"It is always difficult to maintain the balance between carrying the tradition of the church forward through music and reshaping that tradition for a new generation. Frequently those who fight to keep things the way they think they have always been are ignorant of past church hymnody. As well, they often either cannot embrace the forward-looking vision necessary to communicate the tradition to the next generation or they will not make necessary transition to accommodate the needs and interests with the young. On the other hand, those who sacrifice the essence of tradition on the altar of relevance jeopardize the very source of their own spiritual life- and risk breaking continuity with the past, producing yet another gospel!...Every new revival has a tendency to produce changes in the music of the church (Frank Bartleman observed)."
Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. in "The Azusa Street Mission and Revival"
New wine is being poured out. It doesn't necessarily need to look exactly the same as the traditional wine skins for it to be God. What does the new wine skin look like? What parts of tradition must we cling to keep our roots and what areas must we let go of so that we can relate to a pluralistic and tolerant world? Let the disruption come, as it has already begun in my own heart.
1 comment:
Hi Jenn,
Years ago I was was in a small meeting with Dr. Glasser (president of Fuller) and a few East German pastors. Dr. Glasser told us that in his years of studying the moves of God throughout the Church he'd noticed a pattern. There are three things that mark a true move of God's Spirit: 1) A new method of sharing the Gospel that is meaningful to that particular generation of hearers, 2) a new hymnology that's unique to that time and place, and (3) it's usually thought to be heretical in the first generation.
Spirit of God fall on us we pray!
Blessings on you,
Ade
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