More Willow feedback

Getting some great comments and feedback on the Willow Creek post. But the last comment bothered me.

The person wrote: "Now don't get me wrong -- I enjoy Rock & Roll, but don't ever recall hearing a rock song that is profoundly beautiful and touches the soul."

WHAT?

Have you ever listened to Roxy Music's Avalon? The second side (dating myself here) of the Police's Synchronicity? How about U2's Joshua Tree? "One Tree Hill" still makes me cry. Eric Johnson's "40 Mile Town" makes mere mortals crumble. "I Am Waiting" by Yes. "To Be a Man" by Boston, beautifully sung by the late Brad Delp and haunting knowing he just recently took his life. "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits used to make an old college girlfriend cry, and she hated rock and roll. "Sad Lisa" by Cat Stephens brings me back to my days listening to my mom's old records in the living room.

I'm shooting myself in the foot by listing just a few of hundreds of rock and roll songs that "touch the soul."

Why do you think I listen to music? To have something in the background while writing a story? Yes. To be moved by melody and lyrics? YES YES YES! I was walking the other day listening to my iPod Shuffle when "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel from Secret World Live came on and all of a sudden I was at the other end of South Park and I had no idea how I got there.

Are we "dumbing down" by offering a service appealing to youth and contemporary audiences? With that attitude, there simply won't be a church in another five or 10 years, at least not at 12th and Maine. Organ music and 300-year old hymns just won't do it anymore. It's not wrong and if it moves you, it's where you should be.

Music should inspire and connect, whatever form you choose.

Listen. If I watch the show "Ozzie & Harriet" today, I'd be bored out of my mind, and it's a personal choice.

And seeking something more isn't wrong.