Thoughts on Worship Music (or, why I equate modern Christain Rock with sauerkraut)

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I love my church.

The Church, to me, is just as much a part of my life as living, breathing, eating and sleeping. I find solace in the Church. I go to the Church for guidance. When I take part in the Church, I am surrounded by support, love, and grace.

Readers, I honestly hold my Church in the same regard I hold my family members.

I am a member of a Catholic parish in downtown Seattle. This parish is nothing short of miraculous, one that makes it a personal mission of each parishioner to bring social justice to ALL people EVERYWHERE. I LOVE worshiping here. I LOVE the beautiful environment. I LOVE my pastor. I LOVE my fellow parishioners.

And the fact that the church is located in a re-vamped 1920's hotel isn't bad either.

I sing in my parishes choir, and sometimes act as a cantor. Also, I occasionally direct the choir as a substitute. I was approached by one of the volunteer coordinators, wanting to know if I could take a more active role in music ministry, in the way of directing more often and helping to sit on the "music council", which means I would work with other music ministers to select which songs would be the most appropriate for the weeks readings. In this way, I am VERY happy to be taking an active role in God's family.

But.

Just like in EVERY family that has EVER existed, there comes moments of awkwardness that make you want to just rub your eyebrows and sigh.

Our Parish has two services on Sundays: a morning, and an evening. The music for these services is usually left up to whoever is leading the music at the service.

As a result of this, the two services sound almost like they are polar opposites in terms of tone. The morning mass tends to sound traditional, old-timey, and a bit solemn; whereas the evening service tends to sound like somebody turned on a Christian Rock station and left it.

I've written before that I get very frustrated with music ministry in Catholicism. Each parish tends to have its own "vibe", but generally, I find that there are two trends with Catholic worship music: Either the mass is filled with songs that haven't been updated since Lord Whiffleton the Ruffle-Necked deemed them worthy hundreds of years ago (you know, the hymns that take an eon and a half to finish and are filled with "thees" and "thous"), or music that sounds pre-fabricated, repetitive, "happy-clappy" and cheap (think "Veggie Tales" for adults *shudder*). I'd hate to have to choose one or the other, but if I HAD to, I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with Lord Whiffleton.

I would guess that I am an anomaly in the Christian family in that I tend to have a strong, VERY STRONG, dislike of "Christian Contemporary" music.  I'm not entirely sure why, and quite frankly, I really have never really CARED why. It really doesn't seem to make sense: I am the daughter of two devout Christians who have made it their business to be religious educators. I've been surrounded by Christian friends since I was a baby. I've attended Christian camps, Christian retreats, even went to a Christian college for a year to STUDY Christian music. I've had the "Christianized" version of EVERYTHING thrown in my general direction since the time I was walking. In spite of all this, I somehow conditioned myself to honestly DESPISE most of the Christian Rock genre.  It's always been that way. I've never really thought about it much, in the same way that I've never taken the time to consider my reasons for gagging at the sight and smell of sauerkraut.

Ick. Image found here: http://samabelle.pbworks.com/w/page/8363161/The%20History%20of%20Sauerkraut

All I know is that while I'm driving down the highway, flipping through the radio stations, and if I am unfortunate enough to tune into something that calls itself "FAMILY FRIENDLY", "INSPIRATIONAL", or "UPLIFTING", I find myself fighting the very strong urge to start punching myself in the face. My way of dealing with it? In the same way that I deal with sauerkraut, Readers. I put down the fork (or change the radio station) and move on with my life.

However, Readers, this leads me into somewhat of a conundrum. If I am to take a more active role in selecting music, I need to come to terms with the fact that I will be dealing with CCM A LOT more often. If I decide to make it my business to select and perform Christian music, there is no way of avoiding the proverbial sauerkraut.

So Readers...I guess it is time to face it. Let's try to break it down, shall we?

Here is a typical Contemporary Christian song that is popular among certain parishes: "Lord I Lift your Name on High" by Donnie "I Like to be Redundant" McClurkin:

Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life;
I'm so glad you came to save us.
*chorus*

You came from heaven to Earth,
To show the way
From the Earth to the cross
Our debt to pay
From the cross to the grave,
From the grave to the sky,
Lord I lift your name on high.

Lord, I lift your name on high
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
*chorus*

Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us.
*final chorus*
Lord, I lift your name on high
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I lift your name on high.

Now, I'm sure a few of you reading this are thinking, "Wait, there must be a mistake! She didn't include any of the other verses! That just looks like the same verse and chorus repeated over and over!"

This is no joke. That is the song in its entirety.

Seriously. It's like he wasn't even trying.

I know I don't speak for everyone, Readers. I'm not going to DREAM that my tastes in music are universal. It may because I've trained as a classical musician, but I have a REALLY hard time finding the Lord in music that sounds...infantile. Imitable. Poorly arranged. A friend of mine once called it the "Jesus is my boyfriend" genre, and I think that speaks to my feelings on the matter.

I find that a lot of Christian music seems to be trying WAY too hard to sound "contemporary". Like they slapped some bible verses or psalms on a "poppy" sounding tune. There is no musicianship. There is no depth. There is no thought.

I love music...and my music tastes, to be fair, are a bit eclectic. I have Lady GaGa, Lynyrd Skynard, Bizet, Journey, Russian Death Metal, Mozart, Klezmer, Gypsy violin, Green Day, Duke Ellington, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles, Billie Holiday, and Disney Soundtracks all in my play list.

To be honest, Readers? I feel closer to God when I hear musicianship, passion, skill, and thought in the performance of music of ANY genre. Same goes for precious few "Christian" songs ("One of Us" by Joan Osborne, for example). I get chills when I listen to Jimi Hendrix's "Wind Cries Mary", and feel genuinely moved at the gift of music that God gave him. I, a listener, am witnessing the miracle of music that God gave Jimi Hendrix.


This man was a genius and a gift to humanity. I'm serious. Image found here: http://www.licklibrary.com/lessons/425/jimi-hendrix/hey-joe

In all fairness, I know that "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" might be a bit of an extreme example on how Christian worship music has been dumbed down, bleached, and stripped of all traces of spiritual depth (all in the name of "appealing to a larger audience". Pffft.)

It's like taking "A Midsummer Night's Dream", converting the language all into four letter words, replacing Titania with Tinkerbell, turning it into a cardboard toddler's book a la "Pat the Bunny" and hocking it to the public, proclaiming it a "masterpiece".

I feel that I should make a distinction here...I love Christian music. I get chills when I hear "Beautiful Savior", "How Great Thou Art," and old-timey, traditional Gospel. This music, I believe, speaks of a time when people poured their hearts, souls, pains, sorrows, hopes and dreams into the music they wanted to create, instead of trying to imitate and ride the coat-tails of whatever was "popular" at the time.

It's the dumbing down of Christianity in music that I hate. It's the fact that people diminish our Lord and Savior to a commodity to sell that I hate. It's the fact that people try to sell Christ to others in the same way that one would sell a used car that I hate. In the same way that I hate WWJD bracelets, Jesus Fish placards, and the "inspirational" rubber ducks for sale in the Oriental Trading catalog that are identical to the other rubber ducks in every way, save for the crosses and Jesus fish painted on their heads.

Ahem.

I think a good plan of action here is to have a healthy mix of worship music. A few traditional hymns, along with a contemporary tune or two (if they're in good taste).  You can have Lord Whiffleton the Ruffle-Necked...AND grown up Veggie Tales!!

I also need to keep reminding myself that, in the end, Jesus doesn't really care HOW we worship him. Plus, even though I don't feel the presence of God through Jars of Clay or Skillet, doesn't mean that the other parishioners feel the same way. Just the fact that we are there is enough.

Even if we are playing the "sauerkraut".

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