Tuesday, December 2, 2008

songs of faith

I just led worship at the Lutheran Home and senior apartments in town today. We have a notebook of selected hymns that we bring with us filled with old standards like Amazing Grace and Joy to the World and What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Many of the residents will use the notebooks to follow along, but there are some whose vision has dimmed with the years and are now unable to follow along in the notebook, but they know the words. They have sung them for years upon years and the words seem to be written on their hearts, so they sing along even though they can't see the words.

This makes me think about contemporary worship. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of lively worship, of music with guitars and drums and all of that fun stuff. But part of me wonders, when I'm 80 years old, sitting on my little scooter at the chapel in the nursing home, and a pastor comes in to lead worship, am I going to remember the words to "He Reigns" by the Newsboys or one of the songs by the David Crowder Band? Are those words going to be as meaningful and memorable to me as the words of these hymns seem to be to our older members today? I'm not sure.

What do you think?