7-Eleven Hymns of the Modern Church

I have two churches that I enjoy tending in this area, but I will have to choose, eventually. Both are modern with fun music and live bands. Both are casual and both preach using the Bible. In my case, I prefer a church that uses the Bible, although there are many churches that don't (or use another manuscript altogether).

However, I still have reservations. Neither church uses a hymnal. That can be fun, at first, but all they play are 7-Eleven songs (as my mother points out). A 7-Eleven song is a song that has 7 choruses which you repeat 11 times. In other words, we're talking sheer monotony here.

There is something to be said for monotonous songs. They put the participants in a trancelike mood and make them more malleable. They're popular in pagan religions and in many churches, too. But when a song is stripped of meaning, and you're left singing repeatedly about how great God is, you are left with something which is in danger of being completely useless. It adds nothing of worth to the ceremony or the worshipper's experience. Just because a song is catchy, doesn't mean that it's a keeper.

My ideal church would have a mixture of some of the old standards and some of the new songs. At the very least, it would have hymnals that contain the musical score for the new songs so that we wouldn't have to warble helplessly along in the vain hope that we might occasionally hit the proper note.

Singing in the modern church becomes a guessing game. As you sing along, you will likely lose the meaning of the words as you desperately try to second guess where the song is going. You are in a constant state of suspense: Did the song writer intend this line to end in a "C"? Let's try it! Oops, I'm the only one that sang it in a "C". Everyone else sang it in the note of "D". Don't *I* feel like an idiot? Maybe I shouldn't sing at all! I'll just nod and clap along with everyone else.

I took a Catholic friend to a church service recently. He thought it amusingly eccentric. He didn't ask to go back. I think it had to do with the music leader telling us all to hop to the left and the right during one of the songs. I had never seen that before. I must admit, it was fun. But was it appropriate for a Sunday morning service?

Ah well, at least no one was rolling in the aisles or frothing at the mouth. That would be quite entertaining. With any luck, they'll save that for the time I invite another guest to go with me. It's always refreshing to admit that your church is completely unpredictable. Isn't it?

Isn't it?

Maybe I need to start my own church.