Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
I've come to receive hymns composed by Chris Tomlin and other contemporary Christian composers as being God inspired. Though I know in the Local Churches, their God-inspired songwriting is criticized, ridiculed, etc as being "wordly", "fleshly", etc.
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I've been out of the LC for a while now, and wanted to share something of my journey. I went straight into fallen Christianity, into a Pentacostal-flavored church with a Worship team up front and drums and bass and electric guitar, with several female singers swaying and clapping and the song lyrics projected on a scrim in front of the congregation. I hated it. I still do. But it was where the Christians were, and I refused to segregate myself because their music was awful.
What I can't stand: the banging drums. Modern P&W music is worst: "Bang-bang-bang" monotone. Trying to agitate me into some altered state. I don't like people deliberately tampering with my nervous system. (ironic, I know, that I once loved Rush, Black Sabbath and the Doors). I don't mind drums, but banging on them like a child in the kitchen with pots and pans makes me instantly grate my teeth. Thump-thump-thump, over and over again. Please, stop.
Maudlin, emotional, sappy lyrics. Can't stand them. Self-absorbed, not Jesus-absorbed. Also, Jesus-absorbed lyrics which are completely unrelated to the Bible. The narrator imagines this or that, all the while oblivious to what actually was written. Or totally misapplied what was written. The Bible contains pronouns: "you" and "we" and "them" and "my" and so forth. All these designate various parties. Some are holy, some are struggling to get there. But all of this objective, expressly-stated truth is ignored in a sappy musical mishmash of adolescent treacle. I can't stand it. I feel like I'm being punished and sent back to 10th grade in high school.
Yes, I am a sneering, holier-than-thou hypocrite. I was well-trained in the LC. Which is why I went resolutely back into Christianity, and remained there. Now I want to tell what happened.
I still hate 99.6% of CCM. But the 0.4% that I like, I absolutely love. I really had to do a lot of searching, and rejecting, but what I liked became the proverbial "new song" that Revelation 5:9 references*. The song's composer finds an accessible melodic line, and the words direct me to the Word, who Himself ushers me to the Father. The Holy Spirit breathes life into the song, and I'm forced to reconsider everything.
My latest find, the other day, had a refrain that referenced verses I was somewhat familiar with, but it lit them up in blazing glory I'd never considered. It was like being Martin Luther, long-indoctrinated in the RCC, one day reading the Epistle to the Romans and suddenly the light goes on. Our experience with the Word can be like that, still: brilliant light pours in, and we blink uncomprehendingly; we're in the presence of something wonderful, but exactly what we aren't yet sure.** But the Spirit is breathing into us the breath of life. The Spirit is here. The Shepherd is speaking, and the sheep can hear His voice. We may not understand it, fully; but we hear it.
Good music is worth the search. Seek and ye shall find. To all you LC expatriates out there: seek and ye shall find. There is, indeed, a new song. If we are willing, God is able.
*See also Psa 33:3, 40:3, 98:1, 149:1; also Isa 42:10
** See Mark 10:26, "They were astonished beyond measure"; also Mark 7:37. Cf John 20:9, "... but they did not yet comprehend".