It happened again yesterday. I was attending one of those hip, contemporary churches — and almost no one sang. Worshippers stood obediently as the band rocked out, the smoke machine belched and lights flashed. Lyrics were projected on the screen, but almost no one sang them. A few women were trying, but I saw only one male (other than the worship leader) making the attempt.
6 Replies to “Why people have stopped singing”
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The word "Contemporary", when applied nowadays to liturgical music and churches, reminds me of "inconceivable" in the Princess Bride.
As Inigo Montoya said to Vizzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Not only are there 250,000 songs, but 250,000 worship venues. But some of them do program music that people know. The more fruitful ones don't use the proper-of-the-week. Or the latest PW hit as determined by songsforjesus.com.
Todd
PS You had me for a minute, there, Jeffrey. To think that you had actually attended a Protestant megachurch, well …
the whole electric guitar and drum thing has got to go…it is all stupid…
Actually his portrayal of music before the "reformation" is so asinine and typical of prottie opinions it's laughable. It's just as much an invention of protestantism as is the opinion that Our Lord had siblings rather than cousins. I understand his intention of wishing all to sing and I recognize that but the subtle Catholic bashing opinion (it certainly isn't based in facts) that people were "forbidden" to sing pre-"reformation" is absurd.
The article bears little relevance or enlightenment for the primary worship paradigms in Catholic rites in any case. The author seems to conclude that technological innovation has some principal causality in getting liturgy back "to the people of God" AND then also taking that accessibility from them.
It is, was and always will be about responsible and proper (in whatever sense of the word one prefers) pastoral leadership by those charged with assisting sung worship of God. The big screen, the big PA, the big band and "praise team" aren't the the source of problems. It's whether the content of what's shown, heard on and from them is worthy to be taken up by all. Trend and fashion are fickle friends that will betray any healthy program of any stripe the first opportunity upon which they can seize the attention of the church power mongers.
My first Mass had a slide guitar, tambourine and some other forgettable noise makers. What struck me was that all the songs sounded like commercial jingles. Most Catholic – no….sorry, let me emend that: All of the music sung in Mass at our church is hideous. Except, strangely for the old Protestant hymns that even the Protestants don't seem to be singing any more.