Rant: Contemporary Christian Music and Why I Don't Like It

This post probably won't make sense to people who don't listen to contemporary Christian music. Unless the reason that you don't listen to Christian music is that you, like some other bloggers I respect, are tired of hearing it and think it is an insult to your spiritual intelligence, Christianity's rich history, and, most importantly, Who God Is. When I say Contemporary Christian Music (for brevity, let's call it CCM, shall we?) I refer to both the industry (albums, the marketing, delerious?, Passion, WOW, Third Day, etc. You know.) and the songs that are prevalent in pretty much every contemporary worship service. Often, these overlap and we find ourselve singing delerious? in church (alternatively, sometimes we find delerious? singing songs we sing in church.)

This is something I have felt for a long time, actually. With the exception of a few remarkable albums (who can deny that Jars of Clay's first album really is great? And Newsboys "Shine"? A classic) I find most CCM musically tedious. This is not songwriting at its best. Chords, strumming patterns, melody and harmony-after a few of these songs, they all sound the same. There is a startling lack of musical creativity. And this is the least of our concerns.

Consider the lyrics from these popular songs:

1. Hold me close to you / never let me go / I lay it all down again / to hear you say that I'm your friend. (generic worship song)

2. If I could just sit with you a while / if you could just hold me / nothing can touch me though I'm wounded, though I die. (We ignore, for the purpose of the greater good, the fact that "can" is grammatically incorrect and should be "could.") (MercyMe)

3. I can only imagine / What it will be like / When I walk / By your side / I can only imagine / What my eyes will see / When your face / Is before me (MercyMe)

4. I got you and you're putting it all together / And it doesn't get any better as far as I can tell / I got you right now and ever after / And it doesn't even really matter / That I've got nothing else / 'Cause I got you (Third Day)

Now consider lyrics from these popular songs (I admittedly stole the first from Sister Act, but my point remains):

1. I will follow him, follow him wherever he may go. There isn't an ocean too deep, a mountain so high it can keep me away. (Little Peggy March)

2. I've been searching for you / I heard a cry within my soul / I never had a yearning quite like this before. (Lenny Kravitz)

3.I've hungered for your touch / a long, lonely time / and time goes by so slowly / and time can do so much / are you still mine? / I need your love / I need your love (The Righteous Brothers)

4. I got you, babe. (Sonny and Cher)

Hard to tell a difference? Hmmm.

Now consider these lyrics:

1. Three in one, the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity / Pleased as man with men to dwell / Jesus our emmanuel! (Charles Wesley)

2. O love of God, how rich and pure! / How measureless and strong! / It shall forevermore endure / The saints' and angels' song. (Frederick Lehman)

3. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours, thru him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever. (Martin Luther)

In fairness, I am not against CCM, and I have represented here what I think are some of the shallowest of the lot. Also, there are many shallow hymns that probably didn't make it into our hymnals because they were (rightly) forgotten 100 years ago. There are wonderful CCM songs out there that I love to sing and that have decent theological pinnings and encourage a spirit of worship in the church. There are a lot that are straight Scripture, and there are those that echo hymns. But you don't have to be an English major-or a Christian-to notice that the quality of music and lyrics has steadily declined over the years. Where is Scripture? What God are we worshipping when we sing, "I love you, I love you, I need you to hold my hand"? Do these songs prod us to a greater understanding of who He is or do they feed an emotion? Do they edify the body of Christ? Where are the songs about Him? Why do I always feel like I'm singing about myself instead of about Him? (Answer: Because the songs are about me.)

We are selling ourselves short by viewing God as Cosmic Boyfriend. Worship does not equal feeling in love. Feeling in love does not equal Good Christian.

God is not my Cosmic Boyfriend. I don't get butterflies in my stomach when I think about Him. He isn't there to send me flowers and tell me that He doesn't know how He lived without me. He is God who, among other things, lists on his resume: Creator of the Universe, Redeemer of Mankind, Triune, Holy, Blameless, Lion of Judah, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God. Of course I love him (not as much as I should), and of course he loves me (enough to die!)-but is it a romantic love? Jesus is a "friend of sinners," He is the "lover of my soul," but He is so much more than just my pal. (He was, it seems, John's pal, but that's another story.) Does God ever tell Paul that they are best buds? Does Peter talk about feeling romantically in love with God? The love they talk about is not romantic. It's not emotional, it's not chocolate-and-flowers. In fact, it seems like our emotions toward God are rarely even talked about in the Gospels. There are times I need comforting, and then the Holy Spirit comforts, because that's his job, but he doesn't comfort me the way my boyfriend comforts. God is tender, loving, and caring. He is my provider. But we aren't "in love," in the modern pop-song sense, with Jesus (although one can certainly feel in love with Him once in a while) My job is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. My job is to follow him, not because I'm in love with Him, but because He is God, with everything that means. It's love, but it's a reverent, awe-struck, fearful, deliberate love. And when the Bible talks about love, it's usually God's amazing love and mercy toward us despite how wretched we are.

I think this represents a dangerous trend in the American church in general, the God-as-Teddy-Bear view, a.k.a. The Prosperity Gospel, Health & Wealth, Your Best Life Now, and to a lesser extent The Purpose-Driven Life. The basics are the same: God is there to make you feel good about yourself! He is your coach! Your therapist! Your lover! You will do great if you just listen to Him! I just don't see this in the Bible. I do, unfortunately, see it more and more often in modern worship songs.

And now I am done ranting. What do you think?

P.S. I know many people love him, and I can't really find anything doctrinally wrong with many of his songs, except that I have always found them musically questionable and very hard to sing and I JUST CANT TAKE ANY MORE MATT REDMAN. I JUST CAN'T. I bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required??? WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN AND CAN ANYONE ACTUALLY SING THIS MELODY?