{"id":4422,"date":"2015-05-12T06:21:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T12:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?p=4422"},"modified":"2016-01-17T12:34:42","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T19:34:42","slug":"singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \u201cBlah, Blah, Blah.\u201d And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because the music was so loud. \u00a0Just being authentic here, but with the lyrics as simplistic as they were, I<\/em> couldn\u2019t even tell the difference.<\/p>\n

I have to wonder if God noticed.<\/p>\n

\"5694117932_2f9b51a441_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As some of you know from my post Why I\u2019ve Stopped Singing in Your Church<\/a>, I struggle to reconcile much of what passes for modern worship music with biblical passages about God.<\/p>\n

The Psalmist tells us\u00a0God\u2019s thoughts are deep <\/a>\u2014 but not most of our songs about Him. His ways are not our ways<\/a> \u2013but we think we can sum it up in five words that endlessly repeat. And \u201cit\u2019s all about you\u201d except , of course, when we gush about how Jesus gives us that warm, tingling sensation (an experience also commonly attributed to medicated dandruff shampoo from what I see in commercials).<\/p>\n

I often feel as if church music got hijacked by Elvis and stuck in a post-Woodstock paradigm, driven by a concert-performance model already fading away in this digital era. How much longer until we can \u201cexperience \u201d church through a device strapped to our wrist and use an app to offer our praises. Perhaps we can choose a vocal avatar, just tap your favorite artist icon and your praise will be broadcast in their voice. All you\u2019ll have to do is lip sync. Oh wait, a lot of us already do that.<\/p>\n

And I can\u2019t wait until someone dreams up a way to incorporate drones into the offering collection.<\/p>\n

The Tyranny of the Next<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer\u2019s Life Together<\/a>\"\". Although I do not agree with Bonhoeffer on his austere approach to congregational singing (the absence of harmonizing voices, for example), I do think he makes the case that we have lost the unifying power of God\u2019s people singing in unison about God\u2019s truth.<\/p>\n

Instead we\u2019ve settled for flashbacks to our Sunday School experiences when we sang shallow ditties that looped endlessly. But at least we have cool guitars now that wail instead of having to engage in rhythmic clapping exercises, right?<\/p>\n

One commentator on my post Why I Left Your Seeker-Friendly Church<\/a> made a good point about the present worship music model having been designed to suit Baby Boomers and GenXers. I agree.<\/p>\n

My friend Rich Birch wrote a post about the recent shift in musical styles in our culture <\/a>and what that might mean for worship in church. I don\u2019t agree with him on everything, but it\u2019s worth a read because it begs the question: to what extent should our worship music be driven by cultural trends?<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. The electric guitar has seen better days. Jimi Hendrix left the building a long time ago. Aerosmith has joined AARP. If we\u2019re going for culturally relevant, then it\u2019s time to make some changes. I\u2019m not saying we should follow the crowd, but let\u2019s at least begin acknowledging that we\u2019re not even doing what we say we\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n

Courage: The Missing Ingredient<\/h3>\n

Just for once, I\u2019d like the Church of Jesus Christ to do something different \u2014 I\u2019d like her to lead. One thing that is missing from the Christian church \u2014 and all of American culture for that matter \u2014 is courage.<\/p>\n

We see it in our approach to music and singing in church. Most churches follow the lead of a few mega-churches. But those mega-churches often have the unique mission of trying to reach the un-churched.<\/p>\n

And so our churches become places where non-Christians can feel comfortable. No wonder so many believers don\u2019t feel welcome there anymore. What they should be offering is answers, the truth about life, the universe, and everything \u2013and authentic community.<\/p>\n

What Millenials want is authentic community. What they need is an encounter with Truth incarnate. Ironically, our churches often deliver neither because we\u2019re so focused on trying to become what we think will appeal to those in need rather than trying to be what they truly need<\/em> \u2014 the body of Jesus Himself.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: we have defined faith so narrowly that it is hardly relevant anymore for anything.<\/strong> We\u2019ve dumbed it down, limiting it to a one-time conversion experience. We\u2019ve confined it to what I describe in my book as The Salvation Box. We\u2019ve bought into the lie that \u201cChrist came to save sinners\u201d means he wants them to \u201cget saved\u201d rather than engage in a process of ongoing regeneration that requires ever-increasing levels of faith in Him as are conformed to the image of Christ.<\/p>\n

Thus we structure our services to make people feel good about having made a one-time commitment to Christ. We let them hang out in the shallow end of the theology pool because we think that as long as they\u2019re in the pool, they\u2019re good.<\/p>\n

But saving faith doesn\u2019t work that way. If we\u2019re not growing, we\u2019re dying. When our faith fails to grow, it may be we never had any in the first place.<\/p>\n

Faith thrives on truth, not the propaganda that we can coast if we once said a conversion prayer. As I put it in my new book A Story Worth Telling<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The problem with coasting is this: heaven is not downhill. That would be the other destination. [ Tweet this!<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Get your copy of\u00a0Why I\u2019ve Stopped Singing in Your Church: Answers to Questions You\u2019ve Been Afraid to Ask about Church Issues<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\"\".<\/p>\n

Finally, someone speaks up to offer answers to the questions you\u2019ve been afraid to ask about church issues. For all those in the Christian church who feel their voices are not being heard, Why I\u2019ve Stopped Singing in Your Church<\/em> is entertaining therapy for the frustrated soul.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, truth is not always welcome in the Christian church today. Yet without it, the church has little reason for existing. This book is a collection of truth-telling essays, comedic rants, and open letters offered with a twist of humor and sarcasm in the hope of focusing attention on real church issues that are often ignored.<\/p>\n

Some readers will laugh, others will cry with empathy, while others will try to burn it \u2013 perhaps not the wisest thing to do with an e-book, but so long as they don\u2019t use any four-letter words, I suppose it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

Click the book cover below to begin reading, learning \u2014 and laughing! \u2014 in just seconds!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/center>\n

Have you subscribed to our email updates? Click here to sign up to get my FREE eBook What God Wants You to Do Next<\/i> and receive FaithWalkers posts in your inbox each week.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \u201cBlah, Blah, Blah.\u201d And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because the music was so loud. \u00a0Just being authentic here, but with the lyrics as simplistic as they were, I couldn\u2019t even tell the difference. I have to wonder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":4428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,25,5],"tags":[972,626,45,34,37,38],"class_list":["post-4422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-living","category-church","category-culture","tag-a-story-worth-telling","tag-church-complaints","tag-church-worship-music","tag-music","tag-singing-in-church","tag-worship-music"],"yoast_head":"\nSinging in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, "Blah, Blah, Blah." And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, "Blah, Blah, Blah." And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FaithWalkers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-12T12:21:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-17T19:34:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/331\/2015\/05\/5694117932_2f9b51a441_o.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/\",\"name\":\"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-12T12:21:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-17T19:34:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\"},\"description\":\"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \\\"Blah, Blah, Blah.\\\" And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\",\"name\":\"FaithWalkers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\",\"name\":\"Bill Blankschaen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bill Blankschaen\"},\"description\":\"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer","description":"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \"Blah, Blah, Blah.\" And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer","og_description":"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \"Blah, Blah, Blah.\" And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/","og_site_name":"FaithWalkers","article_published_time":"2015-05-12T12:21:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-17T19:34:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":282,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/331\/2015\/05\/5694117932_2f9b51a441_o.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bill Blankschaen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Blankschaen","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/","name":"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-12T12:21:15+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-17T19:34:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb"},"description":"I once actually stood in church and sang the words, \"Blah, Blah, Blah.\" And no one could tell the difference. No one could hear anything anyways because","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2015\/05\/singing-in-church-with-elvis-aerosmith-and-bonhoeffer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singing in Church with Elvis, Aerosmith, and Bonhoeffer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/","name":"FaithWalkers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb","name":"Bill Blankschaen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bill Blankschaen"},"description":"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)","sameAs":["http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}