Category: Seen, Heard, Said

I went back to the gym today after a month long hiatus (kids were sick, my back went out, my mom was here, blah blah blah). I ran/walked 2.5 miles on the treadmill and the endorphins definitely kicked in. My soul and my body are very happy right now.

I’ve listened to Cloud Cult’s Meaning of 8 Album a hundred times, yet never noticed this song before. It became my soundtrack this morning as I hit the replay button over an over.

Purpose
There must be purpose here, cuz most of us keep waking up.
(Don’t you think it’s pretty here).
It’s so unexpectedly predictable, so sloppily intentional.
Does anyone know the punch-line yet?

There must be rhythm here, cuz all of us have a heartbeat.
(Don’t you see the music here).
Inside our ribs we tick an average of 60 beats a minute–
A-rum-pum-pum-pum——–
A-rum-pum-pum-pum-pum——–

There must be forgiveness here, cuz most of us have our weaknesses.
(Tell me what are your weaknesses).
I don’t know myself, and I’m afraid of you.
I’m happiest on chemicals.
The goings come and the comings go.
Forgive me I’m just an animal.

There must be healing here, cuz everybody here has been damaged.
And we’ll wear it like a tattoo, every scar is a smile.
To hell with the going down

There must be afterlife here, cuz we all pray for resurrection.
You see, the end comes quick as a bullet.

You can listen to it here: click on track ten, Purpose.

Music can be tricky. Sometimes it’s the aura of the song that speaks to me, sometimes the lyrics. Often times it’s both, and what I get from it is nothing at all what the writer intended.

Today I think I felt peace as I listened – peace that The Light penetrates the soul of those we love, even when they won’t or can’t listen to our words.

We just got back from the Gymnastics studio where we threw a joint birthday party for Thomas and Ruthie. (Which is THE way to do winter birthdays, by the way. I walked in with my pizzas and walked out with my brain intact).

Bryan continued the party at home by putting on a Daft Punk album for our own little family dance party. It reminded me of this video of one of its songs, and how totally awesome it is, and how I meant to post this a long time ago.

This is Mike Doughty. I love his voice and his rockin’ music. It must be played loud.

Staying home from church with Thomas this morning to avoid spreading the croup, I heard this interesting story on NPR’s weekend edition about the Southern Baptist Conference updating its hymnal with hundreds of contemporary praise songs written by famous recording artists like Michael W. Smith and Matt Redman.

Behind the scenes here at This Pile I’ve been thinking and writing about community, mission, and cultural relevance, so I found this story very timely to that train of thought. The SBC stipulates that including contemporary music in their hymnals will make them more relevant to young people, and will help draw new people into church.

But certain old-timers disagree.

An elderly woman interviewed – an arthritic piano player in a small church whose favorite hymn is The Old Rugged Cross – expresses her frustration with the watered down nature of most praise music, feeling that it doesn’t really say anything. She says the newer songs sing “praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord” over and over again, but she prefers the tried and true hymns because they tell a story.

T.W. Hunt, retired pastor and a member of the committee charged with approving new songs into the hymnal, agrees. He believes the contemporary worship songs don’t necessarily contradict good theology, they just don’t say much of anything at all. “I love the old hymns, because I think they are very good on theology. ‘My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…’ That’s pretty good theology.”

It appears that cultural relevance is being pitted against good story telling and strong theology. So I wonder myself, is today’s church raising up shallow Christians as a result of creating a more appealing church experience? I worry that American pastors and worship leaders place the fear of man before the fear of God by catering to what they think people want to hear. Sure, more people will likely enter the doors of a church if their current world views are not too harshly challenged, but is the goal to fill churches with bodies or to fill churches with Christ followers?

I thought it was a very interesting and balanced story about the debate in the church today over how to reach new generations with the Gospel. I personally think there is value in being relevant to the culture, but not at the cost of diminishing the power of story and good theology. As more contemporary churches write new music, I would hope they would retain a solid theology and steer clear of emotional repetition and swelling music.

Sadly, I don’t think this is always the case.

Any thoughts?