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“But Whatever You Do, Don’t Sing About God.” A Look At The Swinging Pendulum Of Christian Involvement In Music
Sojourn artists and worship leaders often converse with each other on topics relating to Christianity and the arts, and worship theology. Sometimes the conversations turn into heated debates, inevitably ending with scratching, hair-pulling, and name-calling. Other times, we agree. But always, the Bible proverb that likens friendship to “iron sharpening iron” proves true. Here is a snippet of an email conversation between myself and worship leader Lorie King that I feel is pertinent to all Christians in the arts, and those who enjoy music:
Lorie: If so, how influential is music and art on how we think and act? Especially music and visual media like movies and TV. Should we be laughing at the same jokes or irreverent statements, enjoying the same descriptions of jaded love or brutal violence? I don’t know. Just started me thinking about those things…
Bobby: Right. And I think one thing that concerns me sometimes with any “relevant” Christians, is that, as regards music, we’ve swung so far from “you don’t have to only sing about God if you’re a Christian,” to an actual disrespect for those who make music, and support music, that is “about God.” Like, God is the last topic that we should be singing about (except for 30 minutes on Sundays).
What is wrong with Christian artists singing about the thing that should matter most, or Christian music lovers wanting to attend concerts or buy CDs to hear songs about the thing that should matter most?
Lorie: Totally. You should write a blog about this for sojournmusic.
Bobby: Yeah, I might do that. I was thinking about it a little at the gospel concert the other week. Just, how I could have imagined that many “relevant” Christians — even the bluegrass fans — would have been rolling their eyes the whole time because the lyrics were “Christian.”
And yes, some of the songs are cheesy, just like a lot of “secular” songs are cheesy. But the band was good — and why would a Christian NOT have a good time singing and listening to others sing about Jesus, heaven, etc.? What is somehow not only equally valid, but in fact, superior, about listening to any and every other topic?
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And so now, here I am, blogging about it on sojournmusic.com. And I ask you to think about it. The issue is not whether the CCM industry is often a cheap copycat of the “secular” music industry. Of course it often is.
The issue is not whether Christians who are music-makers should be free to write and sing about what pop culture and Christian sub-culture often call “secular” topics. Of course they are (for an excellent discussion of this, listen to Sojourn worship arts pastor Mike Cosper on a short interview I recently conducted with him).
The issue is not whether those who write and sing about God often resort to “Christian cliches,” emotionalism, trendy (and sometimes inaccurate) theology, or “light” theology. Of course they do.
The issue is not whether we can and should celebrate the fact that all people are created in the image of God and are thus driven to create, and often do create works of beauty that should thus be celebrated. Of course this is true.
The issue is this: we who believe that all those above statements are true should continuously check our hearts to see if we’ve concluded, after affirming all the above statements, that the songs about the cross, God’s love for us, His active role in history (Bible story songs, for instance), etc. are somehow not good for us to engage in or with, outside of corporate worship services.
Do we think that a music artist who is a Christian and who chooses to sing about these things all or most of the time is somehow less artistic simply by default?
If “Christian music” is less interesting to our ears, why is it less interesting? Is it only because it is not as skillfully made? Can we honestly say that we can find no examples in the gospel music and CCM worlds where the music is skillfully made? Or is part of it that we’ve become infected with the “relevant” bug?
July 21, 2008 at 05:19
This is a really helpful post.
When I read George Herbert’s poetry, which was wholly on christian themes, it feels like great poetry and extra because of the weight of the things he talks about - things unseen.
In the same way I listen to people like Sara Groves, Steven Curtis Chapman, Nicole Nordeman, the Cross Movement, Kirk Franklin, Bethany Dillon and feel that they are people who wrestle with the quality of their art.
July 21, 2008 at 19:50
I think that you gloss over the very problems with CCM that make it unappealing to many listeners. In your own words:
1.”Is it only because it is not as skillfully made? Of course it often is.”
2.”the CCM industry is often a cheap copycat of the “secular” music industry. Of course it often is”
3.”those who write and sing about God often resort to “Christian cliches,” emotionalism, trendy (and sometimes inaccurate) theology, or “light” theology. Of course they do.
In the world of music, as in any of the arts, these are not insignificant issues. There have been piles of what writer Flannery O’Connor termed “pious trash” executed under the guise of “Christian art”. This crosses over into any of the art disciplines - writing, music, visual arts, etc. The Western church over time has regrettably separated the concept of the soul from the body in a sort of neo-platonist or gnostic way. The result is a skepticism of the arts by most main line denominations. They have thus left the arts in the hands of the secular world, contenting itself, in the worst cases, with ‘precious moments’ illustrations, unimaginative musical styles and lyrics with little probing depth. Or in your own words we are left with: “Christian cliches, emotionalism, trendy (and sometimes inaccurate) theology, or “light” theology.”
To assume that the disciplines like skill, originality or innovation – issues which lie at the core of the practices of music, painting and poetry, should not dictate whether discerning minds should give them their attention is quite a leap.
The issue is not as simple as asking “Is it only because it is not as skillfully made? Can we honestly say that we can find no examples in the gospel music and CCM worlds where the music is skillfully made?”
I would posit that over time there HAS been music made both inside and outside of the confines of the Christian label that was skillfully made, creative AND dealt with uniquely Christian concepts. Doc Watson, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Bob Dylan, M. Ward, 16 Horsepower, Sufjan Stevens are just a few.
I don’t agree with the statement that CCM isn’t good enough for many Christians to engage with simply because it contains Christian content. When the above musicians sing a song about prayer or the transfiguration I rejoice to hear biblical concepts expressed in a thoughtful and beautiful composition.
A further question for discussion might be: “Why must Christians cordon themselves off in a sort of musical minor league by creating a label like CCM?” Or even: “Is a musician less Christian because he or she doesn’t routinely present the complexity of creation in ““Christian cliches,” emotionalism, trendy (and sometimes inaccurate) theology, or “light” theology”, but rather plumbs the depths of Gods wondrous creation in a way that challenges the listener/viewer to think about God’s gifts in a new light (this might, for example, include writing a song about an issue as sensitive as suicide that doesn’t explicitly mention God)?”
July 21, 2008 at 20:25
I agree with the thrust of your argument — in fact, I have said and will say these same things to many people. I affirm the skill of the artists you mention as well, from Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver to Dylan.
When I say “the issue is not ___” what I mean is that I agree that each of those things are problems, but despite that, we (at the very least, I)need to check our hearts and make sure that we simply don’t want to listen to gospel truth in song. No doubt many Christians don’t wrestle with this, and so the warning is irrelevant.
As far as the issue of whether some Christians have illegitimate reasons for disliking CCM, I could bring up many examples but here is one: a few months ago I had a conversation with a young Christian who made a sarcastic remark about the music of Michael W. Smith but could not honestly say that she’d ever heard a MWS song or even knew anything about him except she’d heard he was “corny,” and she could not say what makes a song “corny” or artistic. She just knows that in her culture of Christian friends, you’re not supposed to like MWS, you’re supposed to like Arcade Fire. You’re just supposed to.
Whether MWS is or isn’t corny fails to address the point — we should critically appraise all forms of art rather than engage in sound-bites to appear cool, whether we’re hoping to appear cool to friends in some kind of Christian sub-culture or in any other culture or setting.