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Super Church a song for the Emergent-sy

In the early 70s I was in a youth choir at my church. Our youth pastor was a musician and his way of connecting with us as a group was through the choir and music. Somehow there was an affiliation between him and The Continental Singers, New Hope and Jeremiah People. He was worked with Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus too, I think. Are any of these names familiar to you? Though I remember the church fondly I was a profoundly lost and troubled young woman during my years there. That and time have muddled the memories quite a bit.

Today I was digging through some old paperwork and one of the books to the musical we did. It's Getting Late For the Great Planet Earth, a folk rock oratorio by Cam Floria. Yes, that's right. Cam Floria put Hal Lindsey to music. There's a lot to laugh about and some to groan about but as I was looking through the songs and remembering, I found this little ditty and I only wish I could sing it for you. Just remember that this is circa 1972 and even then the emergent movement was a plague. Please think country ho-down or Hee Haw meets The Music Man while you're reading and see if it reminds you of anything emergent-sy...




Super Church

Lawrence Holben and Lex De Azevedo


Now if this church is going to prosper,
We need a more progressive posture,
No time to wait, we got to organize!
We need a super church to guide us,
Forget the doctrines that divide us,
The time has come for a little
compromise!

Yes Lord!

What we need is a brand new gospel,
The old one's just too cold and hostile,
You can't make friends by trampling on their toes!
People don't want no guilt and sorrow!
They want a brighter day tomorrow,
And some place they can wear their newest clothes!

Yes Lord!

We may need to soft pedal Jesus, He might make divisions rise!
Forget about them bible stories, Cut them old myths down to size!
Forget the resurrection thesis,
We just want the words of Jesus,
On brotherhood and love and no more war.
The miracles can be dispensed with,
There's no need to be incensed with,
Arguments on doctrine anymore!

Yes Lord!

Morality is antiquated,
The modern man's emancipated!
From do's and don'ts that only give you guilt!
We won't try to change your living,
There's nothing left that needs forgiving!
Your life is short so live it to the hilt!
Yes Lord!

We may need to soft pedal Jesus, He might make divisions rise!
Forget about them bible stories, Cut them old myths down to size!


Join the social revolution,
Praying never made solutions,
To poverty or inner city crime.
Broadmindedness sure beats dogmatics.
We wouldn't want to be fanatics,
A person's got to keep up with the times!

Now if this church is going to prosper,
We need a more progressive posture,
No time to wait, we got to organize!
We need a super church to guide us,
Forget the doctrines that divide us,
The time has come for a little
compromise!

Yes, Lord!


Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Rosemarie! Haven't heard from ya in a bit and so i'm just checking in to see if all is alright!
Mark said…
Hello - I just happened to stumble across your site and saw this post! I too was in a youth choir in High School when this came out, and we ended up presenting this to our church. Needless to say, it was a little controversial, especially as it was a church on a military reservation. I actually still have the wire-bound song book and the Continental Singers version on LP.

How strange to see another mention it after all this time...
rosemarie said…
Mark,

Ah! Memories. It was a difficult time in my life and I was grateful for the diversion. My theology is much deeper, stronger and truer now but I am still grateful for the experience. Our church had 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire and Jews for Jesus performing as well as The Continental Singers, Jeremiah People and some home grown groups. I still listen to the 2nd Chapter of Acts- what incredible harmonies they had.
George said…
well,I thought that the only one who knew this LP was me!!

Today i have this long-play,

My name Is George Ducheski, i am brazilian citizen, and i have a lot of old long play,

IT`S GETTING IS wonderful and still so new, so actual.

I have it on MP3, if somebody wants, I can share it!

god blessings,


Geo

george.duralumi@hotmail.com
Anonymous said…
I saw the Continental Singers perform It's Getting Late in Sydney, Australia in the early 70's (they were great). I was in a similar group called the Young World Singers, we used to perform some of the Ralph Carmichael musicals. I still have the album of It's Getting Late and the libretto book. It is a great Christian musical.
Jakob said…
I've listened to the album from the continental singers "it's getting late" when I was very young. My mom used to hide the cover, because of the graphics ;-) Nowadays, the record of my parents is worn out, not playable anymore since many years.
Can't find the music anywhere, except amazon, but it's very expensive to send a record overseas, to my home in The Netherlands.

Anybody who reads this and still have this music, please help me and my family out, so we can enjoy this very actual record again.
Txbamafn said…
I don't know if this blog is still active, but I stumbled on while researching "It's Getting Late". The church youth choir I was in when I was in the 7th grade performed this musical. While rehearsing it for months, we studied Hal Lindsey's corresponding book. It was en extremely life-impacting experience. I just found the LP album on Amazon. CAN'T WAIT to get it!! Maranatha!!
Txbamafn said…
I don't know if this blog is still active, but I stumbled on while researching "It's Getting Late". The church youth choir I was in when I was in the 7th grade performed this musical. While rehearsing it for months, we studied Hal Lindsey's corresponding book. It was en extremely life-impacting experience. I just found the LP album on Amazon. CAN'T WAIT to get it!! Maranatha!!

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