I hate worship music. I know for many of you what I just said is sacrilege but it is true. I believe most of what we define as worship music today is dishonest, self-deceiving, Novocain played over ripped off U2 chords. I did not say that I hate Worship. I’m speaking solely of the genre of ccm worship music. My hangup comes from lyrics like “I will worship” and “all I want is you” and other things that Christians are entirely incapable of doing on their own. No one, not even David Crowder, not even Keith Green, has ever completely surrendered to Christ. We have moments of clarity where we empty out ourselves and are intimately connected to Christ, but then we want pizza; or a cute girl walks by. Or we realize how close we are to God at that moment and we get a little impressed with ourselves. Thus humans are incapable of accomplishing what we say we do every week through our worship music.
Beyond my theological hangups I hate the style of ccm worship music. In my mind there is only one good U2 song and that one is called “Sunday Bloody Sunday” The rest are the two egos of Bono and the Edge battling over who knows their instrument better. But for some reason CCM worship music as a whole has latched on to the late 80′s – early 90′s sound of U2 and never let go. Every church has a guitarist that plays maybe 3 notes through a song but using his pedals and Whammy bar he stretches them out to the point where the Edge himself has to say “enough, already.”
What worship music I do love and what connects me closer to the creator is honest music. Where the musician isn’t pretending to have it all together. Where they question God openly and honestly like we all do. It doesn’t have to be sung by a full band in v-necks and a coif of feathered “hillsong hair” on their heads. Some of these artists aren’t even Christians, but they still connect me to God. John Mark Macmillan is one of my favorites. He is the writer of “How he loves us” which was covered on David Crowders latest album (minus a verse and the word sloppy). If your church has a name like “Horizon” “The Rescue” or “Anthem” (that last ones my church) then I’m sure you have already sang it at least once. I bought John Marks album a while ago and I’m not crazy about all of it but the “How he loves us” is amazing. The last verse he can’t even get through cause it speaks specifically towards what is covered in the video. Unfortunately David Crowders version doesn’t have the last verse. While I think that was wise because it isn’t his story, I don’t feel you get the whole picture with Crowders version. In the original you hear the pain in John Marks voice. You hear that he is saying those words more to convince himself that through the crap of life He still loves us. It’s powerful. The video is the story behind John Mark Mcmillan’s song. We need to invest in honest artists rather than the lowest common denominator.
