It seems a bit like a performance, and not very open to congregational participation. We had a great service this morning, in my local assembly, and we sang a lot of "simple songs" as I call them, not songs with simple words, but songs with simple melodies, that anyone could follow along to. The modern songs, with their riffing and "sloppy singing", I have seen to often inflate the ego and flesh of the "worship leader" (a term I don't like much).
If I want to make "groanings that can't be uttered", well, then I won't make a sound because they can't be
uttered... If I want to sing and repeat something over and over again, I'll do it alone, in my room or in my car or wherever... I know of people who think I'm dead because of the way I worship in the assembly hall, but I am not going to sing in tongues, and dance in front of everyone or shockamoo and disrupt service and whatnot- I do that at home (not that I'm saying dancing is a sin in the assembly hall, but I think we have to be careful to not be a distraction). I'm also not going to sing so loud as to be the center of attention. And I've go to ask this, does anyone else have a problem with songs that include "Oooo's" and "Ahhh's"? I DO! These are not words, these are oppurtunities to show how far up and down on the scale, and how many octaves they can sing thru, and I don't see it as being a humble display of worship.
And as a preacher, I also won't take 10 minutes to introduce myself, precede my message with a comedy gag, and then get into my message about what happened to
me, and where
I went and what
I did...
There seems to be a lot of self-centeredness going around,
and it's fairly more blatant amongst the charismatics, but may it not creep into the apostolic church!
-Bro. Alex
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