P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

TWO HEAVENS #8

ZOMBIE LISTENERS

It was an electric Monday night in Abilene 2 years ago this past February. The Christian rock-and-roll band, Audio Adrenaline, was performing for thousands of teenagers. And lead singer Mark Stuart got the troops whipped up with this exhortation:

“I see you jumpin’ and sweatin’ and screamin’ for Jesus Christ.”

And then the music played. High in decibels; high in energy; high in beat; high in movement. Another band playing that night, the Supertones, had ITS lead singer, Matt Morginsky, tell the crowd:

“Rock your heads off. We’ll stay on stage on one condition — everyone here dances.”

And they did. But the reporter covering the event commented about what happened next:

“But while the music rocked, the place got quiet as, dare I say, a church when band members gave words of encouragement to the mostly teen-age and college-age crowd.”

And at a lot of these events — which are happening more and more now — the loud rock-and-roll music is being followed by a sermon. Auditoriums go from 140 decibels to TWO decibels; you can hear a pin drop as a drummer gives an appeal for people to surrender to Christ. You can hear weeping. You can hear drugs and promiscuity being surrendered.
And yet . . . it’s happening to the tune of rock music. LOUD rock music. And onlookers from the Geriatric Generation — old radio preachers like me — have to wonder aloud: “Is this for real? With all the NOISE going on here in Abilene, and in our own backyards, our own churches now, is anything of substance getting through to anybody’s BRAIN?” After all, this concert by Audio Adrenaline — even that name says a lot, doesn’t it? — is part of what they are calling “The ZOMBIE Tour.” And zombies, as we know, are usually thought of as unthinking, unaware beings who stumble through the darkness, their glazed-over eyes not seeing the realities around them. That’s a zombie. Are the people who worship on so-called Christian rock music ALSO zombies?
There are some verses of Scripture that have a direct bearing on the issue of music — and of zombies. Probably the most potent is found in First Corinthians chapter 14. Christians tend to debate about this chapter in the Bible, because the Apostle Paul is writing about the controversial practice of speaking in tongues in church. But here in verse 15 he addresses music:

“I will sing with my spirit,” he writes, “but I will ALSO sing with my mind.”

Paul was a great believer in THINKING Christianity. Well-reasoned faith. He didn’t write the Old Testament verse, “Come, let us reason together,” but I imagine he quoted from it in his sermons. He believed and taught that spiritual gifts, properly used in the church, should impact the mind. Should purify the thoughts, elevate the powers of decision.
I’ve been sharing bits and pieces, and also guidelines, from a recent editorial in my own church’s weekly magazine, the Adventist Review, written by the incomparable Bill Johnsson. He uses this very verse, I Cor. 14:15, as a lead-in to his essay. In fact, his title is “Singing With My MIND.” And then, as he takes us through some of the pros and cons of what we admittedly call the “music wars,” he returns to the same point at the end.

“Loud music that drowns out the words misses the mark,” he writes. “I want to sing with the spirit, but ALSO with my MIND. That also means that if the choir sings in Latin, I need a translation.”

That seconds, really, what Paul says in his letter to the Romans:

“Faith comes through HEARING and what is heard comes through the Word of God.”

Not too many months ago, right here in Thousand Oaks, one of our churches hosted a Friday evening contemporary concert for the young people. And a couple of our staff members, who are only, say, about thirty years over the targeted age demographic, looked in the mirror and said: “We’re still cool. We’re still groovy people. Let’s go.” So they did. But after about three songs, they left. Because, as one of them admitted in frustration later, it was nothing but noise. You simply COULD NOT decipher words coming through the wall of sound. Just three instruments — guitar, bass, drums — but all three were cranked up to “high,” and the words of the songs, which might well have had a gospel message, just did not penetrate people’s minds. And those Voice of Prophecy staff members crept out to the parking lot feeling very old and even a bit discouraged.
But you know, as we explore here very earnestly about a difficult, divisive subject, let’s not pit one generation against another. Let’s not exclusively condemn the musicians with the Fender guitars, and the people who attend their concerts. What about the time you and I sit in church where the music is quiet and reflective . . . but we allow our minds to wander out the window to the nearest golf course? Listen, you can be a zombie just as quickly around a pipe organ as you can at an Audio Adrenaline concert. The congregation is singing the opening hymn, but we’re still reading the gossip news in the church bulletin, and don’t join in until the last verse. Or we don’t sing the opening hymn, because we’re not even at church yet! We slept in, dawdled in the shower, got there late, and didn’t really get to our pew until after the offering was collected. Did the message of the opening hymn reach OUR mind? Obviously not; our mind was still out with our body somewhere on the 101 Freeway. My point is that ALL of us, whatever our musical tastes, need to make a commitment to God — that we’ll offer Him our brains as well as our born-again hearts.
I have to confess to you that in recent years, I’ve resolved that whenever I can worship God in song — I want to seize EVERY opportunity. I don’t want to just SIT there in church, while others sing. I don’t want to have my lips move, but not my brain cells. As Bill Johnsson says, “I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.”
One more point, if you’ll let me. We sometimes criticize today’s music because it’s loud; and certainly there IS a thing as TOO loud . . . if the sound waves simply overwhelm the human mind. That can happen; it’s occurred in my life and probably in yours. That doesn’t mean that ENERGY in worship is wrong; in fact, I would suggest to you that energy in worship is consistently Scriptural, if you read through the book of Psalms.
Some Internet criticisms of what we call “Christian rock” have been drifting into our offices; I’ve quoted from a recent book being compiled out of some e-mail files. Back to the loudness issue, this one writer observes:

“If the volume or dissonance of the music are such that the words cannot be heard clearly, then the whole performance is an exercise in futility.”

True enough. He continues:

“Unfortunately, the energy released by rock music engages FEELINGS rather than REASON.”

And friend, this is the challenge we face as we go to church, or as we crank up the volume on the CD player in the car. Where does the energy in our music take us? What happens as that miracle mix of notes, rhythms, beat, lyrics, chords, etc., embeds itself inside of US? In Bill Johnsson’s editorial, he makes this startling assertion — it’s the third of his four vital points:

“Energy is KEY. Energy doesn’t necessarily mean loud; it means INTENSITY and FOCUS, giving God our BEST.”

Isn’t that what you want? Friend, it’s what I want. GOOD energy. I want the Christian music I hear to HAVE energy, and to stir energy inside of ME . . . energy of intensity in my worship. Energy of intensity and focus in my thinking. Energy in my enthusiasm, that my singing or participating or clapping will give worship up to God in a thinking, comprehending — but still mysterious and miraculous – kind of way. I want to sing like I mean it, and sing like I care.
I’m thankful for the kindred expression of interest in MINDFUL worship from a young musician named Steven Curtis Chapman, whose concerts sometimes penetrate the stadium’s top deck in terms of decibels. But he reveals in his new book entitled Speechless: Living in Awe of God’s Disruptive Grace, about his deepest goal:

“Just last night after performing a concert,” he writes, “I met a woman who explained through her tears how God had used one of my songs to ‘save her life’ after the deep despair arising from the untimely death of her husband.” Then he continues: “Each time I hear a story like that I am astonished. Never do I take such testimonies for granted because I know it has nothing to do with ME. God has allowed me to see firsthand how tenaciously and tenderly He pursues the weary and brokenhearted, and somehow, through a combination of the right LYRIC and the right MELODY He accomplishes things of eternal worth.”

Notice how Chapman acknowledges the power of the WORDS to change a life. Now, what responsibility does this put upon HIM? Here’s a bit more:

“This is why I work so hard at songwriting, to achieve that DELICATE BALANCE. The marriage of WORDS and MELODIES is a gift that God has entrusted to me, and I have no greater joy than watching God use the fruit of my craft for HIS glory.”

Those three words tell it all, don’t they, friend? “For HIS glory.”