Accappella

I might be old fashioned at the ripe age of 23 but I miss accappella singing more than I miss pogs and snap bracelets. All the churches these days have switched to full bands. I appreciate it and I have bought every chris tomlin cd to learn the songs. I even went to his church here in austin for a few months to catch up. The thing is, with the bands people have not learned how to sing. So when the band stops and wants the congregation to sing themselves it gets silent and the ones brave enough have absolutely no business singing out loud. Sure, get on to me about it's all beautiful to God blah blah blah. I was raised in a Church of Christ youth group and then spoiled at a Church of Christ University. I got to sing accapella all I wanted for 23 years. Now all of a sudden I have to stop and forget every song I grew up loving? It sucks! I miss the days of belting it out in harmony with some of the most beautiful voices this side of heaven have to offer. Mel McCray would literally almost make me cry every time we sang together. "This is the air I breathe" "Break my heart" "Shout to the Lord" "Agnus Dei" "And Can it Be" "God of Wonders" and any song with a four part harmony!!! They're all gone! Nobody sings em! I'm drowing in a 1 inch deep pool of worship mediocrity!!! An old friend recently visited one of the newer, more popular churches in Austin and after the service shook his head in disappointment. He called all the newer songs, "7-11 songs". Meaning somebody found seven words that rhyme in a verse and then made us sing it eleven times in a row!!! Don't even get me started on "Guitar Praying". People think God doesn't listen to their prayers, HOW CAN HE HEAR YOU OVER THAT RIDICULOUS PAUSING AND STRUMMING ALL THE TIME!?! Prayer isn't supposed to be a dramatic presentation of the soul to a crowd, it is a lifting up of concerns, repentance, grace, thankfulness and occasionally requests! Read some psalms, now THOSE guys knew how to pray. Oh Lord, vanquish my enemies, let me not fall into their snare. Dear God, I am surrounded by the evil one on this earth, let your angels descend around me as an army and destroy the dark so that I may live in the light! Oh Lord I seek your face and your blessings, let me live among you in Heaven so that I may worship you always. Do not leave my presence Lord, let not my enemies triumph over me! Am I judging peoples souls because of how they pray? No, is God? You better believe it! Is cal perfect? YES!!! I wanna start a new church where half the congregation goes on missions during the year, then the other half the year after. We all sing accappella style. We have communion EVERY WEEK!!! Our elders know what they're doing! A praise minister and a preacher that don't leave. The baptistry isn't just a tub with water from 1974 and baptisms are a celebrated event, not an excuse to sigh because it'll take you ten minutes longer to get to olive garden. After service, it should take an hour for everybody to leave because of the fellowship that is shared. And when they do leave, it's cuz they're all meeting up for lunch. What spawned this blog? An ever growing desire to get to Heaven and experience what God wanted for us all along. The best you can imagine doesn't even come close to what he has in store for us! Okay, I'm done. Soapbox over. Frustration spent. Back to saving the world one cynical comment at a time.