Today’s Abductive Columns email from Fred Peatross (NB the emails appear on the blog some days later) talks about how the twentieth century was the first in which the church followed rather than led culture. We ended up trying to be culturally relevant rather than culturally innovative. He makes a plea for rediscovering the abilities of artists.
In particular he suggests at the end some examples, including ‘listening to a new rendition of Amazing Grace accompanied by an acoustic guitar’. Which makes me think of two particular examples. One was at our wedding blessing service. Having filled the music with contemporary worship music expertly played by our friends in the band, the final song/hymn was Amazing Grace. Before the service my cousin’s wife had commented upon seeing the order of service, ‘All that lovely music and they’re ending with that boring old hymn!’ What she and most of the congregation didn’t know was that our friend Gary Rossiter, trumpeter extraordinaire, had written a jazz/blues arrangement. It blew the place away – Christians and non-Christians alike.
And the other resonance is this: you have to hear, one day before you die, Daniel Lanois‘ astonishing reworking of Amazing Grace on his Acadie CD with Aaron Neville on lead vocal. I have used it in worship. You need a congregation that is willing to be receptive, though. I used it in place of a sermon.
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