The Slippery — But Oh-So-Soothing — Slope
Now, I’m not a huge fan of Chuck Colson or James Dobson. They get some things right, but they’re often way too methobapticostal for my tastes. Over at Cyberbrethren, Rev. McCain has a nice posting (titled Soothing Ourselves To Death) in which he points us to a great column by Colson — it’s a nice reminder of why it can be a good thing to keep tabs on folks like Colson & Dobson (I can’t imagine that I’ll ever see Osteen in that category, but you never know… :wink:).
In the column, Colson recounts a not-so pleasant encounter that he had with Contemporary (contemptible!) Worship, and what passes for acceptable in places where the historic liturgy & hymnody has been deemed out-of-touch and/or unacceptable.
I’m not going to go into the whole debate about why CW is wrong — others have done it better than I & I just don’t feel like writing all that much right now (Seminarian Gillespie had a nice posting about it a short while back…) — but I will say that one of the reasons it’s wrong is that it confusingly shifts the focus of the service from God & what He does for us to us & what we do for Him. More significantly, and in line with Colson’s column, is that the focus becomes our feelings, and giving folks what they want in order to help soothe & make them feel better. It’s theological malpractice — giving folks a big ol’ dose of narcotics instead of the real medicine that will help them get better!
It’s also reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of vocation. Folks seem to have a problem with accepting that it can be a very good thing to “just” entertain. Nope, they want to ensure that there’s the veneer of being “holy” on all they do. Rather than “just” making good music (and thus glorifying God by fully utilizing the talents He’s given), that music must be part of a “ministry” so that folks can see just how “holy” it is. Feh!
Anyway, check out the column. It’s a good read…
-ghp
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