If you wait long enough, a deep thought will come along

On Thursday, as previously mentioned, we had a chapel service. This is a weekly occurrence and as usual, it was carried off with varying degrees of success. On Thursday it was a game of two halves. I'll try to explain without going into too many specifics.

The first was taken by an outside group. It started off well, but things went progressively downhill from there. For me, it just got a little bit irreverent and things weren’t explained or followed up. But at least at captured the attention of the students, made them laugh and just maybe made them think.

In the second half, the speaker took over. He spoke for thirty hellfire and brimstone minutes. Just when we thought we were done, we had a turn or burn altar call that lasted another ten. I thought my students did well to stay quiet and respectful and not make a mockery of it, like some behind of us did.

The debate in the staffroom later centred around which approach was better. My feelings were this; I would sooner have students sing songs they can reasonably understand to a tune that sounds like music they listen to and be ‘entertained’ (to a certain extent) than think that Christianity is dull and boring and has nothing to offer them because it is irrelevant and stuck in a day long gone.

But neither do I think you can simplify it down to the levels that existed in the first half of chapel service. It cheapened the message. That said, why the speaker thought his approach was the best course of action is beyond me. There was nothing that encouraged them to listen, and we’re not talking funny video clips, we’re talking about basic stories or illustrations. Not everyone is a youth speaker and he isn’t.

In the staffroom, as the debate carried on (and this is where the deep thought comes in) we talked about songs used today in worship and whether they simplify the message too much. One of my colleagues refers to them as ‘Jesus is my buddy’ songs and uses ‘What a Friend I’ve Found’ as his example. Right enough, not great lyrics and cheesy. But I tend to think they are just being superior. (We sang ‘Wonderful Cross’ and mention was made of the funny tune that ‘When I survey’ was sung to.)

Generally, I don’t think modern worship songs contain dodgy theology and are saying the same things that hymns do. I’ve heard the criticism that too many of them aren’t being sung to God as being sung about us. I can definitely see that. But the question I’ve been wondering about, are today’s worship songs in some way less intelligent than hymns?