My Chemical Romance

Music seems to do more for me than ever. Not just the stuff that I have always listened to, but there is a lot of stuff out there today that I am drawn to. Musical styles matter less and passion matters more.

that is why Stevie ray hit a nerve. Seeing him play was like a religious experience. God gave this man the gift of music. Whether or not he was a believer, I do not know. But I know Blues is good. And all good things come from the Father.

some of the new stuff I like is the same way. Passion drives some, but most are cookie cutters that are placed in front of the masses just to make a buck.

CCM music is no different. Each genre is covered, each style, each look. I pretty much stopped listening to CCM when we started putting out boy bands. It was a little much for me. Booty dancing Christians in concert shaking their "money maker" seemed a bit weird. But that is just me.

because we all need a little nudge sometimes in worship, music seems to be the best thing. Being set up, or "chemically altered" for worship by our favorite song produces not quite what I see scripture saying about worship in Spirit and Truth. After all, we now have worship pastors and lead worshipers, rather than music ministers. Possibly just a sign of the changing "emerging church" culture, but possibly the beginning of something much much more.

music has taken over the prime source of "worship" in most of our churches. We worship, then the pastor preaches.

while this is not a new understanding, the primacy we are placing on music in the church today is quite alarming. Mainly because most of the songs are about what we want and can get. Seldom are we face down broken over our sinfulness when we sing. Mainly, we feel good about life cause the songs we sing have more to do with our reward than our condition and our responsibility.

of course, I personally have been part of only a few services where the Word was preached in such a way as to produce a congregation wide movement to the floor as to repent over our sin either. Each time I was part of the audience.

the Passion Movement has helped deal with this problem somewhat, but the music is mainly played and led by guys and bands who seldom get any recognition outside the "emerging church". kinda like the anti establishment movement that Jesus began a few years ago.

a friend of mine pointed out something I had been dealing with. Worship for me has less and less to do with a hymn, or an endless repeating of a 1 verse chorus, and more to do with seeing and sensing God in more and more areas out side the walls we have tried so desperately to keep Jesus in.

so while it is sometimes good to allow music that "sends us" to take a role in our worship of this great and holy God we serve, it is more important to see Jesus in the homeless, in the sound of a child crying, in the look of loneliness, in the joy of love, in the moment of clarity when we see Jesus for more than we make Him, but author of all life who is searching out for the hearts of those who truly seek him.

My romance with Jesus has more to do with who I see Jesus in and where I see Him all week and less to do with me trying to get into a mood that may be "chemically" altered by an emotion produced by my favorite song.