"Is There Any Easter Music?"

That was the question posed to me recently.  Like a lot of churches, we have a 'contemporary' service and a 'traditional' service.  As a planner for the traditional, there is no shortage of congregational music that one might select for an Easter service.  Likewise, if you are looking for a song about the cross, (thinking maybe about Holy Week and not the Resurrection itself) we've got it covered.  My only problem is choosing which songs to do and which ones to leave out.  There's a deep well.

But when asked if I could think of some Easter music that would be stylistically suited for the contemporary service, I had to think about it.  I know quite a bit of 'what's out there' but I really had difficulty coming up with anything that was topical and I thought would 'fit'.  That got me thinking.


I dug up an old article by Al Mohler entitled, "Worship According to the Word".  For the unitiated, Mohler is President of THE Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY.  He's also really, really smart. 

"...our worship is, more often than not, grounded in our own paganism of personal preference. As John Calvin profoundly explained, the fallen human heart is an “idol-making factory,” always producing new idols for worship and veneration. That corrupted factory, left to its own devices, will never produce true worship, but will instead worship its own invention."

I couldn't have said that any better.  But let me be clear, it isn't as if the 'traditional' songs get it all right and the contemporary songs miss the boat.  I think Mohler's point is, ALL efforts will be flawed to a degree.  Take this song, certainly in the category of an old-school song about the cross.

At the Cross - At the Cross; Where I first saw the light; And the burden of my heart rolled away

It was there by faith, I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.

I really love that song but upon inspection, a chunk of why I love that song has very little to do with the chorus but rather how the chorus makes me feel.  It is a nod to nostalgia sure, but taken to its direct meaning, the cross is reduced to an allegory representing my own personal experience.  I wasn't at the cross but when I went to my own metaphorical cross, my problems were solved.  We have a brief nod to the element of faith in salvation, but it's followed by a trite expression of happiness.

Not exactly theological gold, here.  The lyrics on the verse better withstand this type of scrutiny.

Alas and did my Savior bleed and did my Sovereign die

Would he devote that sacred head to sinners such as I

Better.  Back to Al...

"The British philosopher Roger Scruton once advised his fellow philosophers that the best way to understand what people really believe about God is to observe them at worship. Theology books and doctrinal statements may reveal what a congregation says it believes, but worship will reveal what it really believes. If so, we are in big trouble."

Unpack this statement.  Books and creeds tell others what we SAY we believe but worship shows what we truly believe.  Hmmm.  I think of the "I Agree to the Terms and Conditions" button we click so often.  No one really cares about these things, they just want to read the article or download the file or get on with whatever it was they were doing.  In other words, if you want to know what someone is interested in, don't read the terms and conditions.  Find out what they're reading or watching on television.

The pathology of our problem must be traced to realities as fundamental as our worldview and as superficial as personal taste.

Ah yes, now we're getting somewhere. The 'pathology of our problem' is VERY fundamental. And speaks profoundly to our superficiality. Sort of a paradox there, isn't it? Mohler launches into a bit of a history lesson, into modernity and beyond.

The focus of worship was “horizontalized” and reduced to human scale. Theological liberalism simply embraced this new worldview, and it made the theological compromises that modernity demanded. Worship was transformed into an experiment in “meaningfulness” as judged by the worshiper, not an act of joyful submission to the wonder and grandeur of God.

"I received my sight and now I am happy all the day."

In short, modern thought (no longer the prevailing philosophy for the culture at-large) allowed the worshipper certain liberties to look more inwardly.  It's a truth-based thing, really.  But at the core, it is a paradigm of selfishness and eventually coming right back around to me.  I think that's pretty much the antithesis of worship.  I find this revealing in a very personal way (sic)  Because it says something about me that I'm not too keen on hearing but that I think is very true.  We start out wanting to worship and we end up doing something entirely different.

This covers the old folks. The guys (like myself) who enjoy 'traditional' worship. What about the contemporary?

Now that postmodernism rules the worldview of the cultural elite and the culture’s most powerful centers of influence, the radical subjectivity, moral relativism, and hostility to absolute truth that marks the postmodern worldview shapes worship in some churches as well.

Postmodernism celebrates the victory of the image over the word. 

When we are fundamentally post-modern in our thinking we really struggle with stating objective truths. Heck, we struggle with the mention of the existence of objective truth. I'm going to take an uncharacteristic leap in the chain here ... this will lead us to being very, very practical.  Why?  Because who cares about meaning and truth when meaning and truth are all subjective?  We may as well spend our time worrying about what WORKS.

I've often wondered about the relationship between the worship music and the message portion of the service and the strange interruption of continuity that occurs.  Here's a humourous (hopefully) take.

In the contemporary church, you simply MUST have a guy leading in music who looks the part.  He's young and cool and dressed somewhere along the line of Disney Channel grows up and joins a boy band and later becomes homeless.  The pastor, however, looks like he's got a tee time scheduled for right after church.  Or maybe he's trying really hard to look like he doesn't have a tee time but you can tell, he does.  It's either a young PGA golf look or he's an undercover cop trying to look like he wants to buy somethink illegal and he's not quite pulling it off. 

So I'm over-generalizing but you know as well as I, the two roles are NEVER reversed.  Without taking forever to explain why, I'll simply tell you.  It's because the music guy needs to look like the music guys you're used to seeing (somewhat off the grid) and the preacher needs to look like someone from whom you would take direction.  Like a boss or some type of sales guy.  You're not going to buy an album by a guy who looks like Phil Mickelson but you might hire him to be your accountant.  Likewise, you aren't going to hire the guy who looks like Russell Brand (google it if you don't know) to be your financial planner.

What's my point?  Honestly, I forgot so let's look to Mohler to get us back on track.

Those who accept this radical pragmatism will see worship as an experiment in “making” meaning rather than a discipline of preaching, hearing, believing, and confessing eternal truths revealed by God in propositional form.

What he said. 

I will take it a step further.  And here is really the entire statement rolled into one semi-coherent passage.  The reason there aren't any contemporary songs about Easter is contemporary worship doesn't have topical songs.  Because of this larger cultural statement:  post-modernism is not concerned with truth statements, only with the appearance that certain things are being said. 

One of my favorite contemporary songs goes like this:

How can I keep from singing your praise?  How can I ever say enough?

How amazing is your love - How can I keep from shouting your name.

I know I am loved by the King.  And it makes my heart want to sing.

Simplistic, partly self-centered, and almost meaningless.  Yet, it has a nice catchy tune and if you don't examine the words, it sounds like it is saying something really profound.

I think this one hits the mark.  Of course it was written in 1707.  More please!

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Have a wonderful Easter week!  And remember, all this is true and it happened without your help!