UPDATE: The video was pulled from Park Community Church’s Facebook on Monday. The Huffington Post is seeking comment from the church’s leaders.
A Chicago church’s viral video about Christian worship music is bringing up a good question ― do people ever stop to think about what they’re singing at church?
The parody video of a praise and worship singing session produced by Park Community Church revived a lively debate on Facebook Tuesday about what it means to worship God through song.
Contemporary Christian music has often been criticized for its lack of rawness and honesty, and for using jargon that would be unfamiliar to newcomers.
A worship leader in the video starts off with a song that makes liberal use of imagery, mimicking the way the same tired metaphors are written into many of Christian music’s top hits which often includes lyrics about mountains moving, souls on fire, and oceans rising.
A visitor to the service is confused by the lyrics and at one point asked her friend, “What does it mean to be drowned in grace?”
“To be drowned in grace? Don’t think about it, just sing,” the friend replied.
Eventually, the lyrics of the song dissolved into gibberish, leaving the visitor thoroughly bewildered.
Park Community Church explained in a statement to The Huffington Post that the video was inspired by a series of teachings the church is doing on the Psalms, a book of ancient poetry and hymns found in the Bible. The skit is a critique of worship music that contains vague, unfamiliar language that is so focused on delivering a personal emotional experience that it takes God out of the picture.
“Worship is stirred not by the how we might make one feel in our music, but in declaring who our God is. There is nothing wrong with engaging the heart,” church leaders said in an email to HuffPost. “The hope in worship is that we engage the heart and the mind.”
Park Community Church isn’t the first to delve into this topic. Earlier this year, U2 rock star Bono expressed his frustration with modern Christian worship music in a documentary where he suggested that today’s Christian music pales in comparison to the full range of emotions explored in the Psalms.
“The psalmist is brutally honest about the explosive joy that he’s feeling and the deep sorrow or confusion,” the singer said in “The Psalms,” a Fuller Studio documentary. “And I often think, ‘Gosh, well, why isn’t church music more like that?’”
Critics have responded to Bono by pointing out that Christian pop and rock music isn’t meant to be “high art.” It’s simple so that a congregation can pick up the tune by the time the second chorus comes around. And in a world where there is so much judgement and suffering, it’s also meant to give people encouragement, comfort and hope.
But Christians who only listen to this kind of “safe and positive” worship music are missing out, according to Lisa Gungor, a Christian songwriter and musician.
“Honesty and truth telling are vital because it helps us heal, helps us connect, makes us human instead of masked pretenders. One person’s honest story can be the medicine for another,” Gungor wrote in a blog for The Huffington Post. “To skip out on lament like we find in the Psalms is not only a great disservice, but harmful to the human soul.”
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