Okay, shoot me. I don't like "worship music".

I just don't! I think it's cheesy. It lacks creativity. Nine times out of ten, the music ruins it for me. Sometimes I so disagree with the message of the song that the words kill it for me.

Recently I've been exposed to a lot of it. It hasn't been pretty, and it's really all I've been able to do to not openly criticize or make fun of it. And I've felt guilty. I really have felt like a bad person. How can you not like "worship music." I mean, it's supposed to be God's music, right?

Then I started thinking of it in terms of preference. I don't like "worship music" as a genre. It's not that I have never felt worshipful in song (although I've always contended that I feel more worshipful in other activities, such as study, service, etc.). I feel very worshipful when I hear certain songs. Have you listened to Lauryn Hill's Unplugged 2.0 album? I couldn't help but feel as if I were abandoning thoughts and heart to God while listening to that. What about U2's "All That You Can't Leave Behind"? There's a song by Ron Sexsmith called "The Idiot Boy" which is a wonderful worship song. This is the music I prefer to worship to. So it's not that I do not worship in song. It's that I see no real distinguishing line between "sacred" music and everything else, except that sacred music is any music that is honestly and earnestly seeking to express truth. If that's the case, then where does that leave "worship music" as a genre?

Honestly, I think that makes it a matter of preference. Asking me to jump up and down to "Jesus, You are My Best Friend" is like me asking you to foxtrot to old country music if you hate old country music. You wouldn't enjoy it, would you? Now imagine that everyone around you had so lionized that type of music that you felt guilty for not foxtrotting.

A local church here is advertising that their music is "distinctively sacred sounding", and not just whitewashed rock or country music. I wonder if there is such a thing as "sacred sounding" music... and I don't think there is. So I don't like "worship music" as a genre. So shoot me. Yet the beauty behind Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" can bring tears to my eyes when I think of how simple yet profound Christ's redemption of us is. What is a poor boy to do?

I think I'll go listen to some music.
posted by Stephen at 10:59 PM | |

 
As I write this, I am listening to a radio interview on NPR with Hillary Rodham Clinton. By the way, the interviewer is Terry Gross of Fresh Air, and it's anything but a real interview. She's not interested in anything but stroking Hillary. I think one of the questions went something like this, "Do you ever have the urge to just say to some of your husband's critics, 'You judged my husband for personal shortcomings, but you're a hypocrite, because I know about things in YOUR private life'?" Journalism at it's most lack-luster.

Anyhow, there are two things that are standing out to me. The first is how out of touch with reality Clinton is. To listen to her talk about Republicans and conservatives, you'd get the impression that she really thinks that they all are anti–black people, anti-poor people, anti-public education. The only reason they want to overturn Roe v. Wade is because they don't like women. They only want to dismantle Medicare because they hate old people. Whether you think these things are good ideas or not (I, myself, am a split), any intellectually honest and reasonable person would realize that these are NOT the reasons why people want to get rid of Medicare or overturn Roe. A person that does think these things is either 1) only saying it to politically paint their opponents in bad colors (which makes them a liar) or 2) are serverly out of touch with reality. She should not be a senator, either way you cut it.

The second thing that struck me was how self-absorbed she is. You can say, "Sure, Stephen, she's a politician... what do you expect?" But this is beyond anything I've ever seen, and I've been watching politics for a while. EVERYTHING is about Hillary, and she's always on the side of right; her opponents are always backwards, uncaring, or stupid. It's almost hysterical how self-promoting and self-aggrandizing she is.

To be honest, I've never liked Hillary. To me, she represents everything that is wrong with politics: blind allegiance to an ideology regardless of reality, power politics and the "party first" mentality (truth and justice be damned), and utter gall to talk out of both sides of the mouth in the same sentence as long as it "sounds good." It's really ludicrous, and I wish she'd just go away.
posted by Stephen at 4:31 PM | |

 
Random Thoughts
Mark has listed a great table of contents for a graduation gift book over at his blog.

Anyone have any suggestions for treating poison ivy? Those cool vines growing up the north side of our house weren't as cool as we thought. Amy and I both have the skin rashes to prove it...she has it worse than I.

Every theater in the US should show Saving Private Ryan for one week during the week on June 7th.

I'm vegetable gardening now...it's the coolest thing. I think we should all be reminded that God's first command to mankind was to keep and tend a garden.




posted by Jimmy at 11:17 PM | |

 
Church®: A Disenfranchised Christian's View of Ecclesia Americanus
Chapter 2: One Church, extra Cheese, please--Christian Consumerism Pt. 1
Outline (*note: I've changed the order of the chapters. I've moved Chapter 2 -- Pastor®:Ministry and the Hired Gun to Chapter 4, and moved 3 & 4 on Christian consumerism to 2 & 3. It flows better.)

--Getting Fat in America
Consumer America
McChurch...the mall of ministry variety
Personality Pastors

--Marketing vs. Evangelism
Tapping into consumer America's felt needs

--Quick, Easy and Self Centered
5 steps to a healthy marriage
"buddy jesus" and the consumer oriented Gospel

--It's Got a Good Beat and I can Dance to it
Broadway and Christianity...the Show must go on! (Frasier and Ed)
Entertaining the masses or Entertaining Masses
Ranking

Resources: Future of Church, Affluenza, Culture Jam, Dogma,

Chapter 3 "The Christianity of Events--Christian Consumerism Pt. 2

--The Discipleship of Hype
The hidden danger of mission trips, retreats, conventions and other Christian inventions
The Hummer and 40-somethings

--Performances Require Performers
roleplaying christianity
the new discipleship

--Elvis has left the Building
the resultant crises of consumer Christianity
emptiness, apathy, cynicism
the hunger for something real and the inability to discern it

Resources: Yaconelli...Messy Spirituality and other Articles, Hot Tub Religion, Cost of Discipleship, the Trivialization of God

Click here to drop me a line with your thoughts, comments, & suggestions!
posted by Jimmy at 7:58 AM | |

 
Church®: A Disenfranchised Christian's View of Ecclesia Americanus
Chapter 1 Notes--

--The Rockefeller's and Religion
post civil-war urbanization and the service oriented church

--Blue Laws and Baby Boomers
The victory of secularization and the resultant ecclesial competition for attention

--the Saddle Creek Model
The Bottom line church and the measure of Success....the need to be effective, effecient, and measurable.

--WalMart and McChurch
the extinction of the locally owned general store and christian community

Resources: Religion in America, Resident Aliens, Escape From Church, Inc., the Future of Church, Culture Jam, Affluenza

Click here to drop me a line with your thoughts, comments, & suggestions!
posted by Jimmy at 7:29 AM | |

 
Okay...I just happened onto the TBN channel this morning. They've got some kind of panel of "prophecy experts" talking about terrorism and the effects of GulfWar 2. People are setting there sucking it up as if these guys actually know something. Oh my gosh! As I'm writing this, they are recounting urban myths (you know, the one where the girlfriend's arab boyfriend has suddenly disappeared) as if they are personal experiences! Geesh....what the hell!
posted by Jimmy at 7:12 AM | |