As you know, my pick of the week is Jon Foreman's Summer EP. I've been pondering over the lyrics for most of the last few days, and I wanted to share some thoughts on the song, "Instead of a Show."
The song starts like this:
"I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show"
Man, do I get that.
For about 8 years in a row, our family attended a huge Christian music festival, and I was always astounded by the crap in the merchandise tent, or as my sister called it, God's Garage Sale. If you can stamp a Jesus fish on it, it was for sale.
But it gets worse. I visited a church a few months ago and felt like I was at a concert. Stadium seating, huge video display screens, state-of-the-art technology, and not a Bible to be seen anywhere. I expected someone to come along at any time and try to sell me a t-shirt. (When I visited again a few weeks later, the worship leader actually hawked CDs from the stage.)
So Forman's lyrics really resonate with me, especially later when he sings:
"Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
But there's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plans
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands."
For a very, very long time now I've been pondering the meaning of church, and Sunday gatherings, and Christian music and books and TV, and the whole religious trap that I've been sucked into believing is the key to a relationship with Jesus. I've been feeling like I'm missing out, that God has something bigger going on and I'm just waltzing by.
This verse really sings with my soul:
"Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show."
Christian faith is about so much more than reading the right books or listening to the right music. It's not about where your behind is on Sunday morning or how much money you give to your favorite charity. Yes, it's important to fill your mind with good things, but not just the literary equivalent of formula and Cheerios. Read the classics. Read philosophy. Actually read the Bible.
And while giving money is a worthwhile and necessary thing for a Christian to do, if you're not getting your hands dirty at the same time - loving your neighbor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, being kind to the people you see every day - then what good is any of the religiosity?
If we were living a life defending the defenseless and giving hope to the hopeless, we wouldn't need our Jesus fish stickers and t-shirts or Christian music to tell people we were followers of Christ. They'd figure it out just by the way we lived.
You don't have to travel around the world to make a difference, to stand up for righteousness. Look around your neighborhood, your office, the public school or teen center. Sponsor a child through an agency like Compassion. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Shoot, just get to know the people who live next door to you!
When I started doing those things, church stopped being so safe and God became much more adventurous.
Anyway, I want to encourage you again to check out this CD. Read the lyrics (the song is really insightful), ponder in your own heart what your faith means to you, and consider how your relationship with the Creator of the Universe is really lived out on a daily basis.
Is it a show?
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The commerce of church - when do we cross the line?
A monday morning musing on the megachurch, Mike Guglielmucci, and music
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Thanks you for this excellent article. I pray that it's read by many.
Wow! This is an amazing article! When I was listening to Jon's summer Solo EP i was thinking the exact same thing! There are many churces in our culture today who have begun making worship into a concert. Or somehwere you go for entertainment..and other times it's just complete hypocrisy! Jon put it very well together in this song, that is why Instead of A Show is one of my favorite songs. It is such a true on honest song! thank you for writing this article!!
Great article (and about a great song)! I really like that you've challenged people to actually get out there and do something.
Hi, I feel your pain....the exact hypocrisy you write about is the exact work that i think our Father in heaven can use to bring others to him. Sometimes the "imitation" is neccessary to bring illustration to the REAL thing. The bible talked about John being mistaken as the messiah before Jesus was completely recognized as The Messiah. In my walk I have seen attempts to immitate the world We walk along in.. some who have been very lost in the same ugliness but for a worldly cause. As we mature and the bible says Believers will, we will not want for the baby food, we will hunger and thirst for MORE and More Righteousness....If a person who attends secular concerts with the motive to sell you t shirts to buy their drugs and spend on things that are not of a kingdom nature how much better if the proceeds of that money for the purchase of a t shirt not only provides charity for and xyz cause but brings the aforementioned to the loving saving Grace of Jesus Christ.
Taking our sights off of how The kingdom uses others and operates to draw in believers is not our business....our business is to find those who might be influenced by like minded behavior and show them a different way....THOSE worship leaders in your arenas, and big churches need your prayers for the work they are doing for the same God you and I serve. They are not "NOT" authentic because they appeal to a different audience. Being grateful that The same commerce that disgust you and others in your maturity can be used to bring many thousands to know a savior they otherwise would not have connected to had it not been for their servant heart to immitate, for puposes of a Savior who uses us all differently.
Keep it in mind!?!?!
With respect, I think you have all missed the point of the song. It is not about pointing out how others are doing the wrong thing, but to look at yourself and recognize the hypocrisy that we are all in danger of being guilty of. I don't think I have ever felt so convicted by a song, and I do not attend a fancy mega-church.
I do not believe the song is about churches who appear to be "putting on a show". For one thing, the externals mentioned in the article - "stadium seating, huge video display screens, state-of-the-art technology" - are not important, either positively or negatively. It is possible to worship God with a pure heart with all these things present, just as it is possible to attend a small, simple low-tech church and be guilty of religious shallowness and hypocrisy. The outward things are mere peripherals. Some of these big churches are caring for the hurting and the homeless and working for justice, just as the song talks about, while some less spectacular churches turn their backs on these issues.
No, the song is about our hearts - yours and mine - not the style of our worship.
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