Interesting contrast

[kayre]

I recently had a discussion with a friend about "Christian Contemporary Music" as heard on the radio and in many churches now- the Nashville pop/rock music style stuff. In response to comments about how bad some of the music is, I responded that "Ninety percent of anything is garbage." It's the job of church musicians to carefully evaluate music and find the good stuff that deserves to endure. To those who think old hymns are always better-- I'd like to show them some gems out of my collection of 18th and 19th century hymnals, including such gems as "Showers of Blessings", with the climactic line "Let some droppings fall on me." We just stopped singing messes like that, and kept the good ten percent!



This morning I've been listening to CCM music on Pandora.com, scouting. I heard two songs in a row on the same subject, enduring troubles: I Will Lift My Eyes by Bebo Norman, and I'm Trading My Sorrows by Darrell Evans.

I Will LIft My Eyes caught me with the chorus:

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can't climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You.

Beautiful and powerful, and urging the listener to turn to God but acknowledging that life is painful and challenging. The rest of the lyrics go in the same direction. Musically interesting, too; would work well with a band or solo doing the verses, but a congregation can sing the chorus.

Next I heard:

I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Nothing like the same beauty, and no clue HOW to "lay it down." How many people in the pew will end up feeling guilty about being unable to just "lay down" their troubles, hearing this, rather than encouraged? And the chorus certainly won't help:

And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen.

Deep theology, eh? And musically, it's really not better; catchy beat, probably really fun to play, but almost entirely 3 chords in straight 4/4 time-- boring! I can only hope church musicians will look past the catchy "stand up and dance" beat and realize that there's no depth here! This kind of song is why people think contemporary Christian music is shallow and trite.