Worship music isn't a big deal.

I can already hear the lighting of torches and the rustling of pitchforks as the Jesus Culture crowd prepares to hunt me down. Just hold on a second and hear me out. I don't think worship music is that big of a deal...

...and I'm a worship leader.

When you look into the worship guides and bulletins of many churches, what do they call that awkward time of singalong music that many people feel uncomfortable about? Worship. To the church at large, that's worship. Donald Miller recently posted a blog entry where he mentions that he "doesn't connect with God by singing. Not at all."  At first, the worship leader in me recoiled in horror. How dare he rebel against the institution of sacred music! Then, the idea he was putting forth slowly started to make sense.

I'm re-examining my long-held assumptions about what worship is and isn't. Honestly, I think the church presumes too much about worship music and neglects the greater concept of worship at large. I'm a believer in whole-life worship -- worship is a heart posture, not a segment of time where we do creative things. It involves both action and intentions. That whole creativity angle works for me, because I'm a creative individual, but I can tell as I peer into the squirming masses during worship that many people just don't get it. I see it in their faces.

Worship music is a cultural and economic force to be reckoned with. There's ministries designed around it, every church defaults to it on Sunday morning, and it causes a lot of money to change hands. It's an institution of its own, and I think we ought to re-examine it in detail.

Now, just because you don't prefer expressive, creative worship doesn't mean you shouldn't stretch yourself to try it and grow in it. I have to stretch myself too, for the benefit of corporate worship. I mostly can't stand the style of worship music. What is that, anyway? I would describe it as arena rock with U-2's guitarist in a v-neck and lots of melodrama. No thanks. So, by all means, don't think that this argument is a reason for you to suddenly disengage even further from creativity.  Everyone can benefit from creativity in some respect.

I wonder what it would be like if churches didn't presume that the music and teaching format was divine. What if we did other things on Sunday mornings instead? Like I said, I'm basically dismantling all of my assumptions about worship music, because I realize I've only held onto them because of my preferences. I prefer creative worship, so I do it. That doesn't give me the latitude to force it on everyone at the exclusion of other worshipful acts.

I'm going to keep exploring this, so bear with me as I unravel these ideas. And, for the love of Thor, don't tell Chris Tomlin I wrote this.

(If you enjoyed this post, check out my other blog here!)

Finding Christ Through The Hunger Games

    In case you didn't know, Hannah and I love movies. Seriously. The artistry that's poured into television and film is truly amazing to me.  It seems like these visual mediums are the artistic form of choice for our generation.  It speaks to us. Film is the native language of our culture, creatively speaking.  When I watch movies or television shows, I like to try and identify Christian concepts embedded within the so-called secular world.  The Hunger Games series is certainly filled with subtle tenets of our faith, and I want to show you all a little bit of what I see when I watch these movies.

   A few days ago, we bought The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on DVD, and despite the fact that we already saw it multiple times in theaters, the film moved us emotionally once again. After finishing the book series and watching it on DVD, I've realized that the same elements that move me in the story of Katniss are the most powerful elements of the gospel story.  In fact, I think that most powerful films have a representation of grace and redemption in them that reminds us of Jesus, because these concepts are some of the most universally touching experiences we can imagine.

   In The Hunger Games, we find that there are so many characters willing to die for the benefit of others.  They seem almost ready to die.  This is Christlike love, and it has a cost. We learn through this film that love is not simply the forlorn glances of affection and desired exchanged between young people. It requires sacrifice. If that doesn't have Jesus written all over it, I don't know what does.

    (Spoiler alert!) One of the primary conflicts in Catching Fire is actually centered around which combatant will die to let the other one survive.  Early in the film, Peeta insists that Katniss must prevail, and Katniss makes a deal with Haymitch to protect Peeta.  Then, Peeta wears a locket around his neck in the arena that reminds him to protect Katniss at all costs.  They're literally fighting to die for one another. That's love.

    Though the citizens of Panem appear to live in an amoral, religion-free society, they demonstrate the gospel story of love through their actions. We can observe a lot about the reality of John 15:13 through this movie. "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." It's beautiful, moving, tragic, and a little scary, but most of all.... it's true.

    I guess my point is this:  if you're looking for redemption, you will find it.  Grace and love are the most moving plot points that any creative person can weave into their own creations. You can find Christ in the most unlikely places, if you decide to look for Him. The gospel is everywhere you look, and I encourage you discover it and celebrate it wherever you possibly can. 

Barbie and the Culture of Aversion

Barbie. She's the icon of body image issues and the primary destroyer of self-esteem worldwide. Since 1959, Barbie has been spreading her agenda of unreasonable bodily proportions like a contagion to every innocent child that dares to own one. She's the problem, right?

Well, not exactly. Let me preface this article by saying that Hannah and I are still learning and growing with every passing year. We are constantly re-evaluating our own positions on cultural issues because we want to take nothing for granted. We feel like becoming entrenched in your own dogmatic opinions is bad for logical, sound, and healthy thinking. We used to be the kind of parents who poured out all of our parental angst on Barbie, neglecting to see the bigger picture of what's going on in society. We've had a change of heart, and here's why.

The war on Barbie is a bit of a strawman argument. That is, many parents channel their fury about cultural self-image problems through this little plastic figurine, neglecting everything else in TV, magazines, and even within their own family. Barbie is a scapegoat, an easy target for all of the ailments in our society regarding how women look. If we focus our efforts on advancing healthy body image into destroying the sales of one little doll, we're missing the forest for the trees.

Christians, in general, seem to enjoy hating stuff. You know this, because we see it everyday. We like to funnel our concerns into pet causes and campaigns instead of looking at the larger scope of the problem. Instead of hating the spirit of materialism, we refuse to participate in Christmas. Instead of discouraging irresponsible behavior, we rail against Halloween. We would rather superficially hate a cultural norm than take the time and effort to uproot the true problem beneath it. That's the Christian culture of aversion. That's lazy.

Instead of looking at the world as a minefield of things to avoid, perhaps we can use sound thinking and dialogue to embrace every moment as a teaching opportunity for our children.  If Hannah and I don't like the way a Barbie is dressed, we explain to Eisley that modesty is important and a more appropriate article of clothing would be a wiser choice. We approach the topic with a scalpel, not a hatchet. We want to use our best efforts to instruct our children on how to use discernment when dealing with cultural topics, because they're going to spend their lives facing issues in our society that require Godly wisdom.

We also want to teach our girls to think critically instead of approaching society with a sense of fear. By using a blanket argument to ban all Barbies, or anything else we don't like, we would lose out on many vital conversations with our children.  Talk to your children -- you can influence them in a much greater way than by merely avoiding certain toys.

Women's body image problems are a systemic issue in our society, and it starts in your own living room. The conversations that a wife has with her husband about her body (e.g. "I feel so fat!") having a much more profound impact than the curves of a Barbie. If we outsource our parental responsibilities into a diluted checklist that includes "Don't buy Barbies", we are doing a grave injustice to our own role as the formative force of our children's lives. I can do much more to shape my children than to simply avoid buying so-called evil toys.

I know what you're thinking. "Barbies have such unreasonable body types!" Well, the last time I looked through my four-year-old daughter's pile of toys, I didn't see a single anatomically correct design in them. Disney princesses have exaggerated eyes, Lalaloopsy dolls are sewn together and magically brought to life, and Veggie Tales characters are talking vegetables. That's witchcraft. But seriously, if our concern is scientific accuracy, let's be faithful to that concern. The real problem is how Barbie is different than other women, but I'd rather not sexualize my little girl's toy choices for her.  She has a lifetime of navigating through these issues ahead of her... I want to spare her for now.

When she holds a Barbie, she sees a plastic figurine that she can accessorize, dress up, and make believe with.  Children can discern the difference between make believe and reality, so Hannah and I choose to pour our efforts into a deeper and more substantial dialogue about body image issues. Our efforts don't revolve around Barbie, and that's why we're okay with them in our home.