This is for those of you who go to Christian churches. (Everyone else, you can check out now.)
Problem: repetition of choruses.
Two times is enough. As soon as the third time starts, my brain is gone. I’m off somewhere else. Maybe trying to roam the wheat fields of Kansas. My problem is that I have a brain. It’s not the finest brain around, but it does work, most of the time. And singing the same thing over and over is not only boring to me — the tedium can be painful.
For what it’s worth — those of you who make choices in these things, give us a little more variety. Twice as many songs in the same amount of time isn’t a bad thing.
Problem two: I also have a problem with the same songs being repeated each week. I get tired of that kind of repetition too! I’m just broken. (This goes back to high school. I discovered that I didn’t like popular radio because the same songs were played over and over. I got quickly bored — again, to the point of tedium.)
My guilty secret — I get bored the first time around.
Oh man, you hit a nerve here. I soooooo agree — I hate repeating the same chorus over and over and over and... Really makes you appreciate the old hymns, that actually had some meat to them.
Hear hear.
I won’t even go into my rant on how non-traditional has become the new traditional.
Can you sing: Na, na, na, na-na-na-na. Na, na, na, na-na-na-na.... (Every Move I Make, Dave Crowder)? Or, how about, There’s no God like Jehovah 15 times straight (Days of Elijah, Robin Mark)?
yes & amen! Paul, can i ask: how many times has this bad phenomenon been happening lately in your circle? I agree with above comments too & had to chuckle at Bob’s. Lots more you can do in this kind of setting than most folks dream of (i.e. reading aloud, meditating, along with your suggestions & others of mixing in a variety of songs, hymns). My biggest issue: that songs of praise would get our eyes off of ourselves and onto God Almighty who is worthy of all praise.