When church music directors lead the congregation in singing some praise music, I often listen stoically with teeth clenched. But one Sunday morning, I cracked. We had been led through endless repetitions of a meaningless ditty called, “Draw Me Close to You.” The song has zero theological content and could be sung in a nightclub, for that matter. When I thought it was finally and mercifully over, the music leader beamed at us and said in a cheerful voice, “Let’s sing that again, shall we?” “No!” I shouted loudly. Heads all around me spun while my wife cringed.
I admit I prefer more traditional hymns. But even given that, I am convinced that much of the music being written for the Church today reflects an unfortunate trend—slipping across the line from worship to entertainment. Evangelicals are in danger of amusing ourselves to death, to borrow the title of the classic Neil Postman book. (from pfm.org)
Go here for the lyrics to Kelly Carpenter's "Draw Me Close to You." Colson is right about them - the words are vapid and empty, and may as well be addressed to your girlfriend/boyfriend.
Go here to read about recording artist Steve Camp's call for reformation for contemporary Christian music.
Unfortunately, Colson doesn't write about what happened after he shouted "No!" in church.
I disagree totally with Chuck on this one...Draw me Close to You is one of my favorites. It's not about entertainment it's about surrender to me. A lot of hymns are stories and sung ABOUT God and the things He's done, which isn't bad of course. But I find today's contemporary praise songs to have more meaning to me because they are to be sung TO God. It's actually worship aimed directly towards Him not just about worshipping what He's done or His attributes. Understand I'm not saying this as a generality, there are always exceptions, but Draw Me Close, to me, is a prayer to my Savior of longing and surrender for nothing but Him.
ReplyDeleteNope...Shallow and Empty.
ReplyDeleteLeah: I want to address your statements and I will take several points to do so.
ReplyDelete1. If you read the Psalms, then you realize that the Psalmist spends much time praising God for His attributes and for what He has done. Of course it "isn't bad" that a lot of hymns are that way - it's a very good way to praise the One Who made all things!
2. Why do the more contemporary songs have more meaning to you? Yes, they may be sung TO God, but how good are they if they could be sung to Dustin as well and know one would think you're a big weirdo? I could say the lyrics to "Draw Me Close" to my wife and she wouldn't accuse me of idolatry.
3. Singing about God's attributes and actions is worship, much more so than songs that basically say, "oh, you make me feel so good inside, thanks for getting me a ticket on the train to Heaven."
4. I understand that to make singing a "worship" experience, you must have your thoughts and feelings focused on God. I could sing "Holy, Holy, Holy," but if I don't mean it or I'm not focusing on what the words say or I'm just following along with the congregation, the singing is meaningless.
5. I think Mr. Colson is right on.
It's ironic that this song is the focus of this post since we just did it in our services last week.
ReplyDeleteI've had this discussion with several of my colleagues over the years and this song is a perfect example. It seems as though this song may have been born out of a personal worship experience. Two quick oberservations. Examine the lyrics and notice all that I've bolded:
Draw me close to You,
Never let me go.
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I’m Your friend.
You are my desire,
No one else will do,
’Cause nothing else could take Your place,
To feel the warmth of Your embrace.
Help me find the way,
Bring me back to You.
You’re all I want.
You’re all I ever needed.
You’re all I want.
Help me know You are near.
Now, the question I ask is, who is this song about? It seem's like there's an awful lot of time spent on taking about me, and oh, God, don't go anywhere. The question is whether or not this is truely a song of worship.
The second question is this. Is a song like this suitable for corporate worship? Corporate worship involves an assembly gathered together saying the same thing about God or to God at the same time. Here we have a lot of individuals saying "I," and "me," etc. The pronounse make a difference.
One more thing, there is a weird thing that some worship leaders feel they need to do that involves stiring up the congregation and the song into a frenzy to find an arrival point--as if the Holy Spirit will only show up if we repeat a thing so many times, thereby really meaning it! I bet this was part of Colson's frustration too.
Sorry I got in on this discussion so late.
How about a more balanced view? I agree with what has already been said about the Psalms, but you also find the personal pronouns "I" and "me" quite a bit. It's all about context. This song, and others, was written to God from the heart of a Christ-follower, not from a boyfriend to a girlfriend. That context changes everything.
ReplyDeleteWe need both "kinds" of songs in the church. In addition, these types are not new. Look at many of the "old hymns" and see how experiential they are ("Jesus loves me;" "Jesus, how I trust Him. How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;" "Whosoever surely meaneth me;" "All that thrills my soul;" and so on ad infinatum.)
It's all about context. If you don't like it, that's fine. Please don't denegrate the heart of the one who wrote it as an anthem of love to their Lord.
Draw me close to You,
Never let me go.
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I’m Your friend.
You are my desire,
No one else will do,
’Cause nothing else could take Your place,
To feel the warmth of Your embrace.
Help me find the way,
Bring me back to You.
You’re all I want.
You’re all I ever needed.
You’re all I want.
Help me know You are near.
Not trying to fight, just giving you the other side of the argument. I'll be the first to agree this is not a "deep" song, but my view on music is a "milk and meat" type arguement. Just as with communicating truth, we don't throw our full knowledge of Soteriology (or any other 'logy) at the kids in the preschool department. We grow them up in the Word. The same applies for older Christians. Some music is used as the same type of vehicle. In a diverse congregation that is constantly reaching new people with the Gospel, we have those who just don't "get" an Isaac Watts or Fanny J. Crosby classic. One day they will.
OK, I'll shut up now. Thanks for your blog. Keep smiling. ;)