Monday, May 28, 2007

More Movie Mutterings...And Some Instrumental Music Mumblings

I picked up a copy of The Aviator today. It was an incredibly good movie the first time around, and I'm more impressed on the second viewing. Excellent acting aside, the cinematography was just something else. I'll need to watch it again to try and unravel just what is going on the over saturation of color, but it's pretty nifty.

And now to move from commentary to just ripping off my betters... *cough* ...reporting.

I went to my aunt and uncle's church this morning. The story behind this particularly congregation --the persona non grata of many of the more "established" Maury County CofC's -- is that they broke off from one of the other CofCs in the county several years ago. I'm not sure what the real reasons were, at this point, I don't think it matters. At any rate the new church, Maury Hills was promptly accused of sacrificing chickens in the CofC gossip mill. (My uncle laughs and says KFC does a nice job at fixing up the sacrificial chickens.) They've since tried to make it their goal to be a congregation for people who have been burned by others within the CofC. They've also caused a hullabaloo by holding an annual joint worship service with the county's single Disciples of Christ congregation on the anniversary of the split between the Disciples and the Churches. (Anyone else think the Disciples walked away the rhetorically superior name?) My comment on the former is that I can make it through a whole worship service without any uncontrollable twitches. On the latter, I think that's just really nifty. Basically, I like them. So, anyway, those familar with CofC bickering can guess what the hullabaloo over having a joint worship service with the DofC was --

-- Instrumental music! (In fact, the junior preacher at the well-established CofC -- Westies, for those of you who know my code -- previously attended by yours truly was recently reported to have preached on how you can't use any instruments in a worship service. Except a tuning fork. I kinda wish I had witnessed these Bible gymnastics first hand. They must have been impressive to get that conclusion! ETA: His message was not endorsed by the elders, or most of the congregation.)

But back to the first CofC mentioned, Maury Hills. Today their preacher spoke on the issue of instrumental music versus a capella singing. (My aunt commented that he actually looked nervous.) And in a nutshell, his message was this: we have a capella rather than instrumental music as a matter of choice, not a matter of command. And most profoundly, he finished up his sermon with the thought: what if the only thing God hears is the worshipper's heart?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your thoughts on our church! Your aunt was right. I was nervous (saying anything outside of the "norm" in the COC can evoke some pretty strong responses).

WordK said...

Hello, Russ, thanks for commenting. Incidentally, I've enjoyed your sermons when I've been at Maury Hills.

People react pretty strongly when someone who literally has no authority says something outside of the norm. In some ways being a girl and thus outside of system is liberating. (I'm crazy, but harmless because I'm not allowed to officially speak.) I can only imagine the reaction someone with authority could incur. I respect you for being brave enough to speak.

It probably could have been clearer in the post body -- I really do respect Maury Hills and appreciate what you all do.