On June 23 my wife and I attended an all-Beethoven concert by the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. We noticed that over half of the musicians were under 40 and half of them were young women. One cellist was shorter than her cello. Most unique was the cartoon artist who illustrated the 6th Symphony on a large screen while it was being performed by the orchestra. Like many orchestras in America most attendees were grey, but the artist prompted laughter and applause. The attempt to attract young people to the concert hall was obvious.
Churches of all stripes are jazzing up the music and using video clips in the sermon. One church I attended had worshippers stand for a half hour while the praise team did their thing. A Lutheran friend of mine didn’t think the re-design was having a positive effect on his attendance. He told his dwindling congregation to make sure the last man out turned off the lights.
In the 1960’s I attended a conference pushing legislation to enforce Sunday closing legislation. An elderly Baptist pastor rose to his feet and made a passionate speech. Maybe if we pastors always preached Bible sermons that addressed the Gospel and touched hearts that were hurting we would not need laws to bring people to church.
News reporters ran to the phones to get the story to press quickly. They believed the Baptist pastor was on to something. I agree with the Baptist pastor.