Some of my readers will get to experience this little trip back in time with me. And if you are one of them, you are welcome.
For those of us who have grown up in church, it would be difficult to assemble a life soundtrack without at least some worship music and contemporary Christian music. The latter of which was on a constant stream in our household. I could blog about the likes of Cynthia Clawson, Twila Paris and Michael W Smith for months without running out of material.
And being that we were a family that was in church every Sunday, mom singing in the choir, Dad taking the headcount from the median, there is also no shortage of worship music in the jukebox that is my brain.
When I was a 6th grader, my church added a contemporary service called "The Gathering". It was very hip. We sang songs like "We Will Worship" and "Holiness is What I Long For" and "As The Deer Panteth For the Water...". I loved it. And somehow, I convinced my parents to let me go by myself to this service. Youth group met during the service we would have been attending as a family. Maybe I didn't really convince them so much as they thought it important for me and my brother to be a part of the youth ministry, but my memory keepers have decided that, being mature beyond my years, I won the respect and trust of my parents at the tender age of 11 and they allowed me and my brother to switch to The Gathering.
I loved everything about it. I connected with worship through this style more than I had in the traditional service. I even think I felt a sense of freedom and ownership in my worship because my parents were sitting next to me (or in the choir loft) watching me. Before this, I would fight off falling asleep in church (Sorry Brother John), and I would get pinched if I nodded off too long. But now I was engaged with what I was learning.
Still, there was one thing I missed about the traditional service. The "sending you on your way" song. You know, that song that the choir sings after the last prayer as everyone gathers their things and decides where to go to lunch? Every week, for years, it was the same. The most peppy choir song ever there was. And a very confusing one for a child with a mind that creates pictures from words. Our send you on your way song was "The Trees of The Field". It still will pop up in the jukebox rotation occasionally and every time I laugh a little. You know, even after switching to The Gathering, I would sometimes sneak in at the end of the traditional service just to hear that song.
So without further adieu, let me properly send you on your way...
(also, take a moment to say a prayer of thanks that 90's fashion has passed and pray for those who would want to bring it back)
For those of us who have grown up in church, it would be difficult to assemble a life soundtrack without at least some worship music and contemporary Christian music. The latter of which was on a constant stream in our household. I could blog about the likes of Cynthia Clawson, Twila Paris and Michael W Smith for months without running out of material.
And being that we were a family that was in church every Sunday, mom singing in the choir, Dad taking the headcount from the median, there is also no shortage of worship music in the jukebox that is my brain.
When I was a 6th grader, my church added a contemporary service called "The Gathering". It was very hip. We sang songs like "We Will Worship" and "Holiness is What I Long For" and "As The Deer Panteth For the Water...". I loved it. And somehow, I convinced my parents to let me go by myself to this service. Youth group met during the service we would have been attending as a family. Maybe I didn't really convince them so much as they thought it important for me and my brother to be a part of the youth ministry, but my memory keepers have decided that, being mature beyond my years, I won the respect and trust of my parents at the tender age of 11 and they allowed me and my brother to switch to The Gathering.
I loved everything about it. I connected with worship through this style more than I had in the traditional service. I even think I felt a sense of freedom and ownership in my worship because my parents were sitting next to me (or in the choir loft) watching me. Before this, I would fight off falling asleep in church (Sorry Brother John), and I would get pinched if I nodded off too long. But now I was engaged with what I was learning.
Still, there was one thing I missed about the traditional service. The "sending you on your way" song. You know, that song that the choir sings after the last prayer as everyone gathers their things and decides where to go to lunch? Every week, for years, it was the same. The most peppy choir song ever there was. And a very confusing one for a child with a mind that creates pictures from words. Our send you on your way song was "The Trees of The Field". It still will pop up in the jukebox rotation occasionally and every time I laugh a little. You know, even after switching to The Gathering, I would sometimes sneak in at the end of the traditional service just to hear that song.
So without further adieu, let me properly send you on your way...
(also, take a moment to say a prayer of thanks that 90's fashion has passed and pray for those who would want to bring it back)
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