Calling Out Worship Music Snobbery…

I’ve never felt confident enough to articulate all of this but, this odd form of intimidation (stemming from, I don’t know… the moment one didn’t get into Julliard or Curtis?) its pulpit bullying. I mean, The reason nobody likes a “snob” is that they make others feel as if they’re worth less than them.

It’s a misuse of the pulpit. It shows and reveals an obvious disconnect between the pious elite and, well, the rest of us. And, if a pastor is so far disconnected with us “disenfranchised people” are they actually incarnating the life of Christ?

And, to be fair, this “world of theology,” which I guess, by default, I fall into [1]… is also, absolutely at fault for convoluting our church with big words like ecclesiology and over-intellectualized interpretations of parsed stand-alone verses.

Like a vast majority of things I say, Tony Campolo says it way better:

“Artists are the best theologians. They feel things that are true before theologians can jargonize them into obscurity.”

This form of “theologizing” is a similar tactic that I saw used in the theological world. It creates this feeling within the non-pastoral Christian that they are somehow not as connected to God or Jesus simply because they don’t no these “big words” or understand why this music is not worship.

There’s a huge difference between a follower of Jesus’ and being pious… one of these will draw people to attend your church; while the other is the reason most of us have left.

You don’t need to be Gordon Ramsay in order to enjoy the art of cooking simplistically; you don’t need to be a professional who’s climbed Everest in order to enjoy nature; similarly, you don’t need to be a pastor, priest, or a worship leader in order to connect with God.

But, this leaves me with the ultimate question: What makes something worship (keeping in mind, music is not the only form of worship)? And, who decides what worship is in and what types and forms of worship are out?

[If this post interested you feel free to jump over to my Facebook Page for new content where I’m posting shorter posts; all of which are regarding my “Returning to Sunday” bit]

[1] Which, I can feel my neo-Calvinist friends, who are published (unlike myself), bruting with anger as they read my including me in their theological world.