My friend Carol sent me an e-mail about a recent sermon she had heard:
The pastor began the sermon by reading quotes about the controversy of preferred music styles in church:
“My generation lived without this radical music just fine.”
And…”This is blasphemous and dishonors God.”
“Wow,” Carol thought, “this church is really divided over music.”
Turned out the quotes were all taken from the year 1786. They referred to the music of Isaac Watts, among them “Joy to the World” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
The pastor finished the sermon by stating that arguments about music began when the first caveman’s teenage son started banging a stick against a rock too loud and too fast for his father’s taste.
Funny, but a lot of wisdom, here. I was raised in a church that spent more and more time trying to police “issues” (like music) and less and less time loving people. I don’t believe that approach will ever grow a church.