Yesterday, I came across a list proclaiming to be the "101 Greatest Christian Songs". Now, I lost faith with music charts a long time ago, they stopped being a proper representation of taste fairly early on. All the same, I do like looking at them, because very often they give me inspiration for the "next big thing" within whatever group or church I happen to be leading in.
I should have guessed before I clicked on the link I would run into trouble, exclamations of "Who?" and "What?" and "Never heard of it!" emitted from my lips. Then I saw that this was one person's opinion, and I suspect he is less than 25 years old. I don't think there was anything on there older than 10 years, maybe even 5 years. In a homage to pastures old, it did have "How Great Thou Art", but I suspect that was only on there because of Chris Tomilin's "The Splendour of the King". 10,000 Reasons was on there, but way way behind One Thing Remains which was in the top 10. Now, about the latter. Great chorus. Love singing it, despite some WL penchant of playing it too darn high. But...think about it...in 10 years time will it still have the appeal, or will it have gone down the hole that Be Bold, Be Strong was consigned to 20 years ago? Or will we be finding ten thousand reasons?
Call me fuddy duddy and completely outta touch but I believe I'm right that a lot of this guy's chart will have lost its "fashion" and...erm...one thing will remain. He is young, but he will learn. Church congregations love to learn new songs. But moreso they love beautiful tunes, and simple words packed with power. These are the greatest Christian songs of all time, no matter how much one particular chorus has meant to you. I love newbies such as My Heart is Restless and God Only Wise. I will not give them a kiss of death and say they will end up great. They stir my soul. They may not mass stir souls to greatness.
Why do you think In Christ Alone and Be Still are still the most played and sung in churches? Neither of those were in his chart, but those two mean so much to so many people and have influenced Christian song writing. In Christ Alone seems to be requested at hatches, matches and despatches everywhere as it is inter-denominational.
Great is what touches, and can change hearts.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, 15 April 2013
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Rest
I didn't go to church today, I stayed at home, a couple of chores, breakfast and fellowship with my SOH.
September will be a very busy month. I will be doing at least 7 WL sessions, maybe as many as 9; Friday nights, a Thursday day time, Saturdays and Sundays. I think there's one week when it's all four in a row... It takes my mind off other things and stops the brooding. I keep myself busy researching "new" songs in my SOFs and Source.
I needed the company of other Christians Friday night, just hours after the announcement. Needless to say there were prayers and talk about how miracles still happen and how this should be a celebration and...
...hang on.
Someone started praying for the spouse and I could almost predict, word for word, what they were going to pray. I was almost shaking my head...hackneyed phrases, quoting scripture, saying what you think God needs you to say, trying to behave in the way that the Bible tells you to when someone dies - cry? - you gotta be kidding...
...Jesus wept...He needed to feel that grief, else how could anyone who was ever bereaved ever connect?
We are human, not robots. I get annoyed with ex-church goers who say "I used to go, but I can't believe in a God who took my...(insert relative/friend here)". I get just as annoyed with people who say things like "well s/he's gone to a better place and we should be celebrating.."
...it doesn't help those left behind. In fact, the word tells us to mourn with those who mourn. The full works. Sackcloth and ashes and copious tears if necessary.
You may be thinking, hang on Fi, you're totally contradicting what you said the other day, death isn't an ending yahdeyahdeyahda. No, it isn't, not for the person who dies. It can feel that way for the people close to them and the years of waiting until they can rejoin them...
Let's be real. Mary, in her anguish, said "Lord if You'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died." She wasn't saying that he'd gone to a better place and talking of peace that passeth all understanding - she was doing the equivalent of screaming at God - "WHY?" and "How can I cope without them?"
The Bible also tells us to help widows in their affliction. I hope that I pray the right things, and if I see them soon, say the right stuff, and above all....be real.
September will be a very busy month. I will be doing at least 7 WL sessions, maybe as many as 9; Friday nights, a Thursday day time, Saturdays and Sundays. I think there's one week when it's all four in a row... It takes my mind off other things and stops the brooding. I keep myself busy researching "new" songs in my SOFs and Source.
I needed the company of other Christians Friday night, just hours after the announcement. Needless to say there were prayers and talk about how miracles still happen and how this should be a celebration and...
...hang on.
Someone started praying for the spouse and I could almost predict, word for word, what they were going to pray. I was almost shaking my head...hackneyed phrases, quoting scripture, saying what you think God needs you to say, trying to behave in the way that the Bible tells you to when someone dies - cry? - you gotta be kidding...
...Jesus wept...He needed to feel that grief, else how could anyone who was ever bereaved ever connect?
We are human, not robots. I get annoyed with ex-church goers who say "I used to go, but I can't believe in a God who took my...(insert relative/friend here)". I get just as annoyed with people who say things like "well s/he's gone to a better place and we should be celebrating.."
...it doesn't help those left behind. In fact, the word tells us to mourn with those who mourn. The full works. Sackcloth and ashes and copious tears if necessary.
You may be thinking, hang on Fi, you're totally contradicting what you said the other day, death isn't an ending yahdeyahdeyahda. No, it isn't, not for the person who dies. It can feel that way for the people close to them and the years of waiting until they can rejoin them...
Let's be real. Mary, in her anguish, said "Lord if You'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died." She wasn't saying that he'd gone to a better place and talking of peace that passeth all understanding - she was doing the equivalent of screaming at God - "WHY?" and "How can I cope without them?"
The Bible also tells us to help widows in their affliction. I hope that I pray the right things, and if I see them soon, say the right stuff, and above all....be real.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Balanced
Yesterday, I got some news that made we weep with joy. What was incredible (or maybe not) was that it was pretty much what I had prayed for - when everyone else seemed to be giving it up for medical treatment, I had prayed there would be no trace and no need for a possible painful and lengthy process.
Through faith - this person is now able to carry on, as normal, with a scar, but this scar is a victory mark - proof of coming through great tribulation.
I would that another quarter had similarly happy news. Instead, it just seems to be getting worse and worse. It is really difficult to know what to pray for.
I'm not leading Sunday. I'm using my prep time looking at and listening to songs I feel He has led me to, for future use. Strangely - they all seem to be on the same theme, so I guess He's trying to tell me something...
Through faith - this person is now able to carry on, as normal, with a scar, but this scar is a victory mark - proof of coming through great tribulation.
I would that another quarter had similarly happy news. Instead, it just seems to be getting worse and worse. It is really difficult to know what to pray for.
I'm not leading Sunday. I'm using my prep time looking at and listening to songs I feel He has led me to, for future use. Strangely - they all seem to be on the same theme, so I guess He's trying to tell me something...
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
And in other news
Gonna stop being a Jeremiah - for a while at least.
When I first got my mp3 player late last summer I heaped loads of stuff onto it. It's a Holy, Sanctified, mp3 player. It has never had a secular track on it. I won't say it is blame free as there just might be debatable doctrine on it. But it has become a resource (as was the plan at the beginning) and even now, with it on "random shuffle" I'm hearing tracks not heard before by me, or not for ages (there's approx 36 hours play time on it) and I'm going ohmanohmanohman have to do this one.
Needless to say, I'm probably driving my bandmates up the wall with such behaviour. But they do love me. Well at least I hope so.
Anyway, this random ripping took its toll, insofar that the tags were all over the show. So I've spent the last few weeks re-doing all the tags, something that some may see as akin to cleaning bathroom grout with a toothbrush. Strangely satisfying, but technically frustrating/boring. Just finished, in time for the, whisper, {coming apart}. Er-hem.
Perhaps the most irritating part of all this was the Kingsway tags on the various commercial CD's I've bought from them. Take SOF 5 f'r'instance. One CD has 3 tracks with lower case titles, the rest show a title of Track 4, Track 5 etc, with absolutely nothing on the tags to state what it is and who it is by. Another CD has been tagged pretty much perfectly. The other suffers from lower case syndrome.
Why, when they were in the same box were they tagged completely differently? Well, this just takes my mind off other things I suppose...
When I first got my mp3 player late last summer I heaped loads of stuff onto it. It's a Holy, Sanctified, mp3 player. It has never had a secular track on it. I won't say it is blame free as there just might be debatable doctrine on it. But it has become a resource (as was the plan at the beginning) and even now, with it on "random shuffle" I'm hearing tracks not heard before by me, or not for ages (there's approx 36 hours play time on it) and I'm going ohmanohmanohman have to do this one.
Needless to say, I'm probably driving my bandmates up the wall with such behaviour. But they do love me. Well at least I hope so.
Anyway, this random ripping took its toll, insofar that the tags were all over the show. So I've spent the last few weeks re-doing all the tags, something that some may see as akin to cleaning bathroom grout with a toothbrush. Strangely satisfying, but technically frustrating/boring. Just finished, in time for the, whisper, {coming apart}. Er-hem.
Perhaps the most irritating part of all this was the Kingsway tags on the various commercial CD's I've bought from them. Take SOF 5 f'r'instance. One CD has 3 tracks with lower case titles, the rest show a title of Track 4, Track 5 etc, with absolutely nothing on the tags to state what it is and who it is by. Another CD has been tagged pretty much perfectly. The other suffers from lower case syndrome.
Why, when they were in the same box were they tagged completely differently? Well, this just takes my mind off other things I suppose...
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Music Makers
Jdg 5:3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. (KJV 1611)
I was thinking about genres, and how diverse Christian music is nowadays.
It seems to me that, in the seventies, much like secular music, your choice was minimal – either something for “official” occasions, or sugary sweet choruses. I’m probably over generalising – of course there was an emergence of good music at places like Greenbelt, but on the whole accessibility to the alternatives was limited.
Just flicking through Songs of Fellowship or Mission Praise gives you a good idea of how Christian music has adapted. There are new hymns which both young and old enjoy, but also writers that have targeted specific age groups and/or attitudes. Like Garage? Hip Hop? Dance? Club House? Ibiza? Easy Listening? Folk? Celtic mood? Chill? Punk? Metal? AOR?....God’s got it covered with someone, somewhere, because Jesus got into their life and now they express themselves through the music they enjoy.
For the WL picking through these and finding the truly anointed gems that will suit your church is tricky. They have to suit the age range of the church and also the mood. I try to keep as up to date as possible by downloading/buying generic worship mixes, and listen to new ones when I can. Most weeks, I download the freebie from Kingsway, but if I don’t like it, or I know it won’t suit the church, I don’t bother. I think this week’s is a bit “yoof” for my taste, and one a few weeks back sounded like an X-factor finalist. But – despite my dismissals, if these groups or artists get through to just one person, one less person is saved from the fire.
I used to have the attitude that only certain types of music should be allowed in church, but I’ve completely changed my mind on this. The language of music has been powerful since before the time of David. What tongue or dialect doesn’t matter. The fact is music can be all things to all people and a powerful instrument in getting people closer to God.
I was thinking about genres, and how diverse Christian music is nowadays.
It seems to me that, in the seventies, much like secular music, your choice was minimal – either something for “official” occasions, or sugary sweet choruses. I’m probably over generalising – of course there was an emergence of good music at places like Greenbelt, but on the whole accessibility to the alternatives was limited.
Just flicking through Songs of Fellowship or Mission Praise gives you a good idea of how Christian music has adapted. There are new hymns which both young and old enjoy, but also writers that have targeted specific age groups and/or attitudes. Like Garage? Hip Hop? Dance? Club House? Ibiza? Easy Listening? Folk? Celtic mood? Chill? Punk? Metal? AOR?....God’s got it covered with someone, somewhere, because Jesus got into their life and now they express themselves through the music they enjoy.
For the WL picking through these and finding the truly anointed gems that will suit your church is tricky. They have to suit the age range of the church and also the mood. I try to keep as up to date as possible by downloading/buying generic worship mixes, and listen to new ones when I can. Most weeks, I download the freebie from Kingsway, but if I don’t like it, or I know it won’t suit the church, I don’t bother. I think this week’s is a bit “yoof” for my taste, and one a few weeks back sounded like an X-factor finalist. But – despite my dismissals, if these groups or artists get through to just one person, one less person is saved from the fire.
I used to have the attitude that only certain types of music should be allowed in church, but I’ve completely changed my mind on this. The language of music has been powerful since before the time of David. What tongue or dialect doesn’t matter. The fact is music can be all things to all people and a powerful instrument in getting people closer to God.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Worship Central
A little aside today.
HMV are stocking Worship Central's Spirit Break Out, as of today.
It always makes me smile when a Christian track or CD makes it big, and I'm not talking Cliff Richard who built himself a huge fanbase in all age ranges. The last one I vividly remember was "Shackles" and I wondered at the time how many people actually realised that the song, sounding like a Pop Idol submission, but irritatingly catchy, was Christian, as it doesn't actually mention God or Jesus at all.
However, this is oh-so-obviously Christian, and even in this day and age where there is room on the shelves due to the popularity of MP3 downloads, this is quite an achievement. Good for them.
HMV are stocking Worship Central's Spirit Break Out, as of today.
It always makes me smile when a Christian track or CD makes it big, and I'm not talking Cliff Richard who built himself a huge fanbase in all age ranges. The last one I vividly remember was "Shackles" and I wondered at the time how many people actually realised that the song, sounding like a Pop Idol submission, but irritatingly catchy, was Christian, as it doesn't actually mention God or Jesus at all.
However, this is oh-so-obviously Christian, and even in this day and age where there is room on the shelves due to the popularity of MP3 downloads, this is quite an achievement. Good for them.
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