September
2006
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
originally posted at Pattie’s blog.
I love hymns. One of the very very cool things about the Air Force Protestant chapel’s “blended” worship service is that the song leader picks a hymn and a chorus that thematically and musically “flow” together. I like to think of it using a real-life picture: the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. If you’ve ever been up in the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on a clear day, you’ve seen this.
The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers (read here for more info and pictures) is truly amazing. The Mississippi and Missouri are both known as “muddy” rivers, but from the Arch it’s the Missouri River that appears browner. The Mississippi looks clear and sparkling in comparison. Yet together, both rivers make up the fourth longest river system in the world. They work together, if you will. The two rivers flow together and even though there’s a distinct color difference on a clear day, they are still rivers and they still converge. There isn’t a land break or a sand bar in between them. Just water.
To me, it’s the same thing with worship music. And no, I’m not calling either type of music “muddy”!
I have friends who scoff at hymns and hymnals (jokingly, I hope!), while others couldn’t dream of singing anything else in church. I have been in churches that didn’t sing anything but the “old” hymns (where a Twila Paris chorus was “that new music”), and I’ve been in churches that sing nothing but praise choruses. I think a mixture is in order. I think it’s best when the rivers work together to do the job they were created to do.
My soul thrills at singing a familiar hymn, then on the last chorus hearing the drums speed things up, the keyboard and guitar playing in tandem, to lead us into a praise chorus taken straight from the songwriter’s walk with God. Blended.
Yeah, I like that.
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Written By: Pattie
Posted under: Women's Voices . 
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Me too! Worship helps me transcend. Touch and be touched by God. A foretaste of heaven.
I love St. Louis and the Gateway Arch and what an awesome memory you bring to mind and as a former “Air Force” brat I know what you mean by “blended services”. I’ll be the worship today is better than it had been. I didn’t go to Protestant services regularly. Mom was protestant, Dad was Catholic but I loved singing in the choir when I could.
Thanks for the happy thoughts and God Bless!