Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Thoughts on "Secular" Songs
Yesterday I mentioned that 4 staff from Silver City stepped into our Easter worship service when they hear the band doing a cover of "All You Did Was Save My Life" by Our Lady Peace.
This is what blows my mind: While some people in the church question the efficacy of large public worship services, or even criticize "attractional" worship services, the rest of the world stands in line, waiting to pay money, for music, movies and shows!
2+ years into our mission at Connections, I believe now more than ever in the power and effectiveness of doing worship publicly, in places like a movie theatre, in ways that connect with the culture.*
Because we are a church for people who are not into church, we recognize that the people who are our mission don't know anything about "sacred" music. They are not asking if we are "traditional" or "contemporary," "Liturgical" or "charismatic." They don't know and they don't care.
But when they come to our church and hear a song they know,
a song from our "pop" culture,
a song that expresses the longings of the human heart,
a song that resonates with their thoughts, feelings and experiences,
and they hear it in the church....
They feel connected.
They feel at home.
They know we are engaged in the same world they live in.
And they might start to listen to the message we so long to share.
That is why we cover songs like "All You Did Was Save My Life."
It can help us in our mission to save lives!
And that's when God takes something "secular" and makes is "sacred."
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* People are going to find something to worship- sex, celebrities, groups, performers...something or somebody. Movies have never been more profitable and the music industry never so prolific. People WILL go and find places to gather, to listen to music, to celebrate. They will even pay HUGE sums of money to pursue this passion. We are created to worship something, and to worship in both public and private expressions.
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I think that a big factor includes getting past our hang-ups on what we classify as "secular" vs "spiritual." What really separates the two? When Paul wrote his letters to the church, did the people around him, including the recipients, identify his letter as a secular letter? Did they regard it as scripture? Most of those writings were the longings of Paul's heart, as inspired by God... we know that now. Did they know that then?
ReplyDeleteDid the readers of the Psalms identify them as "spiritual writings" or as poetry written by a hurting heart? If we wrong songs and psalms now, with some of the... umm... detail that's included in the Song of Solomon, would we say "wow, what a spiritually moving piece..." or would we nail it to the "wall of weird" as being grossly secular an inappropriate? I think that any time a song is sung, or a poem is read, or a heart is crying... it's something that can be offered to God in praise, or as the request of a broken heart, regardless of who originally wrote it, or whether it was considered "secular."
And in the end, if the gospel is being preached, and it's being heard, and we're honoring God as we do it..... what else matters?
I think the entire human experience is a rainbow of expressions - a wide range of themes and emotions. Anything from hate, violence, or dishonesty to love, self-sacrifice, or assisting others in need.
ReplyDeleteReligion (and therefore Christianity) itself focusses a certain number of those expressions like a laser beam. It categorizes it and defines it (eg. What is love and how do we love).
Secular music, is no different. It takes particular emotions and concepts and expresses them through the music. Perhaps not with the kind of intent religious literature or religious music does, but expresses it anyway. Often times, by coincidence (or sometimes even not), they coincide perfectly with what Christianity is all about and I love when that happens.
I am writing a talk for teens called "Finding God in Unexpected Places". There are only a finite number of stories that we as human tell over and over again, these stories seem to resonate in our hearts. Stories about love, reconnection, failure and redemption come up again and again in our movies, books, plays, and music. It's no surprise that these stories are also in our Bible, they are a reflection of God's story with us. If we limit ourselves to only "Christian" music and entertainment we are missing out on the fact that God's story is written on the hearts of mankind, and the stories we tell as humans can help us to understand God's plan for us.
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