The World's Common Tater

Two recent articles made me aware that too many churches and/or the people of the church are still spending time worrying about the wrong things.

The first article was about someone who is writing new hymns. Taken alone, this is a good thing. It’s nice to see someone who is still interested in writing hymns for the church. Unfortunately, in the comments what I saw was an argument over music style in a church. The “hymn” people said that contemporary services are shallow because contemporary music can’t possibly lead to a real worship experience. The “contemporary” people say hymns are boring and will keep a church from bringing in younger people. I don’t understand why we need to argue about it. Like hymns? Go to a traditional church. Like contemporary music? Go to a contemporary service. What is making the worship experience shallow is worrying too much about how others worship and less on our relationship with God.

The other article was from The Washington Post and talked about how churches struggle in the summer with dress code issues. Some people still believe church should be coat and tie for men and dresses for women and no exceptions. I attend a service where people wear shorts and t-shirts in the summer and football jerseys and jeans in the winter.  Is my worship experience shallow because I wear casual clothes and sing contemporary music? I don’t believe it is. What I do believe is that if I am so focused on being offended by what other people are wearing I likely am not focused on God and that would make the experience shallow. If you want to wear a coat and tie or a dress, that’s great. Do what makes you feel comfortable. Just don’t impose your beliefs on others and I won’t try to force you to wear a Ravens jersey to church.

I think it’s time we stop arguing over petty stuff and start loving each other. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do?