About three months into this, I started to notice something about the difference between Christian and secular music. A little background on me before I continue: I used to listen to nothing but Christian music (Christian contemporary music and worship music). While in college, I branched out a little, but not much. But a few years into my adult life, I started to really notice a gap in the quality of Christian music and certain “secular” artists that I listened to. Over the years, I completely lost my taste for most Christian music and listened almost exclusively to artists that would not consider themselves Christian artists (whether they were actually believers in Christ or not). The only exceptions were those Christian artists that truly were artists – making music that I thought was as good as the best of the rest out there. But I certainly didn’t hold them above any of the secular artists I listened to.

Fast forward to the present, and my Spotify experiment has taught me these things:

1) Most Christian music is still sub-par to most secular music when it comes to quality of melodies, production, and, for the most part, lyrics. The reason is that the Christian world has always tried to mimic secular music’s success, and so they mimic their musical styles as well. No one can be original when they are being asked by the powers that be to copy someone else.
2) There are many secular songs out there that are extremely moving, melodically beautiful, and grow me as a musician. So, if you are of the opinion that the secular music world has nothing to offer you, I would ask you to reconsider and find some artists outside of what is traditionally called Christian music that you can listen to without compromising what God calls us all to in Philippians 4:8.
3) This is what I have just discovered – if a Christian artist writes really good songs about God and about their life as a believer in Jesus, there is something MORE powerful to me than the best of secular songs that do not enter the realm of belief or the gospel. That “something” is called worship.

I can be grateful to God for a beautiful melody and an honest lyric that touches me somewhere deep emotionally. But I don’t find myself really worshipping him without the content of grace, the gospel, or Jesus himself. Only songs that explicitly go there can resonate in the deepest parts of my soul – a soul that has been redeemed by the gracious gospel of Jesus.

Now, I’m only writing here in reference to personal listening – by myself in the car, mowing the lawn, etc. Worshipping in the context of the local church is a different thing entirely – though knowing what I know now about how I’m affected by the gospel in personal listening motivates me to never let it be missing from our corporate times!

So, I think those who say that believers should only listen to Christian music should reconsider. But I also think those who turn their noses up at Christian music should take the time to mine through the fray (no pun intended, really) so that they don’t miss out on great opportunities to worship Jesus.

Next post: Which Christian artists am I talking about? I’ll highlight at least one very soon.

On a side note, I laughed out loud at Bob’s comment at about 23:35 (23:20 for context).

In this episode, he also interviewed Ian Morgan Cron, an Episcopal priest who spoke at the conference (my jury is still out on many of his ideas) and Craig Adams, the head of Lifeway Worship Publishing. Though I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of Rick’s other podcasts, they are on my to-do list because they include interviews of some of my favorite Christian writers including Sara Groves, Michael Card, and Andrew Peterson.

To listen to the podcast, click here and choose “Episode 18,” or search for “Voices in My Head” in the iTunes store on your computer or smartphone. It’s all free.

This was an interesting story – the group that wrote this song originally had four members, two from India, one from China, and one from the Ivory Coast. They began writing a song that I really liked, and I hope that someday they will be able to finish it. However, the guy from China and the girl from the Ivory Coast had to leave pretty early in the course of the seminar, so that left this group short-handed compared to the rest with only the two from India remaining. I joined the group to make it three-strong, and we decided to start a new song.

I asked them what they would like to write about, and one of them began talking about how the Hindu religion is all about tradition and ritual, making it superficial and regimented rather than intimate and organic. After fleshing the idea out with both of them, we wrote this song. It was interesting to me that when the song was being critiqued by the group as a whole, someone brought up the line “All of the idols are dead.” They thought it was too offensive toward those who follow Hinduism and that it might turn them off. Of course, I, being a Westerner can’t relate to offending someone with that line, but what about things we are tentative about writing into songs in the West? What about God’s hatred of sin and His judgment of the wicked? I think it’s equally as easy to offend someone in the United States with that kind of language. Though we understood the desire of this believer not to potentially turn his friends off to Christianity through a song lyric, we ended up agreeing as a group that we need to not be afraid to state the truth as it is in Scripture. At the same time, we need to be ready to engage and give a loving answer to anyone who may be offended by it. After all, we all must humbly come to the understanding that we’re wrong (a sinner rebelling against God) in order to realize our need to be saved by Jesus Christ.

Acoustic version shortly after the song was written:

Full band version during the Sunday evening service:

Lyrics:
You are not like other gods,
There’s no one else who can answer our cries.
All of the idols are dead,
But You are the God Who is truly alive.

This is not tradition,
This is not religion.
He’s our Father,
We’re His children,
And He loves us!
There’s no condemnation,
There’s no regulation,
This is friendship
With our Creator,
And He knows us.

You are the Light of this world,
You gave Your life for the weak and the strong.
You are the truth that was told,
You are the way that has never been wrong!

We are sons and daughters of the King.
We will follow His Word in everything.

This song just makes me smile. I had to laugh at the irony the first time they sang it for me. I come all the way to Bangalore, and these guys write a song that sounds like the classic country of Music City! Based on Psalm 145, this catchy tune will have you slapping your knees as you “sing for joy!”

Acoustic version shortly after the song was written:

Full band version during the Sunday evening service:

Lyrics:
The Lord is good
To all of us –
Sing for joy
Celebrate!
The Lord is good
To all of us –
Sing praises to His name!

The Lord is merciful
And so compassionate,
He’s filled with unfailing love.
He watches over us
And keeps His promises,
He’s righteous in everything He does.

So bless His holy name.
His kingdom will never, ever end!

The Lord is merciful
To all who call on Him –
Yes, all who call in truth.
So let us testify
Of His endless love –
He’s always brought us through.

So bless His holy name.
His kingdom will never, ever end!

From the Heart from South Asia on Vimeo.

Click here and here for great articles about the workshop, and click here for another article about the experiences of a long-time friend’s call to the mission field that ends with his involvement with the workshop.

This group worked hard to craft a song that spoke of God in terms of friendship. In the American culture, we might think, “Aren’t we trying to steer away from ‘Jesus Is My Friend’ lyrics and remember how holy and other God is?” Maybe. But in India, the Hindu-saturated culture presents deities as beings that are far away – gods that need to be pleaded and bargained with in order to bestow blessing. To say that God is our friend in that context is to make a counter-cultural statement that has some shock value, prayerfully leading those who hear it to want to know more.

These guys also pulled out chords I’ve never heard strung together!

Acoustic version shortly after the song was written:

Full band version during the Sunday evening service:

Lyrics:
I lived all my days
Lost in my ways.
Anger and pride
Left me broken inside.
Guilt and the pain
Filled me with shame,
Yet You found me
And made me Your friend.

You’re my friend, You’re all I need,
You’re my friend, so I am free,
You’re my friend, Your grace is sufficient for me.
You’re my friend, You are the truth,
You’re my friend, You are my life,
You’re my friend, You are the only way.
Now all I can say, every day,
You’re my friend.

You took my place,
Now I see Your face.
Called me Your own,
Love like no other I’ve known.
You laid down your life,
And You paid the price –
You chose me to be Your friend.

“Your Grace that Sets Me Free”

This song is based on passages like Ephesians 2 & 3 where the grace of God is shown to be the greatest need of the human soul. This group did a great job writing a super-catchy tune with good content and poetic depth.

Acoustic version shortly after it was written:

Full band version during Sunday evening’s worship service:

Lyrics:
I was lost, but now I’m found.
I was blind, but now I see.
It’s Your love that makes me stand.
It’s Your grace that sets me free.

Chorus:
You make me strong,
You let me live
In Your power and Your grace!
You’re all I want,
My Source of life,
I’ll always seek Your face!

It’s high, it’s low.
It’s deeper than the ocean below –
It’s Your grace that knows no bounds,
And it’s flooding into my heart right now.
(chorus)

An Open Letter to Praise Bands, by James K.A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College.

In Luke 19:46, Jesus says, ““It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” On January 15, 2012, Scott exposited this text to help our church focus on a 15-day season of prayer at Grace.

Planning a service that moves toward a sermon about prayer is an interesting practice. I was helped by thinking of the following things:

1. Many songs are prayers. This is a great service to choose some.
2. The only way we can pray to our holy God is by the access we’ve been given through Christ.
3. Before we pray, it would be good to be reminded about the character of the God to Whom we pray.

There Is Joy in the Lord – iTunes, Amazon, Live Recording at Grace – I picked this as a way to call our people to worship and remind them that the knowledge of God for the believer leads to joy and hope, not fear or despair.
Welcome & Ministry Opportunities
Our Great God – iTunes, Amazon, Live Recording at Grace – This is one of the best modern songs I’ve found to communicate both the weight and the glory of worshiping God. I placed it here to give us the sense that we do not worship God in song or in prayer flippantly.
Praise Him – iTunes, Amazon, Live Recording at Grace – This is a great new re-write of the old text “To God Be the Glory” with a new chorus and pre-chorus. Barbara Haynes had been wanting to re-write this one for years and released the new version (co-written with Ben Shive) on her new album, The Now and the Not Yet. I’ve been wanting to build this song into the repertoire at Grace, and coming out of “Our Great God” seemed like the right place to move us from worshiping the God of Creation to worshiping the God of Our Salvation.
Mighty to Save – iTunes, Amazon, Live Recording at Grace- This song continued the focus on Christ being our way to God, and on the power of the cross and resurrection (the Grace version includes a verse on these) to take us into the most holy place.
Scripture Reading – Ephesians 2:11-22 – Drawing from the text in Luke 19, which is in the context of temple practices that were restricting access to the Gentiles, this paragraph strongly states, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Praise be to Him, who has brought us, the Gentiles, near! Sometimes forget about our Gentile roots in the USA.
We Call You Father – Live Recording at Grace – Wendy Wills’ song became our response in prayer to the God who has drawn us near. “Freely we come!”
Come Thou Fount – (the audio is at the end of the full service link at the top of this post) – This was one of my favorite moments while leading worship in a long time. I placed the song here in the service to give us the chance to pray to God as a congregation and ask Him to attune us to Himself and His grace. We usually sing it earlier in the service as a kind of invocation. Since I was placing it right before the sermon, I had planned for the first verse to be a capella and then to start instruments lightly on the second verse. When we came to this point in the service during rehearsal and we had finished the first verse, it just felt right to keep singing a capella. We sang through all three verses, just voices, and I turned and said, “Yep, that’s what we’ll do.” During the service, the congregation responded with loud, confident singing (though several admitted they were watching and waiting, expecting the instruments to come in). It was a powerful, joyful moment – just voices, praying the words of this great classic together.
Sermon – Luke 19:45-46 (sermon audio) – “True Prayer”
Congregational Reponse – I believe we sang the second verse of “Come Thou Fount” after a few moments of prayerful reflection.
Benediction
Praise Him (Reprise)