Agree/Disagree? - "Comedy is meant to provoke thought and debate."
That statement came from Association president Margaret Talev re. Michelle Wolf's routine at the correspondents' dinner..
Oh dopey me, I thought comedy was meant to entertain, to provoke laughter.
Two weeks ago our pastor was at a week-long conference in Louisville with some young adults from our church. It was held in a stadium and apparently there were about 20,000 in attendance. He came home thrilled with the conference worship times which consisted of just a leader at a grand piano and singing classic hymns. He said the response from the predominately young attenders was outstanding, the singing stirring, and surprisingly the hymns were known to that young audience. So he decided we should try that yesterday at University Fellowship Church.
He introduced the worship service by explaining why our regular worship band had been replaced by just our worship pastor, his wife (who also has a wonderful voice), and one of our men at a keyboard set to a piano setting. "If this fails miserably you can blame me." But when he was done explaining what was going to happen many in the congregation of about 900 clapped. (I think they were mostly the older people who liked the idea of singing classic hymns.)
Brett had asked me to meet with Lou, our worship pastor, a week ago. Lou wasn't saved until his teen years and attended a church that only sang contemporary worship songs, so he doesn't know the lexicon of classic hymns. Brett asked me to help Lou pick out hymns that would work well and be widely known. Lou's a great young man and does a very good job leading our normal worship - a mix of contemporary worship songs mixed with some older songs done in a more contemporary style - so I was interested to see how this experiment went.
A: not well.
I'm sure nobody is "blaming" Brett and I suspect he's more disappointed than anyone else. But Pam and I agree it did not work.
I guess I never thought much about it until yesterday - how the singing of hymns is done differently from contemporary worship music. I can sure see the difference after yesterday. And I suspect it roughly parallels the difference between contemporary secular music and the popular music of a couple of generations ago. (Think of any current pop artist as compared to Frank Sinatra, or Patsy Cline.)
When trying to characterize it later yesterday afternoon I told Pam it reminded me of a Jr. High student who has memorized a famous speech - the Gettysburg Address or "I have a dream" - and repeats it word-for-word but without any phrasing, any color. We sang all the notes but absent any of the phrasing that is second nature to those of us who grew up with those hymns. Take out the standard and almost imperceptible tempo stretching and volume changes in "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and it feels wooden, mechanical. (I'm pretty sure the younger guy at the keyboard was also unfamiliar with these hymns and was "playing the notes.") We went from one verse into the next without any fermata, any holding of the last note before beginning the next stanza. The result was sterile and lacked the emotion that, paired with the powerful lyrics of the classic hymns, gives them so much power.
I'm sorry the experiment didn't work and I hope they'll try it again, albeit with some changes to how it's done. Yesterday probably illustrated some business maxim that talks about how a good idea poorly executed looks like a bad idea. It really isn't (wasn't), it just needs to have the methodology adjusted appropriately.
On an entirely different note (see what I did there).....
Weeks and weeks ago I bought a new window for our bathroom and a bathroom fan that exhausts through the wall instead of through the ceiling, which can't be done in a 1978 MoHo with no attic space. I've delayed installation because a) I'm a little intimidated by cutting a hole through an exterior wall of a metal-clad MoHo, and b) it's been raining enough that should the install go poorly I didn't want rain before I can get things sealed up with six tubes of caulk.
It's raining now but the rest of the week is supposed to be sunny, warm, and dry. So this morning I cut a hole in the interior wall for the electrical part of the project. I have to tap into the one outlet in our tiny bathroom (GFCI) to get power for the switch I'll put just above that outlet that will turn the fan on/off. Tomorrow while Pam's gone to Bible study I'll cut a 14" diameter hole through the wall and, if all goes well, install the fan and hook up the wiring. This would be easier if the exterior siding wasn't very thin aluminum siding and if there was some substrate behind it. Nope, nothing. Thin aluminum, then insulation, and then the interior thin painted paneling. I'll have to add some 2x4 framing when I cut open the hole so I have something to screw the fan to.
This could get interesting.
If you don't hear from me tomorrow evening you'll know why.
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