Culture changes. As I watched the last 5 minutes of the Superbowl half time show last night, I realized (again), I’m out of touch. I didn’t have a clue who the performers were. It didn’t bother me that I didn’t know the lady, but it reminded me how wide the gap between young and old can be/sometimes is.

This is forcefully evident in the church. I read a blog post enumerating “15 Worship Decisions We’ll Regret.” This is Dr. David W. Manner, http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner/. I’ll not include all 15 items. You can look them up on your own.

The first 5 decisions are:
1.Dividing congregations along age and affinity lines.
2. Eliminating choral expressions in worship.
3. Worship leader ageism.
4. Elevating music above Scripture, Prayer and the Lord’s Supper.
5. Making worship and music exclusively synonymous.

Lest you think I’m just whining like an old guy wanting the good old days – consider this. A family sits down to dinner. Mom has worked hard to produce a healthy, but good tasting meal. Everyone shares the same bill-o-fare. Interaction takes place in conversation about the day, upcoming events, life in general. (In our household, all conversation is laced with plenty of laughter, jokes and silliness). We eat the same food. So one person doesn’t like the menu, but accepts it anyway. Next day, the menu is different and the person likes it, even though another person doesn’t prefer it.

Church should be like that. Learning from each other, sharing what we have, growing and responding and giving honor to one another. Excuse me. What did you say? Oh. That’s not family any more? Right. I forgot. What have we gained over what we have lost?