How Then Shall We Worship?

My sister and I attended the Peter Noone concert last Christmas and heard "Herman" from the original Herman's Hermits who celebrated his 77th birthday recently. I remember he joked that at his concerts there was no danger of anyone rushing the stage. He said this as he looked out at our audience, many of us with knee replacements, bad backs and walking canes!

My generation grew up with AM radio and rock and roll. And we still like both, though AM is getting harder to find. Research shows that most of us stay with the music we heard in college, and this is certainly true of me. One of our Bible study groups at church decided to call themselves the "Seekers," and I immediately thought of the Australian group that sang, 'Georgy Girl"!

I suppose there's no problem with how we tune our car radios on our commutes-the genre of music is our choice. And, besides, many children now have their own devices and listen to whatever they wish, or play video games, or in one case I heard about, text one another across the back seat so their parents wouldn't know what they were discussing.

But we did come through an era in which music brought conflict among God's people.

The so-called "contemporary" music had a beat, repetition and often clapping or swaying. And the primary instruments in our churches have changed. One survey found that 42 percent of churches have organs, and 42 percent have drums, and the latter number is growing. And in many places the church choir is now the three or four "praise leaders" who try to get the congregation to sing along, but if not, they've got this.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. New research shows that many millennials and Gen Z'ers are gravitating back to traditional worship liturgy and especially the mystery of communion.

So, what are church leaders to do?

Two things that have worked in many places include either sponsoring two worship times with contrasting styles or trying to have a blend of old and new.

I heard a music leader on a podcast lately who told about being confronted after worship by a senior who said, "I don't like the music you do!"

The leader invited the man to talk with him when they had more time, and then said, "I understand you don't like the music I do. Let me tell you what I'm trying to do with the music I've selected and see if you can help me do better."

This story had a happy ending when consensus was found.

I've always believed that Christians of goodwill can find a way forward. -30-

"Reflections" is a weekly faith column written by Michael J. Brooks, pastor of the Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama. The church's website is siluriabaptist.com.