The Trouble With Traditions #1

Songbooks

A couple of years ago the Central Church purchased the necessary components to project our songs for worship on to a large screen in front of the auditorium. As a worship leader it’s nice to see smiling faces looking up instead of faces buried in books as we sing praises to God and edify each other in song. We still have issues of lighting and glare but for the most part the change has been widely accepted and has improved the overall worship. It also allows us the ability to use songs not included in the book that we currently have, new music, and scripture that can be shared during our periods of worship.

Have you ever heard anyone complain because their congregation did not have songbooks or because songs were sung from memory or from a projection system?

According to research, the first songbooks were published in the 1500’s. Gutenberg’s Bible was the first book printed on August 15, 1456. The World Book Encyclopedia said that in the next fifty years the Catholic Church printed the Psalter (the first songbook). Records indicate that the Church of Christ started using songbooks in the late 1500’s.

The early Church sang most of their first songs from memory. They used scripture and the Psalms as their first hymnbooks.

I would imagine that most of us today would of felt a little uncomfortable meeting with the early New Testament Church. They didn’t have the modern conveniences that we have today and the traditional items that we use in our periods of worship.

Maybe we can learn from the early church. More heartfelt worship and less concern over buildings, pews, songbooks and stuff.

I am thankful for the traditions that have been carried down through the generations but always wish to be Biblically sound in our worship practices. As we try to reach out to a lost generation today we have to meet many individuals where they are in a modern ever-changing society. Video and projection systems are just one way to reach this new technological, fast-paced, visual, virtual generation and allow them the opportunity to see the true Family of God worship in Spirit and in Truth.