Charles Colson writes in Christianity Today a pointed critique of today’s praise music, with a special level of disgust for MHCC favorite “Draw Me Close”. Is he an old fuddy duddy who hasn’t learned to worship a loving Father from the heart, or a sharp-minded cultural critic making a needed appeal for a stronger evangelical mind? Maybe both. Every era of church music has its share of wheat and chaff. “In the Garden” was the feel-good hymn of a couple of generations ago. I still don’t know what it means (do you?). The fact is that “Draw Me Close” expresses emotions you’ll find in the Psalms.
Colson is also disgusted that his radio talk segments are being pulled by Christian stations in favor of an “all music all the time” format. Colson sees this as a case of trading intellectual growth for emotional cotton candy. I haven’t heard Colson in years, so I don’t know if the reason could be that he has lost some of his appeal. His writing is still good, but he has used a co-writer for many years. In any case, he’s probably right about Christian stations going “Christian-lite”. Radio in general has been plain vanilla for years, and the Christian stations are among the last to have both music and talk in significant amounts on the same station.
Anyway, Colson sees in all this a sign of the dumbing-down of evangelicalism, which may be too convenient a scapegoat. If the level of discourse on the MHCC discussion board is any indication, he may be wrong. What do you think?
Read a good counterpoint to Colson’s take on praise music here.
1 response so far ↓
1 pisces // Apr 10, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Hi, Dennis
I appreciate how important music is to everyone, but let’s all get over it. I’m 43, grew up with traditional hymns, and I miss hearing them very much. I miss pipe organs at larger churches, and I miss the reverence I felt singing them and the strong doctrinal statements of the lyrics. But the singing is not for me, and never was, “worship.”
“Worship” has become the most abused word in the Christian lexicon. My family and I subscribe to Sky Angel, the Christian and family satellite TV service. We are subjected to one commercial after another for CD’s with praise and worship music, with unbelievable promises of what the music will do for us.
Worship comes from the heart. Worship can be lonely, devastating, excruciatingly painful. It can also be exhillerating and transcendent. It is not the same thing as a concert. You can get the music high at any concert, if the music “does it” for you. That high is not worship, it is art appreciation. Changing the name of the hymns to the “worship” portion of the service, then arguing over the “style” of “worship” is a huge distraction to our very personal approach to the Almighty God.
I love some of the modern worship songs. Many of them repeat (some, endlessly) the personal praises penned by David to God, who loved him in a very special way. I am not David, and neither is anyone else in my church. While I like to sing the songs, they are certainly not the expressions of my heart.
Should we sing at all? Singing used to be part of nearly all types of public meetings, not just church meetings. The only other group I know of that still sings is the Rotary Club. Given that, the song portion of the service should probably be designed to involve and instruct the new believers. Hence, older (and middle-aged) Christians should yield their personal desires about music to the need to bring new believers to Christ. If we can’t go on without Classical Hymns, we can always buy a CD or go to a classical concert. Our worship should have outgrown that by now.
Leave a Comment