We Don’t Need Worship Music

Ohhhhh Pete Rollins.  Such an unusual little man.  He’s deep and challenging and creative.  His latest piece on his blog is about worship music.  Here’s an excerpt:

Part of the reason why I get caught off guard lies in the way that so much Christian music emulates the structure of popular music. In order to begin to reflect upon what this means (and these are only provisional reflections) we could offer the following working definition of worship music: any music that presents someone or thing as the fulfilment of a gap at the core of our being.

For example a worship song might hold up a woman, fame, sex, money, revenge, Jesus etc. as that which is the answer to our sense of being incomplete. This should not be confused with a piece of music that simply celebrates and upholds someone or thing as good, beautiful and worthy. Rather it describes a song that holds someone or thing as the absolute answer.

It is not then the person or thing which makes a piece of music a worship song but rather the position that person or thing holds in the song itself (as that which fills, or would fill, a perceived void).

The most immediate problem with singing such songs in church lies in the way that it reduces the source of faith to just one more product promising us fulfilment and happiness in our soul. The church is then reduced to just one more company with it’s advertising sales pitch, it’s promises of happiness and it’s impotent snake oil supplement to supposedly enhance our lives.

Read the whole piece here: “The Church Shouldn’t Do Worship, The Charts Have That Covered”

Music Review: Trent Cory

 

This album has been out for a while. I’m a little late on the scene!  But I thought it was still worth reviewing .  So here’s the deal with this fellow. He has an extraordinary voice. A strong, masculine, and controlled voice. Definitely a powerhouse, but never overpowering. This a live worship album, kind of in the same vein as Israel Houghton’s work. A lively and palatable blend of gospel and pop. Many of the tunes will have you doing your “church jump”. You know that little Holy Spirit hop Pentecostals do when they get excited!  There is nothing incredibly unique or groundbreaking about this album. It’s just good, solid, sing-your-guts-out, worship music. It’s an album you can listen to straight through, and those are rare these days.

Good Tunes

Not sure how long this guy has been around.  I don’t think he’s new…but he’s new to me!  And this is a solid album!

These days I have a hard time finding Christian music I like.  The mainstream CCM kind of stuff sounds so bland and generic that it could effectively function as white noise for me.  And much of the modern rock worship is following the same trajectory.

And then there’s THIS guy!  He has a versatile voice, capable of soft, breathy utterances as well as gritty, bluesy edge.  At times, he reminds me of Adam Levine of Maroon5.  Also reminds of Warren Barfield.  The songs are well-crafted and totally worshipful. It’s truly a solid album–mainstream enough to go down smoothly but unique enough to keep your attention.

Are You Bored With Christian Music?

I can only handle so much of that music…you know, the hip guy with the acoustic guitar and the “worshipy” voice singing over sound-alike pop tracks  with lyrics as artistically sophisticated as first grade refrigerator art  OR the rock n’ roll Jesus, electric guitar riffing, belt your lungs out stuff…

Well, I happened upon this album on iTunes a little while ago:

This is a GREAT album!  The vocalist has a nice husky, raspy, and controlled voice. The music is a mix of folk and blues, with some really good blues licks, a little bit of twang, and some solid backup vocals.  I think it’s a multipurpose album. It’s good for intimate worship, background/chillin music, or singing your heart out in the shower or car.  This is a musically interesting and lyrically excellent album. For its freshness alone, I’d say it’s one of the best Christian albums out right now.

Confused and Awed

The more I ponder on the work of Christ on the cross, the less it makes sense to me.  And that worries me.  Am I losing what little understanding I have?  Am I regressing?  Is this a gradual blindness to the things of God?

Or is it awe?

The mystery, the wonder, the absurdity of the son of God crucified to redeem the world. I mean…WHAT?!  What is that?  And then there’s this Spirit that lives inside of us.  It’s wild!  God is crazy! (And I mean that in all reverence.)  I’ve been saturating myself with The Word for the past few days, and, I confess, there is an anxiety swelling within me, because I am perplexed by the things of God. I read. I study.  Why am I perplexed?  But my faith remains and is even strengthened, perhaps.  

Maybe this is the beginning of child-like faith. How humbling.  Everything I believe doesn’t “make sense”, yet I believe it anyway!  Maybe this is awe.

Twittering During Church?

I came across a blog post today about people Twittering during church services.  OH MY GOSH!  The thought of people doing this horrifies me.  I get on my students all the time for text messaging while I’m teaching.  I seriously consider it completely disrespectful and distracting.  I just cringe when I picture people sitting in church pushing buttons on their little gadgets instead of actively listening to their preacher or focusing on worshipping the Lord. I don’t mean to be puritanical, but seriously!  Leave your gadgets in the car, or, if you will absolutely die without it, at least turn it off during church and ignore your technological pseudo-conversations long enough to fully be where you are.  

But I’m not really down with Twitter anyway.  I used to have a Twitter account, and then it dawned me that I actually didn’t really care about what my random acquaintances were doing every moment of every day.  And I wasn’t convinced any of them actually cared about what I was doing either.  I can just tell you that my life isn’t interesting and save you the trouble of following me on Twitter.  Ha.  Just another way the internet fosters the illusion of intimacy.

Okay, I’m done with my rant now.  I seem to be ranting a lot lately!  Mmmmm…I prefer the term “expressing my righteous indignation”.  ;)