Poetry Quote by Kathleen Norris
““One difficulty that people seeking to modernize hymnals and the language of worship inevitably run into is that contemporaries are never the best judges of what works and what doesn’t. This is something all poets know; that language is a living thing, beyond our control, and it simply takes time for the trendy to reveal itself, to become so obviously dated that it falls by the way, and for the truly innovative to take hold.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Language of Worship, Kathleen Norris, 2015
Modernizing worship language is hard because current speakers lack perspective; language evolves naturally and only time reveals what endures versus what becomes dated.
In simple terms: Updating worship language is tricky; time shows what works.
Key Takeaway
Allow language to mature organically before judging.
Themes
tradition
innovation
language
worship
Mood
reflective
hopeful
Type
theoretical
practical
When to use this quote
- church services
- songwriting
- scripture translation
- faith community meetings
Key Concepts
linguistics
cultural evolution
theology
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you balance tradition with fresh expression?
- What signs indicate a worship phrase has become dated?
A Different Perspective
Rapid changes may alienate congregants.
![“Those songs [from church], I think, shaped to some degree how I would evolve as a writer, pentameter of songs, the melodies of those kind of hillbilly hymns - I used to refer to them - because they were not Southern gospel as much as they were passed down from Scottish Welsh Protestant hymnals.” quote by Dwight Yoakam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/71f/dwight-yoakam-9632_christianity_those-songs-from-church-i-think-shaped-t_613462.jpg)
