Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement
The first time I saw this book in a catalog I thought it looked interesting. Not interesting enough to purchase though. I had been questioning contemporary Christian music of the KLOVE sort; bands that are the "Christian" versions of secular ones. I thought that perhaps the author of this book was part of such a band and was going to expose the evils of the Christian music industry. But I was wrong and the books not about that at all. It actually goes much deeper, to an even more pertinent issue. Here Dan Lucarini examines the use of rock music in our worship services. He speaks from his own experiences and questions a lot of common presuppositions about worship today and the effects of such thinking. He calls for the Bible to be the standard and thoroughly backs up his stance with Scripture. I really enjoyed this book. I found it so thought provoking but at the same time easy to read. I am so impressed by the author. He tackled quite a controversial topic with such grace and love. Even if you disagree strongly with what he's saying, you can't help but like the guy. I found his argument pretty compelling. I liked this book so much, not just because of its content but because it really engaged me and challenged me to think about what worship really is and what kind of worship is acceptable to God. Whether you agree with him or not, I think you will be blessed by reading this book. And it's one that definitely provokes discussion so if you have read it or do read it, please comment so we can talk about it.
posted by Lisa | 10:18 PM
9 Comments:
I think music is just a matter of preference...so if some churches want to have worship in hip-hop or techno or country or heavy metal worship format that's cool (acutally happening). I mean different strokes for different folks that seems to be a good standard...
Oh wait that's not biblical...
What does the Bible say about worship other than it should be in spirit and truth? What about the music? Make a joyful noise, shouts of praise to God, make a loud noise... Music is cultural, always has been. Musical worship of God is always going to be different wherever you go. There is no biblical style of music.
So it's not about different strokes for different folks, it's about the culture of the community of people who are worshiping, praising God and worshiping Jesus in the way God made them. So if the chief end of people is to worship God and enjoy Him forever, then why shouldn't our enjoyment of God stem from worshiping Him in the musical style that represents the music we get the most joy from - a trait that the Creator Himself instilled in us.
(I don't think my wife will mind if my theology spills over to her blog a bit...)
Tim-
I think your questions are good ones to raise you state/ask:
"What does the Bible say about worship other than it should be in spirit and truth? What about the music? Make a joyful noise, shouts of praise to God, make a loud noise... Music is cultural, always has been. Musical worship of God is always going to be different wherever you go. There is no biblical style of music."
Now while the bible does not say that we shouldn't introduce fog machines and laser lights for a "worship" service, I would hope people would be taken back by such things. Why? Because it is clear mimickery of the world, imitating how the world does music. Imitating how the world behaves in a worship service is to worship not as strangers and pilgrims but as worldlings. For biblical precedent I point to the bringing up of the ark by David in 1 Chronincals which reads:
"And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart. And David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets. And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God." (1 Chr 13:8-10)
Now what happened here, we see that David and his men were worshipping with "all their might" so this was a hearty worship. And there are numerous instruments being played. The ark is really central to this whole procession, and if you will indulge me I guess you could consider Uzzah the worship leader (bc the ark is central). Yet God was angry about this whole scene, and Uzzah was struck as the ark slipped...why?
Well they were transporting the ark the same way their pagan neighbors the Philistines did, on a cart. They were not worshipping God as the unique people of God the way He had chosen but rather they worshiped while copying their ungodly neighbors method.
Now I would apply this to mean that we should not imitate the world in how we worship, that's really what got them in trouble here. So in our modern day I think to introduce a Garth Brooks style worship service is to mimick the world. Like wise with techno, rap, and rock music. (Side note: I remember I was at a Christian festival and there was a christian rapper who was selling himself as the christian Eminem)
I think in the bible we have a clear precedence through Israel that the worship of the people of God is to be distinctively unique and unlike our worldly counterparts. So irregardless of culture, when Christianity sets in the people should worship differently from their former pagan methods. (In Israel this meant tearing down pagan altars and not sacrificing to the LORD on them) In our day I think it means not using the same music with the words "baby" changed to "You" or "Jesus".
This is my take on this issue, more examples could be given biblically but I think anyone who is familiar with the OT knows that one of the main problems israel ran into was mimicking their pagan neighbors. It's noteworth that many times they had never rejected the LORD outright but began to mix their worship with pagan practices.
In our day we do the same I think in the name of being "culturally relevant" How are we going to get skateboarders in church?...rock music. So my main beef with CCM is that it unambiguously strives to imitate the music people already like outside of the church.
Tim - Thanks for your comment. Sorry for my delay in responding. I was out of town. This is not a simple issue. I haven't thought about it too deeply until recently and I still don't know where to draw the lines. But you brought up a good point. I do think there is a distinction between expressing your worship to God through the music that is natural to you and imitating the world. In my opinion, the latter has no place in the church. It's not really a cut and dry issue and although it may not be an essential one, I think it's worth thinking about.
i don't want to be rude here, but i think you're missing the point bob... maybe a few of them
"lets talk about lit-er-at-ure. (strong english accent). not like those suedo-sciences such as anthropolgy, phsycology, sociology, and meta-physics." -kenny chimeal
this is all very rediculous you see. pure retoric. that is what literature is. a simple manner of speaking. as socratese lays out the rules of retoric. ethos, logos, and pathos. cultural, logical, and intentions. first you must understand what is being said, second; if it is reasonable or logical, and thirdly for what intention of the speaker? good or bad? this is all that makes any argument belivable or not.
with this as a ground work I will begin. martin luther is quoted in his rendition of the psalms, the "geneva jinks" (your daughter might enjoy these), in the introduction as saying, "I am not the type of biggoted man who would say that music is somthing of the devil; but that all music should bow its knee to God". in context martin luther was refering to his rendition of the psalms which was written to the tune of all the faviriout bar songs of the time. they became so popular that they became known as the "geneva jinks", a "jinks" is a spell or curse.
as must also add that the worship songs passed down from the early church are very greek and roman. some of which are the oldest christian songs we have and sing in most orthadox churches. again though, these songs are sung very heartly and in the same tune and pitch as the pagan cultures of their times, which, are very diffrent from the jewish solemenity of the temple worship of the first century. so bob if you wish to turn to first century temple worship by all means go ahead. just please... do it where no one can hear you.
sorry lisa... we made your innocent book blog into a theology debate room...
i get sucked in so easily...
and i really didn't mean any offense, i just see things different i think...
it would make an interesting discussion though...
i love you guys
Whoa, I have not even checked the comments here in a long time. Maybe you just thought I was ignoring those ;) Yeah, it is a tough topic and one worth discussion. But probably better for the live in person kind.
Hey I think I'm fairly thick skinned, it's ok to say "I missed the point" or that my argument was stupid. Oh Ed, I do believe that they were called Geneva Jigs. And it is unfair to get the notion that all of Luther's hymns were set to bar tunes it actually was only one song, the tune was later changed by Luther because some found it distatsteful.
I still think that flat out imitation of the world is not proper for the worship of the saints, people might not like it but hey what are you going to do. I just think that if ourlives are to be marked by being unspotted from the world as James puts it how much more the offering we bring to God through praise? Now I am not saying hymns/organ only, but I think we put ourselves in peril of offering strange fire when we are trying to be "cool" and "hip" in our worship music. We begin to really lose the awe of God when the band has laser lights and fog machines and are doing secular rock tunes that can be interpreted as "christian" by changing you to You.
English puritan Richard Baxter puts it this way:
"Remember the perfections of that God whom you worship, that he is a Spirit, and therefore to be worshipped in spirit and truth; and that he is most great and terrible, and therefore to be worshipped with seriousness and reverence, and not to be dallied with, or served with toys or lifeless lip-service; and that he is most holy, pure, and jealous, and therefore to be purely worshipped; and that he is still present with you, and all things are naked and open to him with whom we have to do. The knowledge of God, and the remembrance of his all-seeing presence, are the most powerful means against hypocrisy."
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