Worship That Connects, Part 5: Like a Sloppy, Wet Kiss…

Ok, if you don’t get the song reference from the title, you can watch the video…

I have mixed feelings about this song…

On the one hand, the verses are virtually impossible to sing the first several times that you hear it. It’s lyrically poetic, maybe too poetic for the average midwestern Joe that we meet in our church, but rhythmically awkward. The first three or four times that different worship leaders pitched this on to our church, it struck out. No one sang along…

On the other hand, the chorus is so strong and connects with people’s hearts so poignantly that it gets very emotional responses, particularly as it builds in intensity towards the end.

In fact, the emotive aspect of the song is SO powerful that it completely hijacks the visually bland performance on the video… If you can stand to watch it long enough to get to the chorus, without getting bored watching the Kim sway and stagger around with her eyes closed, you’ll see what I mean…

The truth is that a LOT of the modern worship songs that connect are ME-focused… Like this one: it’s kinda about God and the intimate aspect of his nature, but it’s mostly about how much we are loved by God.

Introduce that idea in an emotive way to a group of people who haven’t been still since they sat in the same spot at church last Sunday… It’s bound to connect at a very visceral level with a few of them.

But is it really worship? Or is it just a sloppy, wet sentiment?

A pastor-friend of mine derides this kind of music as “Jesus-is-my-boyfriend” songs…

And then there’s the en vogue idea, out there in worship-leader-land, that emotive songs don’t connect with the manly blokes…

I don’t mean to endorse either of these ideas… They just represent the other extreme on the continuum…

There certainly is a place in the life of the church for sloppy, wet worship… because it does CONNECT with people who live in a world where intimate relationships are ended via text-message. The message that God loves them intimately is life-giving and true.

But, I fear, if that’s all we have, we end up with men and women in church that connect with a sugary, milk-toast god (small “g”) that falls pathetically short of being the real and powerful One that they desperately need…

So… mix it up…

Next time: God-Centered worship songs connect too…