One of the most divisive regularly scheduled events in America happened just a few weeks ago: the Superbowl Halftime Show. Maybe you noticed that a lot of friends and family loved it and a lot of you ummmm… didn’t.  And some of you didn’t know who those entertainers even were!

Why does music have the power it does in our hearts? How can it both delight and enrage us? God made us to love and create and appreciate beauty, but beauty is in the eye of the be-hearer. 

This is especially pertinent to Churches in America. What happened in Superbowl Sunday also happens every Sunday across the country. It’s easy to baptize our particular opinions on worship, “They are just stuck in their ways and not open to the Spirit” or “They’re just singing Jesus is my boyfriend and the same shallow seven words on repeat.” But the truth is that every generation must learn humility and generosity for each other’s worship language. This generation’s Hillsong will be the next generation’s “Gaithers.”

Dr. Cliff Ganus has spent a lifetime studying and presenting on the history of church singing and worship practices. Join us at PV for the next three weeks as we try to understand why music touches us so deeply and what Christians in generations past have done to worship together. If we are going to attempt to go against the culture and be an intergenerational church we need to learn where we’ve been and how to get where we’re going… together.