckTuck. It is going to work out for you.

-B

PS - Once again, the clips can be found here.

PSS - I wrote the professor featured here an email to let her know how inspiring I thought her words were.  I hope she replies.

UMC Young Clergy

A few interesting sets of clips. "It was really frustrating when the mentors would disagree with each other or not be on the same page as what next to do....can we streamline it?...just listen to those around you and hope we're all on the same page."

-Candidacy Process Clip.

Hmmmm. I hope linking to this page doesn't get me into trouble.

Praise God I have a great mentor.

-B

What Would You Do?

Before I moved from Lakeland, I found a show that had originally aired in May on my ABC app for iPad. It's called "What Would You Do?" The show is hosted by John Quinones (please forgive the lack of tilde over his name) and you can think of it as a societal experiment disguised as Candid Camera.  The idea is to create some awkward situations that would either require or call for input to resolve a situation from an outside source.  The show is mind-boggling.  I end up in tears every episode.

Typically the show covers both significant and seemingly insignificant situations.  Anything from an annoying cell phone user in a restaurant, to extreme racial profiling, to a cashier in a convenient store who lies to a customer who won the lottery just to pocket their winnings.  They do some interesting studies regarding how people react to different races and genders and then Quinones conducts an interview (often emotional) with the person who intervened to solve a problem.

Tonight, they opened up with a topic that I found extreme.  Polygamy.  They set up at a restaurant and had a family of actors to be the man and three of his wives.  They were all dressed in the typical conservative clothing you might expect from those involved in the Fundamental sect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The catch to the situation is that there was another female at the table who made it clear that she was 15 and was to be married to the older man on the next day. The experiment was to see who in the restaurant might step in when the young girl makes it clear that she is not in support of the marriage

As someone who has visited the mainstream sites of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints in Utah, and someone who knows that Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states, it was hard to watch this...even knowing it was all fake.

The hardest part was seeing how many people did not speak up.  The family created a scene at the table as the girl began to cry because she "wasn't ready to be married at 15".  She was a minor, being forced into a polygamist lifestyle and how many people spoke up? 4.  Out of 100 who witnessed it over several days. 4% of witnesses did anything to try to rescue the girl.

However, with the ABC crew was a lady who left a polygamist sect after being married at 14.  The best part was seeing her interact with the people who did speak up after the fact.  Here was someone who had been in the very situation thanking those who she wished had stepped into her life. Enough to bring a grown man to tears.

Perhaps we should all think about stepping in while observing someone else's time of need.  It's a lesson that I need to learn for sure.

-B

UPDATE: To those who might like to learn more about the show and view episodes, you can do so here.

UPDATE #2: Thanks to Amanda Glickman, I now know that John Quinones is a Lambda Chi Alpha. I knew I liked him.

Capitalism and the Church

This is a long one, so buckle in. Tonight NBC aired a special Dateline hosted by Ann Curry about how the poor in our country have been affected by what they deemed "The Great Recession".  No matter what my parents say about Curry's reporting style, I do think she has a heart for the unmet needs of many in the world.  Besides, I really enjoy her photography.

If you have an opportunity, I would strongly encourage you to watch it or at least catch yourself up on the story (see link above).

I enjoy NBC news reporting because I think it's about the only thing that NBC has going for it nowadays, given current competition.

Curry made a good point in an interview about how much of the reporting on this recession has been about how the economy has affected both the middle class and upper class, but not much about how the recession has affected those in extreme poverty.  She also references a Duke University (Go Blue Devils!) study that 22% of American children are currently living in poverty.  That's up 5% over the last four years.

Watching it, I found myself thinking what many blessed, selfish Americans were thinking.  Many of the people she is interviewing don't seem educated.  They don't speak or present themselves in a manner that would make me say, "I need to hire you".  Many of them had an abundance of children.  One girl seemed like a talented singer, was a straight A student, but had given birth to two children before she dropped out of high school.  Curry asked her if they had taught her in high school about birth control. She said they had but that mistakes happen.

All this time, I had a flashback to Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story".  Say what you want about Moore, he hit the nail on the head with this film. More on the film in a second.

See, I grew up in a weird situation.  My family is relatively southern (I guess as southern as a Florida cracker can be), some of them are old fashioned, and a few of them are old mannered.  Some of them are even stuck in an old way of thinking.

I was taught from an early age to work hard, not give up, rely on my talents and abilities, and make the people you work for never regret a penny they paid (payed?) you. And I was blessed, I was given a great brain, some fantastic talents, and a family that nurtured me, encouraged me, and went extremely out of their way to make sure that I succeeded.  But I'm not like these people in this special.

Back to Capitalism.  Moore kept making the point throughout the film that Capitalism seemed to work throughout the mid 1900's.  We had won a gigantic war, our economy looked killer compared to Europe's and we kept being told this story that if we worked hard, we made the money, we could have a comfortable life. Steve Jobs explains the basic concept really well here. The best product wins.

Moore made the point that big companies got greedy.  Ruined the unions.  Outsourced jobs. Destroyed the economy.  This is all pretty true.

But, I come to the realization that Capitalism may not be working from another angle.

If the best product wins, then there has to be a loser.  For me to win, someone has to lose.  That's the way the world  and the market works.

And so, we end up with the uneducated, those who made bad decisions, those who didn't have natural talents, and those that haven't worked 100% all of the time being on the losing end of things.  They live in poverty.  And they have children.  And the children are like their parents. Because it becomes a fight to survive on a daily basis, very little innovation or dreaming gets done by them. The world progresses, and they don't.

America is faced with a situation that Capitalism didn't take care of. If we are humans, who have any sense of humanity, what do we do with those who lose?  What do we do with those who can't seem to get an upper hand?  Well, the government creates programs. But those are met with strong opposition.  Because the job market is so privatized, the jobs are extremely difficult to simply "create".  Those that "lost" have it worse than we thought.

My good friend  and one of the greatest talents of all time (at least I like to think of him as a good friend, because I think he would have been my friend if we had known each other, and it's the only way to bring me comfort to the fact that he is gone) Rich Mullins said this about the church and its relation to society (starting at 1:16 on the YouTube link):

I don't believe that God chose you and blessed you so that you could heap those blessings up upon yourself. I believe God chose you and you and you and every one of you others, because He wants to make a difference in this world. And you know what? What I think is scary about God is He didn't come up with any 'plan B.' That He left the church here, and the church is the only group of people and the church is the only institution in the world that can bring about a change. This government cannot do it, so stop depending on the government. Educational systems cannot do it, so stop trusting educational systems. The church was chosen by God to make a difference.

If the church that I'm a part of is not the church that he describes here, I don't want any part of it.

The church, all of us-as a whole, is for the losers.

-B

Yelp! for Christians

My good friend Ashley started a blog when she moved out to Los Angeles. She is incredibly talented and pursuing a career in acting.  For now, she meets a lot of famous people. I thought about calling this blog "Bryant in Ra-Ra Land" but it just didn't seem to work. (Im kidding, obviously)  But it is a new experience for me, to move to a place that isn't within driving distance of either one of our parents.

Allison and I are new to the Raleigh, NC area and I've already been blessed with an opportunity to lead worship in a nearby town of Cary, NC at a new church start.  However, one of the things that Allie and I have missed is the opportunity to actually go to church.

So, because we are committed at this church on Sunday mornings, we thought it would be fun to "church shop" on Saturday nights or Sunday nights.  Besides, it is fun for me to explore other churches and see what is going on in this area.

Now, Steve Jobs said a few months back when he introduced iAds that something interesting is happening in the smart phone market that wasn't happening on the desktop.  "When people want to find a place to go out to dinner, they're not searching, they're going into Yelp!" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7WVt63S49s] And it's true.  Now that Allie and I have moved to a new area, we are finding that it is difficult to make an educated decision on which churches might work for us in our situation or even what else is going on in the churches around us.

So I thought, what would happen if churches had a mobile app (because that's where the action is) to help people find a church that they would enjoy?  Like UrbanSpoon for Churches.  Why is the business world so far ahead of us in this?  I could tell the app when I would like to attend church and what style of service I am interested in and then shake the device.  It would find me results that are the closest to my location.  The United Methodist Church seems like it would have a good setup to be able to get this running relatively quickly.  I mean, this kind of information has to be documented already right?

I was asked a few weeks ago what the church's take on technology should be.  I think the first thing the church ought to do is not fall behind. This would be a good place to start.

I mean, almost every church has a website.  And almost every church has loads on information on this site. Many churches are on Facebook and Twitter.  But why should I have to consult Google and do a blind search for a church that I think I might connect with.

Like Microsoft marketed, I need a decision engine.  For churches.

Think about it.

-B

What the heck is that?!

I have often wanted to tweet, "I think my problem is that I have too many interests.  Never get to be excellent at any one thing." When I was speaking to a group of people a few months back, I was introduced as someone who is beginning ministry by "dovetailing" several things together.  Admittedly, I didn't really knew what she meant.  Enter, Wikipedia.

Undoubtedly you are aware of a dovetailed joint, if not by name, then by sight.  They're everywhere in woodworking.  What I like so much about the concept is the resistance to being pulled apart.  Like all of us, they're interwoven in a way that make a strong infrastructure.  Primitive, yes.  But, strong nonetheless.  In that way, we are all like a dovetailed joint.  The things that make us up, make it hard to pull apart who we are.  This is...for the better.  I think.

It was at this point that I realized that all these things that interest me, music, church, technology, faith, etc. actually make up who I am.

I'm not sure why I want to start a blog.  I'm way behind on this blog thing anyhow. I do know that I have often wanted to explain my thoughts or feelings on a given topic but needed time to think through my ideas.  I could write a book (and anyone can publish one of those nowadays) but that sounds like a lot of work.  Maybe after I write this blog, I'll do just that.

You're probably asking yourself, "Self, what will this blog be about?"  Who knows.  I think I'll talk about music.  I'll probably talk about ministry.  I'm sure I'll touch on technology. I guess I'll talk about what makes up "me". I'll annoy you with funny videos.  I'll present you with interesting articles I find.  You can choose whether or not to read them.

Now, there are a few things that I have learned about blogging though that annoy me.  So I'll attempt to lay out the things that I'll try not to suck at (and some links to examples). Think of this as our "contract". From writer to reader.

1. Keep up the blog.  If you don't post often, people stop reading.  That's right...you, Mr. TuckTuck.

2. Don't post too much.  No one has time to read EVERYTHING.  No one really cares either.

3. Link to things in the midst of sentences to reenforce a point.  It adds to the experience and cleverness of a post.

4. Don't buy stolen property just to get some more page views. Did you HAVE to click that link? Plus, I didn't pay $5,000 for my iPhone 4.

5. Share great videos and articles whether or not they fit with the blog. After all, blogging is about sharing right?

So, if you stick with me, I think we're in for an adventure.  Sometimes the posts will be long.  Sometimes they'll be short.  Stick with me and subscribe.  I'll try not to let you down.

-B