There's a trend I notice these days. Praise & Worship meetings are beginning to resemble mini-concerts. Right from the coordinated 1-2-3-4 starts and heavy intros to the elaborate interludes...the emphasis seems to be on 'getting it right'. Everything has to be as per the 'original' - right from the style, the beat, the chords, the sequence, the scale, even right down to the vocal intonations and tonal inflections. It doesn't really matter if it's a scale only Sandi Patti can sing as long as it is the 'original'. (Of course, 'original' gets redefined every now and then; when someone brings a CD they claim is the 'original' original). Heavy lead guitars and punchy bass virtually drown out the congregation (you just can't compete with 1000++Watts of house speakers + stage spillover). In fact, it's better to just clap and listen than try to sing, especially when you can't hear yourself. Yet, it all climaxes in a heady protracted ending where long after the singing has stopped, the lead guitar and drums continue racing to a grating finish at the rising crescendo of 'spontaneous' applause. BTW...that's just about as spontaneous as the congregation gets. Then there is a brief hiatus as the band regroups for the next 1-2-3-4...
Back in the heydays, theme parties were a rave... nowadays 'theme' worship seems to be cool... instead of everyone dressing up in cowboy attire...the whole service is rigged to 'glory'… you just can't miss it. It's all pre-programmed. The welcome, exhortation, songs, and the sermon (thankfully it hasn't affected the benediction yet!) are all woven in thematically.
Animated backdrops that blend graphics and special effects are perfectly timed to the beat to create the mood. Video cameras pan and zoom in on the band as they 'perform'. Backed up by back-up singers and a 50-member choir, the church's walled garden squad puts on a good show.
With all this now beamed directly to the couch, courtesy "God's TV channels"....the accent seems to be on being 'picture perfect' or should I say....TV perfect. So smile...who knows...someday, sometime, when you least expect it....you could be on God's TV.
lol.... just a tongue-in-cheek animadversion of the way I see things... but the bottom-line is that the Church must march on. It must evolve as it has over the millenniums to keep the hope of salvation alive in an ever evolving generation. Every generation has their share of criticisms and in time themselves turn aristarchs. Nobody is right, yet nobody is wrong. Jesus did not bother much about the mode or method... He was concerned about people. People change, modes and methods change, but Jesus does not. Thank God, amidst all this change, there is a God who never changes. Yesterday, Today, and Forever the same.
