Over four years ago, I wrote a post called “Liberal songwriting.” I had just spent a week at family camp with a progressive mainline PC(USA) church and noticed that the types of “camp songs” that they liked really did not square up with their theology – and I wondered aloud about where all of the more liberal songwriters were.
In previous generations, there was a mantra that asked “Why should the devil get all the good music?” While I’m not making any parallels between evangelicals and the devil, the question persists today: “Why should the conservative evangelicals get all the good music?” It’s been four years since that post, and I haven’t run across any sufficient alternatives to the “modern worship” movement (the Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Tim Hughes, and Passion worship movement…). Many progressive mainline churches have turned to the Taize and Iona communities for more meditative music – which is great, and something that I resonate with. However, if the church wants to reach out to those who really do jibe with the modern worship style (yes, complete with the chorus that repeats 10x in a row…), there really isn’t any good music.
At least that’s what I thought. I first heard of Dana Decker a few months ago when he got in touch with me about his recent CD, “When We Sing.” Dana is part of the Unitarian Universalist faith community and he has put together a CD of “music for liberal worship” that will appeal to the exact crowd I was mentioning above. I have to say that when I initially listened to it, I wasn’t sure that the music style was exactly what I’m normally into – I was hoping for more of a progressive/liberal David Crowder Band style, but after listening to more of “When We Sing” – it really does have something for everyone. It has a great variety of musical tastes; according to the CD’s description on CD Baby, the musical style is pop, rock and funk. I think if people check it out and give some of the songs a shot in worship, it could be a great gift for the church.
So, maybe now, we will start to get a crop of new liberal songwriters like Dana Decker, writings songs for the church that employ a musical style that many enjoy, while allowing worshippers to still proclaim a faith that they can believe in.
You can listen to some of the songs here and then you can purchase the CD from CD Baby for $12.97 or buy it on iTunes.
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- Very Bad Praise Music Lyrics
- Emerging Worship Environments
- Carrie Newcomer’s “Before and After” Album: A Review
- Jeremy Zach on Plurality 2.0
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Surely you jest. This is not worship of Yahweh.
I absolutely agree that there’s a desperate lack of truly contemporary worship music that lights up themes of justice, creation-care, and agape-centered inclusion. I’ve struggled with my praise team (who come out of the evangelical tradition) to find stuff, and as of yet, we’re not having luck.
As for this music, I’m politically and socially fine with it, but with the exception of the song about the table, it just doesn’t register as worship music. Fine for Unitarians, perhaps, but if you’re looking for something that speaks deeply to the core archetypes of the Christian faith…not so much. Maybe it’s just me.
Wow, listened to it. Crazy stuff. Like smoking pot and going to a greenpeace gathering with a bunch of bob marley fans.
Is this what american christianity has come to?
Thanks for this. This is good stuff. I am hoping for more songwriters to come up with similar music. Thank you for this link. I am going to send it to my worship committee.
Wow. Surely “liberal worship” could be much better, especially if it were Christian. This stuff may be great for Unitarian Universalists but in terms of being used in Christian worship – liberal or conservative – it is pretty much complete trash.
Let’s go track-by-track:
“One Planet” – Horrible eco-reggae. “The dolphin cries” – OMFG that line is actually in the song!
“Time to Make a Choice” – An amazing power-ballad for political correctness.
“Keep the Flame Alive” – Best song by far. Closest sounding to actual CCM music, which can be a good or bad thing.
“Let’s Work Together” – Terrible. This is the worst jazz-rap-soul song ever. Really, it is more cheesy than “Shine Jesus Shine.”
“At the Table” – Table motif could work in a eucharistic setting, however the piano ballad is overly affective, if you hate overly-sentimental CCM music you will not like this song.
“When We Sing” – Blah.
Adam, why not just use David Crowder in “liberal worship”? Or why not adapt some of the classic hymnody of the church to a more contemporary setting? If you want peace and justice type music get the 1970s Young Life song-book and look for some Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, etc., or maybe find some Leonard Bernstein that you like.
Have you listened to Crowder’s Remedy CD? Todd Agnew has a couple of solid social justice songs as well…
…and by Leonard Bernstein I mean Leonard Cohen. Though who wouldn’t mind a little West Side Story during worship compared to this junk?
As a musician, I’ve gotta agree with Dennis’ comments above. When 8 out of 10 songs start with a drum riff pick-up, you know something’s wrong. Adam, I’m not sure if you would categorize him as “liberal”, but Doug Burr (out of Denton, TX) is making some excellent spiritual/christian music without the bubble gum Christian-go-lucky sound. He is exploring deeply and honestly. I’m also enjoying The Glorious Unseen. Check it out.
Indeed, this is not a Christian worship CD, as the composer is not coming from a Christian background. What the above people need to understand is that in regards to worship music, the Unitarian Universalist denomination is about 15 years behind CCM. Dana Decker’s music is the first of its kind to be introduced to the denomination.
As Adam writes, there is “something for everyone” on this CD and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The music does, however, the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism (go to http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml to read what they are).
As for “At This Table”, my first thought as a UU (former Missouri Synod Lutheran) is that it would work perfectly as a Holy Communion song and is the most reverential piece on the CD.
Also, let’s try to have a more constructive discussion and leave out words like “junk” and “trash” – you are Christian after all, aren’t you?
Yawn.
Dennis Coles is hilarious. Thank you for attempting to bring weird liberals down to earth.
Sorry, what I meant to say in paragraph two is that the music speaks to and addresses the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism.
I am not clear on what you are saying. I agree with you that some modern worship songs are not theologically sound, and that our musicality should not go there, because it is not truth. However, maybe it is because of my own closed-mindedness and conservativeness, and I could be wrong, but here goes the rest of my thoughts anyway:
1) In their/our defense, most of these “modern worship” musicians live in the psalms and make them the base and heart for authoring worship songs. If one were to read the psalms, they would clearly see the overwhelming amount of scripture that is either quoted or referenced in the lyrics. The point of worship songs is toworship the only One worthy of our praises, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and not ambiguously, and not one person, not one thing otherwise. God is absolutely glorified when we come humbly in our depravity with sincere thanksgiving to a God who gives and takes away as He so pleases. The calling of all creatures of our God and King is to “exalt the LORD our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He.” – Psalm 99:5, and one day every creature will. What better place than to look to how to think and feel and learn how to worship the Lord than the psalms which God uses as His instruction for us to do so? (Psalm 1).
2) What is wrong with a chorus that repeats 10 times? Or 20 times? Or 1 million times? Or one that echoes forever in eternity? There are several psalms which are repetitive in their words, such as thrice in “Bless the LORD, o my soul.” – Psalm 103. Where in scripture does God condemn this? Or is this just us calling this pathetic… Revelation 4:8 states: ‘and day and night they do not cease to say, ” HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”‘ Is this anything other than beautiful?
3) There is a plethora of songs of every variety written from fully devoted followers of Christ to call Christians to remember our neighbors of the nations and to help us to feel compassion toward them, our community. These, however, I wouldn’t call “worship” songs as we are not singing to God as the object of our worship.
A song can’t be called a worship song if it does not explicitly worship God. Furthermore, a song doesn’t belong in the Christian’s heart unless it recognizes and reflects the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the truth and the life. Apart from him, all is vanity.
Remember when you blogged about that Brian Mclaren cd? That one was pretty horrible too. My suggestion is if you want ‘liberal’ worship is to go with Derek Webb, some of the songs on Mockingbird are really good. I’m not searching for liberal worship by any stretch of the imagination but I would definitely pass on Dana Decker. It sounded over produced, plus he’s a unitarian universalist, I puked a little bit when I read that. I’d rather not seek to worship God through a dude who believes that Jesus dying on the cross only saved a few people.
Adam,
I was one of those kids that grew up listening to only “Christian music”. Anyone one remember Tooth & Nail Records, MXPX, Supertones?
These days I have to say that myself and friends turn to many artists for inspiration and spiritual food in our struggles… both Bobs (Marley & Dylan), most reggae & rock steady, Rage Against the Machine, Ben Harper, U2, Indigo Girls, Wyclef, Talib Kweli, Jose Gonzalez, Indigo Girls, Counting Crows, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding, Elliot Smith, Manu Chao, Billie Holiday, John Lennon, The Clash, Cold Play, Sigur Ros, Lauren Hill, Fugees, Arrested Development, Radiohead, Ray Charles…..
Rarely do I find “Christian” music to hit the spot. My parents trashed most of their records when they had their radical conversion experience decades ago. Bill Gothard sure didn’t help because he says Christians shouldn’t listen to “un-christian music”. I remember my mom telling me my struggles with porn back in High School were because I listened to “secular” music. Subsequently I was deprived the profound music of several decades… especially the 60s. It has taken me years to rediscover tons of great music. Who on earth could someone not listen to Led Zeppelin? Bill Gothard may have helped my parents marriage but he failed to help my parents give me the tools to navigate this world.
I work at an Episcopal Church and my youth find “Christian” music bizarre. When I attend the NYWC I fail to grasp why David Crowder drives the crowd crazy. Although my wife and friend are really into Tommy Walker from Christian Assembly. The people creating the kind of music we want and need cant match the resources of Saddle Back or places like Christian Assembly with Tommy Walker. Churches or denominations that do have the resources are spending the money to pay for law suits, repair organs, or maintain their buildings. My church just raised thousands of dollars to repair our famous organ. Dont get me wrong it sounds amazing!!! I love good music but I and my youth are not going to be bumping Stephen Tharp the famous organist in my car or during a worship service with my youth.
I have found one exception here in L.A. I have attended various “emergent” groups Prof. Barry Taylor has led in L.A. His most recent gig is at All Saints Beverly Hills. He is a talented musician and has a sort of meditative rock/pop vibe he uses in his services. But his music would be just as cool at a local bar/venue. His music is featured in Agnieszka Holland’s film The Third Miracle, Tim Bui’s Green Dragon and on his own 2007 CD Rio da Duvida (The River of Doubt). You can read the rest of his bio here: http://www.allsaintsassociation.org/GCC08/speakers/btaylor.html
Peace,
- Josh
I got excited by the prospect but I have to agree with others about there poor quality.
The search continues. I do like some of this guy’s songs, http://www.sirchio.com/index.php?page=homepage
He has a worship book that I haven’t seen.
Look in the Catholic “Gather” hymnal. There’s some great stuff by Marty Haugen. Also check out Bret Hesla’s “Bread for the Journey.” Great stuff for congregational singing.
Check out http://www.myspace.com/fosterweb
The Foster band is leading worship here at the Christian Community Development Association Conference this week and rocks. They’ve got several good ones in their repertoire, including one called Love.
The band claims that they began as a response to a deep history of cultural and racial division in the present world, and a lack of social action among people of faith. As it unifies people through music, Foster seeks to inspire people to be godly instruments of love and peace in a world of poverty, sickness, and injustice.
Perhaps they could hook you up with other stuff. fosterband@gmail.com
Here’s some:
Tracy Howe (she was with McLaren on the EMC tour) and the album for that tour called “Songs for a Revolution of Hope”
The Band from Mars Hill in Grand Rapids
(They mostly write their own stuff, it’s pretty good)
You can go check out Mars Hill’s music at: http://www.musicatmars.com/
In the song listing area, anything written by Aaron Neiquist or Scott Bakers is theirs, and they let you download some sheet music for those songs. (For some reason, the music player there is not working right now). In particular there is a song by Aaron called “Love Can Change the World” that is amazing (one of the best lines: “Bridges are more beautiful than bombs are, bridges are more beautiful than bombs”)
I just read this post and I’m having a hard time seeing the need for “more progressive” voices in worship music. There are many, many “worship” acts out there currently who highlight heavily themes of social justice, environmental stewardship, use of inclusive language, etc. Even some of the folks you mentioned (Chris Tomlin, for one) are beginning focus on these issues and themes. Other names that come readily to mind are David Crowder, Enter the Worship Circle, Caedmon’s Call (especially their “Share the Well” album), Jason Upton, and others are constantly working/singing in pursuit of social justice. If progressive Christian communities are having a hard time finding good music for contemporary worship, it would appear that it’s because they’ve stopped looking.
Oh and as one who’s been leading worship for nearly ten years, I’ve got to agree with Dennis, Russ and others re: the production quality and songwriting ability…
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