Nine Inches
Why Our Worship Does Not Please God
Awseome
And it came to pass, that when he was returned,
having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be
called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how
much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord,
thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good
servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou
authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound
hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over
five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound,
which I have kept laid up in a napkin... —Luke 19
The biggest problem with this stuff we bloat ourselves on these
days, these simple choruses we sing over and over and over and over
until we brainwash ourselves, is that they don’t actually share
Christ with anyone. The uninitiated—the so-called “sinner” among
us—simply stares at us and thinks we’re crazy. He lost his job.
She’s struggling to raise her kids. Are we even talking to them?
No. We’ve literally turned our backs to them while we mouth these toothless
panegyrics to Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus is standing in our midst,
shouting into a megaphone, “Over here! See this brother? See this
sister? You should be singing to them.”
Our music ministry
should—write this down someplace--minister to somebody. As is,
it ministers only to Christians in a self-reinforcing delusional
way, as a kind of therapeutic hypnosis, while having little or no
relevance to people who don’t know Christ. As a result, our Sunday
experience becomes increasingly extemporaneous and irrelevant to the
man on the street, to the average person. It becomes The Other; this
great multitude weeping, arms outstretched, singing over and over
and over and over and over:
Hallelujah! You have won the victory.
Hallelujah! You have won it all for me.
What does that even mean?!? Somebody’s standing there, with
real problems. Maybe they’re sick. Maybe they’re literally hungry.
Somebody’s thinking of suicide—life is just too much. And nobody, I
mean not a single solitary soul in that church, is even talking to
them. We’re all caught up in our emotionalism, our backs literally
to these people while out music playlist is full of this code:
Death could not hold you down. You are the risen king.
Seated in Majesty. You are the risen king...
Jesus did not come so that we might worship Him, that we might bless
His name. He said, “For the Son of man is come
to seek and to save that which was lost…” [Luke 19:10] He
said, “They that are whole need not a
physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.” [Luke 5:31-32] That, beloved, is
our model. Jesus did not come to entertain righteous folk; to
provide spiritual eargasms and shouting fits. Pastors are not
charged with simply holding on to Church Folk, holding the one pound
(Luke 19; see top of page). But we’re not emulating Jesus, we’re
emulating the adoring crowds who followed Him, singing hosannas and
worshipping. But what was the lesson of those adoring multitudes?
Few of those thousands actually knew Jesus. They criticized Him for
staying with the sinner Zacchaeus, for eating with men and women of
ill repute. They’d heard of Him, that He was a great preacher,
teacher, a prophet. But did they actually know Him? If they did, why
did the crowd turn on Him when Pilate tried to release Him? Where
did the adoring crowds go when He was framed for sedition and
sentenced to death?
Whose behavior are we emulating, through our deeds, through our
music? Would Christ stand there, His back to the seekers, and ignore them while singing praises to His father in some unknown
language laced with coded catchphrases? Is there a record of His
having done that in the Gospels?
In the best scenario, we are emulating David, who wrote amazing love
songs to God The Father. But David’s mission was vastly different,
as were the three Hebrew boys singing praises in the fiery furnace.
The lesson of both: those praise songs ministered to them,
delivered them, brought comfort to them. In neither example were
these biblical figures ever charged with the mission of The Gospel:
to connect people to Christ.
Our model should be Jesus. The church should look like, sound like,
smell like, love like Jesus. In our Black Church tradition, we
typically sound and function much more like Paul, whose
finger-pointing, rebuking tone was often stern, argumentative
judgmental and threatening. We need to stop skipping past Jesus to
imitate Paul. We need to jettison all the extra rules and
regulations, let go of all that nonsense We Done Heard Someplace
from Mama ‘Nem, and read the Gospels—and only the Gospels—as our
core of truth and our guide for Christian conduct.
Everybody Wants To Do The Prince Glare: Millions of records, lots of awards. "Angry Moose"
Prince-Wannabe Constipation Face "I'm The Joint" pose: 1 pound.
The Gospel of Hypnosis
“Awesome” is just one of many examples of the very worst thing the Black
Church does. Today’s Black Church is a largely self-indulgent mess where
the pastor is the center of the universe like some ersatz James Brown
and the church itself functions much more like an Elks Club than a hope
station. In fact, most black churches I am acquainted with function as a
hope station only
reluctantly and under certain conditions. The overwhelming majority of their energy
and efforts are directed toward the pageantry and spectacle and, of
course, shining a light on her pastor; feeding both his ego and his checkbook.
The biggest draw of the black church is also its biggest failure: the
“ministry” in music. In my 50+ years’ experience, music in the Black
Church hardly ministers in any real sense. Rather, it exists to create
and maintain a certain atmosphere, like a hypnotist. The music is
specifically designed to emotionally manipulate and entertain such that
the congregation will sit through the pastor’s usually way, way too-long
sermon. However, music, in our Black Church tradition, typically misses
the mark of the church’s actual mission. Sadly, few if any seem to
notice or care.
What is the point of “Gospel” music? What does Our God Is Awesome even
mean to the guy on the street? To the homeless mother? What’s the
point of our choir, standing on a street corner, singing in this… this
impenetrable *code*? This is the point modern Gospel songwriters miss:
they have no idea what music’s true mission is.
What did Jesus ask us to do? He asked us to go and tell people how to
be saved. This is something contemporary Gospel songs fail, miserably,
to do. Our current crop of “Gospel” hits do not functionally preach the
Gospel. The music turns its back on the unsaved, the uninitiated, the
church burnouts, the skeptics, and speaks only in this code—this Church
Folk language that only other Church folk can decipher or appreciate.
Anointed And/Or Crazy: Norman at Stonehenge. Humility (even if feigned): 10 pounds.
Click image to play audio
In Another Land
Larry Norman, whom I’m sure few if anyone reading this has ever
heard of, was vilified for his so-called “Jesus Rock,” which spoke plain
English not to Church Folk but to the man on the street, to the woman
lost in despair. He didn't write encoded "worship" music, so he didn't
get rich and ended up dying broke because he couldn't raise the hundreds
of thousands of dollars for a needed heart transplant. So far as we know
(and, in deference to Pastor Crefloe Dollar's extant assertions), Jesus
died broke, too. So did Paul. John The Baptist. Peter. Stephen was
killed by Church Folk hurling rocks at his head.
Most of our "gospel" artists are moving with the trends, simply trying
to make a living. The current trend is not so much toward "Christian
Worship" music as it is toward white audiences. Why? Because black
Church Folk are, my guess, statistically less likely to buy music as to
illegally download it from somewhere or burn off multiple copies of
discs to pass out to friends. Now, there's a whole economic lesson
behind that, but the fact is I know pastors—pastors—men of
God—who don't even think twice about illegally downloading movies from
pirate sites. I mean, without hesitation or discussion. Many black
gospel artists are simply struggling financially, and white audiences
are where the money is. In my experience, white Christians have
demonstrated stronger personal ethics than black Church Folk. So the
output from many of our favorite groups is growing whiter and whiter,
black artists pursing Hillsong and Planetshakers.
Would Jesus Pose Like This? A perfectly nice picture ruined by arrogant I'm The Joint effeminate gold-filigre Ray-Bans and Fonzie thumb. Christian "stars" should actually keep Christ in mind when posing for photos as these kinds of egotistical (and ridiculous) images speak directly to the quality of their relationship with Him. To know Jesus is to be more like Jesus; He just kind of rubs off on you, His major quality being humility: 1 pound.
The Gospel of Lyfe
This is my big hang-up with “Gospel” music: it does not, in any sense of
the word, preach the Gospel. It entertains Church Folk and enables them
to turn their backs on the world we were sent into to evangelize. In
this perspective, Lyfe Jennings’
268-192 is far more of a “Gospel” album
than virtually anything on the Gospel charts in the twelve years since
its release. 268-192, a virtual journal of a lost soul seeking God,
speaks in parables and metaphors, Jennings speaking from a life
experience in our church tradition and how that tradition has both
failed and deeply wounded him. In spite of that experience, 268-192
makes it obvious Jennings desires God, seeks God, and clearly misses
that familial church experience despite how it ultimately failed him.
This is the primary focus of music ministry in our churches: entertain
the Sunday crowd. The better the show, the bigger the drop (the
offering). The biggest mission is to keep them coming back and to get
them to invite their friends. Child, you gotta hear that choir sing.
And them boys sure can play. A traditional black church without a
strong music program is dead on arrival, period. The goal of Sunday’s music is to whip the congregation
into an emotional frenzy and prepare them for the pastor’s often
toothless and ultimately meaningless sermon. It is the rare sermon I
hear preached from today’s black pulpit that actually means anything,
that actually changes anything.
So we sing these ditty little choruses,
You have won the victory … who?! Our God Is Awesome…
what?! Then the pastor comes out—James Brown and his Famous Flames—puts
on his minstrel show, preaching some feel-good “empowerment” sermon,
tunes up into his hoop, escalates the emotional frenzy until the crowd
breaks out into the Chicken George “shout.” That, the shout, is, for many if not most
of our churches, a home run. We're high-fiving after service, Man,
them folks shouted! There was no order whatsoever in the place! None of it—not one bit of it—pleases
God. Not one bit of it has anything whatsoever to do with what Jesus
actually asked us to do.
Our music, which we applaud and holler and fall out—is utterly
meaningless to those who are lost, while this preaching, this teaching,
is seen as foolishness [1 Cor 1:18-31]. Unsaved folk don’t know the code, they don’t
know what any of this means. In our ignorance, we believe we are
pleasing God but we’re not. We’re turning our back on the lost and
exhausting ourselves on the spiritual equivalent of masturbation. This
is what monkeys—in the zoo—do: amuse themselves with self-gratification.
Then we throw ourselves these parties, these annual days, congratulating
each other for doing nothing more than taking up space year after year.
Skipping Past Jesus to Follow Paul: What on earth made her think this was a good idea?
Would Jesus ever pose like this? Look how wrong we are. Look how lost we are: 1 pound.
Risk Is Our Business
If the bible has taught us nothing else, it clearly demonstrates
serving God involves risk. In example after example, the biblical model
demonstrates how those who serve God with a pure heart are typically
rejected, mocked, persecuted, jailed and killed. The fact nobody’s
raising a ruckus against us should be a warning that whatever we’re
doing is too toothless and impotent. A pastor who plays it safe or,
worse, a pastor who does not even realize how utterly meaningless his
“ministry” is, is simply lost.
Nothing we do, nothing we say, nothing we sing has any relevance to
actual people. It is all designed by us for us. It is insular and
virtual impenetrable for the uninitiated. It does not speak globally or
universally to all people. It does not address any real problems of
modern life. Our black church experience is, therefore, by definition,
escapism; no difference from going to the movies or, better, the circus.
And I’d rather not waste my time there anymore. I get more done by
staying home and washing my car.
Music is the tip of the spear for evangelism and ministry. This
ridiculous thing we do in our churches violates everything the bible
teaches us. There needs to be a revolution in our approach to music and
ministry in general, a reevaluation and a turning away from tradition
and back to the bible. Yes, our God is Awesome, but the song He wants us
to sing is Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus.
Preaching To The Choir: Okay, I'm a "sinner." Am I going to pay a hundred bucks to come see this?
What are they saying? What are they doing? 3,000 lights, two semi's full of equipment, thirty roadies: 1 pound.
Priest Unplugged
For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that
thou layedst not down , and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he
saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked
servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid
not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou
my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own
with usury? And he said unto them that stood by , Take from him the
pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him,
Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which
hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall
be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. And when
he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. —Luke 19
I don’t want a single note sung in my church that does not offer hope to
somebody, that does not offer Christ to somebody. I want us to snap out
of our daze, wake from our coma, remind ourselves of the mission of
the church, and conduct ourselves along the lines of the model given us
by the Master. I want our music to pass the Christ Test: does it tell
people about Jesus, or is this all some secret code known only to
Christians? Does it address any problems of modern life, or is it all
just fluffy fiddlesticks? Does it point the way to the cross, or does it
just entertain Christians?
If you actually have to think about it, your music program is worth a
close review.
Christopher J. Priest
23 August 2015
editor@praisenet.org
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