Christian music

[mellanella]

I just had a thought while at work (slow day in the admissions office...and I didn't bring my sermon with me to work on, nor any of my reading because I thought I'd be swamped...grrr....). The radio was on in the office and I started thinking about how the vast majority of Christians I know here at Drew don't listen to Christian music -- they

Comments

IMHO

[ivjennifer]

I could both agree and disagree on this issue. I listen to a lot of Christian music, for the main reason that I'd rather have those songs running throuhg my head than the latest G-Unit song, or whatever smut is out there on the radio. But, I also get a bit annoyed by most contemporary Christian music seeming trivial, or at least seeming to be remakes "musically" with supposedly "fresher" lyrics. Chris Tomlin is a good example of this. He writes powerful coorporate worship songs (in my opinion) but musically, he is not very talented as a guitar player. If you've ever played any of his songs yourself, you know that almost all his songs are in the same key and have the same strum pattern. Yet, his songs have literally invaded most contemporary churches BECAUSE they're playable. Most people can't adopt musically brilliant songs into their repitoire because they're not musically brilliant. I guess that's coming from my experience with different worship teams and the like.

One of my favorite Christian groups is David Crowder Band, who have maintained musical integrity and also managaed to write REALLY interesting songs. Or at least songs that don't use the same contrite lyrics as everyone else. Yes, some of their songs have been absorbed into evangelical circles, especially in the Asian-American church, but definitely not the majority.

One other thing, you say that Christian music speaks about God rather than the human experience. This is where I strongly disagree, or at least have caveat. What could be more human than our relationship with the living God? There's a way that saying that Christian artists don't understand human experience offends me, because being a Christian is all about understanding the human experience - which when it comes down to it, is about realizing sin and separation from God, acknowledging how much muck is in our lives, and bringing our dirty sinful selves before him to ask for forgiveness, and to go forward and live free in Christ within that forgiveness. I guess I feel like that's the MOST human of human experiences, and therefore, why shouldn't Christian music fall under that category? I'm just sayin...

Re: IMHO

[mellanella]

The main thing that I see on this issue is that there's so much more to our relationship with God than recognizing the sin in our lives and then repenting of it. What about sin in the world? What about breaking the bonds of oppression and seeking peace? Caring for our environment? What about the practice of spiritual disciplines? Sanctification as opposed to justification? Resting in the mystery of God? Loving our neighbors? Feeling God's absence? Or, heaven forbid, being angry at God?

So I wonder what would happen if there were more Christian artists grounded in human reality?

Perhaps this wasn't exactly what I meant, but I certainly feel like this is the case when I listen to the majority of praise and worship songs...in addition to the songs on most Christian radio stations.

I guess when it all comes down to it, to me the more powerful Christian songs are the ones that aren't necessarily overtly Christian, but transcend those barriers. To me, some clearly Christian songs are fine and wonderful and are well-done. Most...unfortunately aren't, but there's a huge market out there for them. And I suppose that's what frustrates me the most: the selling-out I feel like some artists have done, regardless of how talented they may or may not be.