I remember quite vividly how important meaning in words became to me when I entered college. There I began to get answers to questions I had struggled with, but could not adequately name. Being able to use concepts, categories, and theories, and to do analysis of central personal and social questions was life-giving. Most young people do not engage meaning in this way. A fourth characteristic of new practices is that of story.
Story is important in any culture.
Leonard Sweet says that in an oral culture, story is communication. Further, he suggests that in a literate culture story is illustrative. It advances the more literate point one is making. Worship is clearly directed to God. Nor ought we make an idol of literate forms of worship or of classical music.