Brad Hightower at [21st Century Reformation](http://www.21stcenturyreformation.blogspot.com/) has written a few posts recently about our tendency to judge a congregation’s worship by our culture. Specifically, in [this](http://21stcenturyreformation.blogspot.com/2005/02/bob-dole-and-impotent-worship.html) post, he addresses the tendency to think that a service that doesn’t do it the way you remember it when you were a kid is somehow slipping into apostacy, or at best, dishonoring God. The title of the post is “Bob Dole and Impotent Worship,” so I bet you can guess where he stands on nostalgia in worship, but he adresses the issue with much grace and insight. He continues his thoughts [here](http://21stcenturyreformation.blogspot.com/2005/02/how-big-is-your-tent-or-do-you-prefer.html) with the question, “how big is your tent?”
>We worship a Missionary God, and, if we desire to enjoy His presence, we may find that we will need to find His presence by becoming incarnational in a world other than our own. ***Those who***, like Peter, ***are being led by the Spirit*** into the world of others and who can put down their self-centeredness for just one moment, and look for God’s grace in the world around us in other boxes and other perspectives, ***these are the sons of God.***
This is a very important issue to address. A lot of churches have died over unwillingness to compromise, confusing the *content* of their worship with its *style*. This conflict isn’t always framed in terms of “hymns vs. songs.” I’ve heard of people griping because we used the contemporary worship music of the mid-90’s instead of the early 80’s.
My own church is currently making the transition from hymnals to overheads, from organs to guitars. Or perhaps, not so much a switch as a blending, which I’d like better anyway. It’s funny, though. The choir will bring out a new arrangement of a golden oldie and expect to whip it out in a night, and I’ll be completely lost. All the wizened heads will look at me: you’ve never even heard of this song? Usually, I’ll have heard one line from it, maybe a reference from a sermon. Nine times out of ten, I’ll be enamoured with the hymn, and then roll my eyes as we switch back to “Lord I lift your name on high.”
neumatikos 
are you saying that familiarity breeds contempt. Actually I love the lyrics of the old hymns — it’s the musical style I am bored with [that and the fact that they were sung by bored individuals most of my childhood]
On another note — I have been meditating recently on the scritpure that {paraphrased} says I love your habitation, Lord, the place where your glory dwells. If you’re like me, the idea of getting together with a bunch of people to sing songs and listen to a speaker pales next to the idea of watching a good movie. The “draw” is the hope of His glory. What I’ve been considering lately — as much as we desire to have His glory “come” we need to start loving the place where His glory dwells — in His people. Until we see His glory there we won’t see it manifested in our midst.
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