I say that tongue and cheek but I was thinking about that today at church. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church.  Commonplace in our regular weekly worship services was a pianist, organist and minister of music.  Usually the pianist or organist was the spouse of the pastor.

Today, that was how the scenario looked at our contemporary worship service. As I walked into the service, I was surprised to hear a solo piano and see us singing out of hymnals.  Why?  Because our service is a contemporary service that usually has a piano accompanied by several guitarists, a drummer and vocal accompaniment.  All the worship team was out this weekend and they needed music, now I know it sounds kind of odd but that is the nature of our worship service. 

Hearing the old hymns again brought back several emotions and thoughts, firstly about the idea that although my wife can play guitar, she is not a pianist , so if that excludes me from some senior pastor roles, then so be it.  I don’t believe God has called me to the senior pastor roll anytime soon.  Until then maybe my wife can start taking lessons when (or if) I go to seminary!

Lastly, do I think the church needs to present the “Timeless truth of the gospel with Timely Methods ,” as Mark Driscoll puts it?  Yes I do and I think we need to re-evaluate if, how and when we use hymnals at all, in the context of modern contemporary worship where screens have replaced decorative wall hangings behind the pulpit in churches.  That speaks to how timely our methods are at relating the gospel in a clear way.  We use the hymnal in our home to teach song, rhythm, doctrine and verse to our young children.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.