The State of Worship, Part 2: Purpose and Motivation
The first part of this post was (honestly) mostly a rant, but it outlined some of the problem from my perspective. I make no claims that it is THE perspective to view this debate from, only that it could be a common one. Having been a guitarist for six years, which is longer than I’ve been a Christian (and thus listening to Christian music), I bring a “less-churched,” if not an “un-churched,” perspective to the table.
Worship is ANYTHING that we do that fulfills God’s purpose for us and thus glorifies Him. This can be anything from working in your garden and rearing children with your spouse (Genesis 1:28) to writing and playing sweet guitar riffs (Psalm 33:3). If we do these things with God-given motivation and purpose, then we are worshipping Him indeed!
A fair number of Christians, particularly those in the American Evangelical Christian “sub-culture,” seem to have abandoned or compromised the very motivations and purposes that define worship, with respect to music. Anthony Bradley wrote a profound post reflecting on the keen observations made by the writers of the hit TV show South Park. The episode, “Christian Rock Hard,” shows how the character Cartman was able to produce a platinum album by rewriting the object of popular love songs as “Jesus” or “God.”
Theologian and blogger C. Michael Patton describes his frustration with the Christian music sub-culture this way:
Let me just say it. I think that most Christian music is fake. I would much rather hear about people’s real lives, real struggles, and real passions than the shallow stuff that I hear coming out of the Christian music industry. Transparency is the key. I would rather hear someone honestly wrestling with the difficulties of life than listen to those who act like they have all the answers when I know this is not really the case. I would rather hear someone honestly cursing God than hypocritically praising His name. Music is about touching the deepest part of the human soul, grabbing a hold of the passions in a way that no other form of communication can.
It seems like the acceptable standard for “quality” Christian music is that the topic is about Jesus. Tim Smith, worship pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle, nicely gives perspective:
If you want to twang out country music that’s great, we have a place for you, but you better twang just as good as the popular non-Christian country players… Your heart AND your fingers need to be in the right place if you are going to play in corporate worship. Mediocre playing on a guitar with your heart in the right place is great worship, but it’s not great corporate worship.
Additionally, is our purpose and motivation to contribute to a library of “acceptable” music we can run to when big-bad culture disagrees with our convictions? Or is it to change the world? Patton goes on:
U2 sings real songs. [Some of them are] Christians, but they are not a Christian band. Why? Because they want to make an impact in the real world, speaking about real issues with honesty, openness, and transparency.
He also wrote a follow up on this excellent post here.
If “prom songs to Jesus” are the best we’ve got… God help us. We desperately need to recover the sweat and blood-stained reality of life of the Bible. Between the confused petitions of David in the Psalms, to the emptiness preached by Solomon in Ecclesiastes, we see men loved by God claim that life often just sucks. We live in a world bruised and battered by evil, and that is why Jesus came in the first place (1 John 3:8). There’s nothing wrong with recognizing this because it recognizes our need for Him.
That is all I have for right now. With the third and final part of this series, I will take a look at some specific instances where Christians actually get this right.
Interesting, I look forward to reading the final part.
You make a compelling argument, Brad. I have no ear for music, but maybe I should look at trying to express myself in poetry again.
Quester,
Yeah, if I had to pick 1 thing I’d like to change about the worship scene, it would be creativity.
Poetry, lyrics, it doesn’t matter. We need more creative juices, so write away! Were you a prolific writer at one time?
Yeah, I was always writing poetry in high school. It was practically my version of fidgeting. By university, I tended more to parables, only one of which I still like and use. I’ve got ideas for short stories and novels, but I don’t seem to have the attention span to finish anything I can’t write in one sitting (often revising years later, but still, a usable version is done in one sitting).
Are you familiar at all with Creative Theology (the only works I know on the subject are Dorothy L. Sayers’).
“we see men loved by God claim that life often just sucks.” (Brad)
For me, I have thought along this line of reasoning for some time now and I think listening to a variety of artists - Christian or not - is the key. All music is people struggling with something - for some it’s a heroin addiction, or an un-just war, or maybe even problems in the church. But all music is this struggle and people write as they see it. So why stick to music that is Christian in nature (I love U2 by the way) - shouldn’t we also peruse other musicians and what they are saying (ie: Lennon, Dylan, or even 2-Pac)?
societyvs,
YES YES YES YES YES! Absolutely… If you only listen to music or read material written by people who agree with you, your kids will start lookin kinda funny…
There is a growing movement in the church of Christians who are actually interacting with culture as a whole (but especially the music scene), and it is just… refreshing.
A few of my “secular” (but more well known) favs:
Rage Against the Machine
Chevelle
Breaking Benjamin
A Perfect Circle (talk about NOT Christian…)
Pearl Jam
STP
And of course Linkin Park…
The list could go on… I’m a rocker at heart, but I love all kinds of music. Yeah… we definitely need to get out of our box more. There’s some great stuff out there…
Rage is a personal favorite of mine. There is just something unique about a band that can work quotes from 1984 into their songs and make it work.
Fugees. Seriously.
Kyle,
Hehe… please don’t hurt me, but…. who?
I’ll check ‘em out.
Currently, my iPod has everything from Guns N Roses to Handel. I work in a Christian bookstore so I listen to a lot of Christian music.
Are you familar with any of the Cross Movement Record guys? They have some very differant stuff.
Dee,
Actually, no. Pray tell.
“Currently, my iPod has everything from Guns N Roses to Handel.”
Now THAT’s diversity… Nice.
Cross Movement is a group of mostly rappers out of Philly. Their main focus is ministy. CMR people include:
Flame, LaCrae, Ambassador (who has an MDiv from Dallas Theological Seminary), DaTruth, JR, R-Swift, Tadshei, Everyday Process, Trip Lee, Phantick and those are the ones I can remember.
The topics of their music are very different. Flame’s most recent project “Our World Fallen” is one of my favorites.
you………..don’t………know……….the……………fugees?
Brad………..I won’t hurt you. But you need some edumacation now!
hahahaha… Thank you! I would love some edumacation now.
Hit me.
Brad,
I posted a listing of my favorite bands yesterday. Posted one a couple of weeks ago of my favorite solo artists. Some of my friends are already giving me grief about it.
Brad. I have a CD for you right now. I hope you will make one for me. We will music exchange?
Kyle,
SWEET. Got any requests?
… it’s been a while since I burned a CD….
Dee,
Wha? If it’s anything like the list you have up there now, I can’t imagine why it would be something to give you grief over… can you link it? I’d be interested in reading it for sure…
Brad,
I think I was a little unclear. It is the Fav bands I’m getting the grief over. Some of the college students from church were giving me a hard time over the Fray. Here is my list of fav solo artists. There is a video from Flame one of the Cross Movement guys.
“Let me just say it. I think that most Christian music is fake. I would much rather hear about people’s real lives, real struggles, and real passions than the shallow stuff that I hear coming out of the Christian music industry. Transparency is the key. I would rather hear someone honestly wrestling with the difficulties of life than listen to those who act like they have all the answers when I know this is not really the case. I would rather hear someone honestly cursing God than hypocritically praising His name. Music is about touching the deepest part of the human soul, grabbing a hold of the passions in a way that no other form of communication can.”
Well, I was only going to suggest that you stop by my sight if you want to know about a real person struggling with real difficulties. (You might want to brace yourself, though, if you persuse “A Dark & Stormy Night”.)
However, on another note, that last sentence punched me across the face–Again. I have lost 60% of my hearing so I rarely listen to music anymore, though there was a time I could hear just as well as anyone and I listened to music as much as any hearing person. Having once attended a Deaf church, I know that Sign is much more passionate, much more touching, much more emotional, much more authentic, and a much more effective means of communication than music will ever be.
(Pretty ironic that I’m writing this because U2 is the only band I’ve ever seen in concert. And that was during their ZooTV Tour back in 1992.)
Go wild, brotha