FFM 2007 - Worship Tangent 2

I can't leave this one alone quite yet. After neglecting my blog for so long, here I am getting all obsessive on one little topic. It goes back to the question of hybridity, which is either complicated or simplified (depending on your perspective) by the makeup of your church. Is it white urban hipster? Is it multicultural? Multigenerational? Is it primarily Chinese, Turkish, Trinidadian? Congregations come in many shapes and sizes, and so it makes sense that worship styles may be different in different contexts. Will the white urban hipster church and the church in whose building they meet sound the same? Probably not. Real life example: Freedomize Toronto, meeting in old St. Andrews at King and University, Toronto. Music sounds completely different at the 11am St. Andrews Presbyterian service from the 5pm Freedomize service. Partly a reflection of tradition, age, musical preferences. But okay, what if St Andrew's and Freedomize got together for a love-in. I mean, they share the gorgeous space, what would it be like to see an 75-year-old grandmother of 10 worshipping next to kids the age of her youngest grandchildren? In the context of an age-diverse congregation, should the music not reflect the mix of tradition, the mix of ages, and mix of musical preferences? To completely reject the dominant style of either group would seem to cause a problem. Would the two churches put their musicians together in a room to rough out a "common worship style," or would they incorporate a mix? Would they fight to the death? I know that this was such a huge controversy at a number of churches I've attended over the years. The old crowd felt pushed out and displaced by the "modern worship music," and the young set couldn't see why the older folks didn't "get it." So hybridity hits us once again, with the need not only to accomodate or tolerate one another, but to learn to be accepting of different styles, and potentially, to find your electric guitarist and saxophone jamming alongside the pipe organ. I'd actually pay to hear that. You know, if church started charging admission or whatever.