Sister Act Music

[ysabetwordsmith]

The music from Sister Act  has become popular with girl choirs.   The same song appears in this flash mob.

This reunion features a different song.

I've always loved the movie.  It was a great comedy.  But more than that, it held a lot of truth.  It spoke to a very real problem: people leaving the church ("Because it's a drag!") and the challenge of enticing them back ("Get some butts in the seats!").  Bringing in the pop music element got people excited and made church seem more enjoyable and relevant instead of a chore.  The fact that the music has become popular just underscores that.  The story may be fictional, but the problem is real and the solution works.  \o/

Comments

[acelightning73]

A lot of popular music has its roots in African-American Gospel music (Aretha Franklin began as a gospel singer, and so did Whitney Houston). The call-and-response form, derived from African ceremonies, is common in rhythm and blues, rap, rock, jazz, and even show tunes. (Sometimes it seems as if all music came out of Africa.) And when that awkward farm girl lets loose with "Cherubim!", who could resist?

Yep, the solution works well

[ng_moonmoth]

Check out Griffin Educational Solutions for another example of making drudgery fun by incorporating music.

[siliconshaman]

...and I've heard some Church people saying they don't like all this secular pop music, because church should be solemn and it's not there to entertain people...

Some people aren't satisfied until everyone else is just as miserable as they are.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Nailed it.

I'm guessing those folks have never read the ... sometimes extremely lewd ... things that nuns have written about Jesus.

In any case, if people don't find church gratifying, they don't go. It can be entertaining, socially connecting, spiritually satisfying, a safety net, and/or anything else they need. But it has to do something for them in order to justify investing time and energy there. I think the visitation team description's observation about needing compatible friends to stay in a church was very astute. Another source mentioned a friend, a responsibility, and a spiritual connection.

[(Anonymous)]

5yo, when he was 3, used to love going to church. He'd go to the nursery and hang out with his regular baby-sitter (that's how we found her, actually), come up for communion, hang out with us briefly during a prayer and a song, and then do coffee hour.

Then Covid hit.

We did Zoom church for a while, because kiddo could quietly play with Lego while listening. But then they reopened for in-person services.

No nursery. No Sunday School. Communion is weird. Coffee hour is sort of back, but it's *very* weird. And now we have 1yo to contend with, too.

And the priest doesn't understand why the few families with young kids haven't come back!

--Laura G