American Worship artist Chris Tomlin is to play the Odyssey arena here in Belfast this week.
I think this has been the latest in a line of recent worship "concerts" in the Odyssey over the last few years.
It makes me a bit uneasy that events like this are more and more common - exalting the role of worship leader to that of a popular entertainer and then "God shows up" (I hate this term - it reduces the almighty to some sort of genie-figure that is summoned by whoever's leading the proceedings)
Don't get me wrong, if people want Christian entertainment - by all means folks are entitled to it - when it starts overlapping with worship of God is when it starts to worry me.
Worship has been commodified into a product that's in danger of taking our focus away from the Creator God and unto creator man instead.
As worship events become increasingly slick, and the accompanying CDs more and more smooth, bland, and unadventurous, I worry about how this style of worship in our churches reflects on how we see the world around us and vice-versa.
The prophet Amos' words to Israel from God about the noise of their songs and improvising away on their instruments while neglecting those around them made sense to me when I was thinking about this. It seems that the Lord wasn't annoyed about their musical ability but because they carried no credibility with the world outside.
I was involved on the music side of things in the church for a while and this really set alarm bells ringing for me and my involvement, attitude, and motivation.
5 comments:
I'm not alone! For a while I was thinking I was odd for not accepting invitations to these concerts!
Hey thanks for your comment - was beginning to think I was on my own as well!
Hey jonny, I agree entirely with your concerns. The glossy Christian music industry is as motivated by sales and conceptual PR as any secular label.
Don't get me started...I know a Christian artist personally who was making a video and had pretty girls from Ireland playing the violin on screen, but who actually recorded ugly but superior violinists from Prague to play on the soundtrack! Scandalous!
From my younger days, I remember going to a Willie McCrea gospel concert and he changed his suit and shoes three times throughout the evening...
there are just so many things wrong with that annecdote.
Well said Jonny!
I have found worshipmatters.com a refreshing antidote to the prematurely released, lyrically unedited, musically stale songs in the contemporary praise and worship scene.
But ease off Chris Tomlin - he's not that bad!!
Fair enough Dave perhaps I'm basing my opinion of Tomlin on musical taste rather than musical intention!!
Thanks for the comment though, and the link to the website.
Post a Comment