Saturday, April 23, 2011

Come, now is the time to worship

Occasionally I've heard old time, public domain hymns from the the last 3 centuries set to modern instruments and heart rates.  If the message is right, they are quite good and bring these golden oldies to a new audience. This morning I was listening to "Come, now is the time to worship," a 1998c Vineyard song that seems to be sung in multiple denominational and non-denominational churches that provide a contemporary service.

The words are beautiful and taken right from scripture.
"One day every tongue will confess You are God; One day every knee will bow/ Still the greatest treasure remains to those/Who gladly choose You now."
But I did wonder how it might sound without the throbbing guitars and banging drums which artificially create emotion.  Maybe a symphonic or chorale rendition?  YouTube--are you out there with such an arrangement?

We want a sacrifice of praise, but not while wrestling our minds to the ground with repetitious choruses and killing our hearing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know that this is forbidden in scripture, but the constant repetition does change the heart rate (eastern religions use this to alter consciousness), as do the thud thud thud of the drums. But then a Bach concert on a pipe organ can do that too.