Wednesday, May 10, 2006

PoohsDay BluesWednesday Gospel? Sacrilege!

So, yeah, I went to church on Sunday. (Calm down pops, no conversions took place)

Though it wasn't church church, if that makes sense. One of my college roommates (and the officiant at the recent nuptuals) is the 'youth pastor', and on Sunday nights they have a service "with loud music and talk that is relevant to the younger generation." This being a belated 'Tuesday Blues' post, I don't want to talk about the, er, talk because it was on a subject ('Church vs. Culture?') that is of enough interest to warrant its own post at some point this week> But I went, because the pastor is my friend, and I liked his invocation (or whatever you call it) at the wedding service.

Me being shallow, the first thing that I was struck by was that the 'loud music' was, in fact, loud. And the band was pretty good. I would go so far as to say they rocked. Except for they weren't exactly rocking, instead playing uptempo hymns.*For some reason, this bothered me. Because my music is supposed to be about Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll, with perhaps some backwards satanic messanging thrown in for bad measure.

And then I realised the irony of my sentiments - most of the music I like is based on blues/R&B, which was often seen as a perversion of gospel and spirituals. And now that R&R is being re-co-opted back into the church, I can't handle it...

* For the record, this has always been where I get off the bus - I don't have the imagination to comprehend an omnipotent being that wants, needs or even cares about praise from us.

1 comment:

Kaiser said...

I've obviously been to the same 'service' that you speak of, and experienced the loud music, as well. I also thought it rocked and/or rolled. But I have never thought that Christian rock is about the singEE so much as it is moving and inspiring to the singERS.