I’m done with Huckabee
Posted by Joseph Knippenberg
I should have known that he’d be a praise service kind of guy.
10:49 AM / January 7, 2008
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I'm a "praise service kind of guy," which may explain a few things for those who know me. My church uses a projector instead of hymnals, but the songs range across the spectrum of what Ephesians 5:19 calls "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." In my younger days, I listened to a band called Undercover, which first had a singer who reflected the joy of the Lord, and then had a singer who reflected the fear of the Lord. I liked them both, and appreciate a worship service that incorporates and invites praise to the God who made us that reflects these and many other attributes of the Almighty.
What's wrong with being a praise service guy? I am on the praise team at my church and I absolutely love it!!
On a related note, why is the media paying so much attention to Huckabee's religious life and not the other candidates. (besides the back that he is a former pastor) Nearly every candidate attends church while they are campaigning. Hillary even said while at a church a few weeks ago in Iowa "this is the day the Lord has made." And the media claims that is an example of her faith and a good thing. When Huck does it, they make it out to be a bad thing.
What do you expect from a bass player? :-)
I don't like praise music because I think one result of repetative chorus singing (intentional or not) is to induce a mildly altered state of consciousness. Some see this as inducive to worship. I see it as inducive of suspending good judgement.
Honestly, I think Huck's bass playing is a bit obnoxious. Not because I have anything against bass playing or modern music outside the walls of the church. It just seems to me like he is trying a little too hard to be "cool." "Yeah, I'm a preacher, but I'm not one of those uptight, rule bound preachers." He remninds me of the preacher's kid in school who throws out a few cuss words every now and then to prove they are not too spiritual.
But seriously folks....
My own taste in worship is much more traditional, but I don't really hold it against Huckabee, at least as long as he doesn't propose a tax on hymnals or a subsidy for Power Point projectors.
Was I wrong not to pick up a negative vibe from the WaPo article? I thought it a good sign that he isn't just taking a completely different course in campaigning in a state where evangelicals aren't major political players. I also thought it a good sign that he preached what appears to have been a relatively non-political sermon. This distinguishes his appearances in church from those of most Democrats, who are frank, for example, in using African-American churches as bases of political mobilization.
Music in church? Surely, 'tis only the Whore of Babylon who can be responsible for such an abomination.
I suspected it, but hadn't had it confirmed for me until now. There are still Baptists (my daughter's piano teacher, for example--I'm no bigot) who sing out of hymnals.
Just for this I'm writing in Father Neuhaus.