RELEVANCE

Much has been made about relevance in our church age - most of it, seemingly, negative. The quick comeback is: "Well, the alternative is irrelevance, and who wants that?" But that answer does not seem to suffice.

Joelene and I have had the great opportunity to travel to India and we noticed that many of the men walk down the street hand-in-hand. No, it's not what you think. It is their custom. It describes a relevant way of expressing friendship among Indian male culture.

In Russia (I'm told), a kiss between men is nothing unusual. Often it's on the cheek, but sometimes (I'm told), it's square on the mouth. That is a relevant Russian greeting, like it or not.

In some countries, when applause is given for a performance, the clapping is in a fashion that is united, with everyone clapping the same rhythm, often increasing in speed. In other places, standing for the prayer prior to the meal is typical.

That idea of cultural relevance can be applied to probably the hottest topic in church culture today: singing and music. Our tendency to confuse tradition with orthodoxy is famous in our religious and denominational cultures, so much so that there is little space for any cultural distinctives.

As J. White says: 'The irony is that many of our traditions that may now be irrelevant began in an effort to be relevant.' Interesting.

It is widely known that the great hymns of Martin Luther, now considered to be sacred, were anything but that to the people of his time. Luther often took secular tunes and put sacred words to them and then incorporated them into the life of the church. That created, needless to say, an 16th century 'stink.' Two centuries later the venerable Charles Wesley did it, too.

Bach? Yep. Guilty. Handel's Messiah was considered vulgar by the churchmen of his day. Vulgar. Wow.

Here's a quote: 'For some years it has been apparent that the rage for novelties in singing ... has been driving out the use of old, precious, standard hymns. They are not memorized as of old. They are scarcely sung at all. We cannot afford to lose these old hymns. The young people today are unfamiliar with them and will seldom hear any of them if the present tendency goes on untouched.' That was written in 1891.

The point is that all music was, at one time, contemporary. Whatever forms of worship and singing we do today must be meaningful to those who are using them to worship. That doesn't mean we don't honor what is ancient, but we must be careful about what has become outdated.

Look at it this way: In America today, 2% of music sold is classical. Ninety percent is contemporary. So for 2% of the populous, classically-based singing/worship is going to rock their boat. But the other 90% is going to find a form of contemporary singing/worship serving their efforts to praise God authentically.

That doesn't mean we accommodate culture; but we must be relevant. Every generation has had to deal with it, not just ours. We should never seek to transform the message of the Gospel, but helping translate it to a world far from God, so important.

And be blessed.