Isn’t the Light OK?

Andrew Osenga, one of my favorite song­writ­ers in the Chris­t­ian realm has some ques­tions about what peo­ple really want to hear in Chris­t­ian music. If you’ve fol­lowed any of my CCM rants in the past, you know this is a sub­ject that gets me very…uh…passionate. And yet, for some rea­son, I can’t bring myself to com­ment and say “this is what CCM needs. Do it.”

I think I’ve given up on the whole CCM sub­cul­ture thing.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m still very inter­ested in find­ing inher­ently Chris­t­ian ways of cre­at­ing, pro­mot­ing, and sup­port­ing the arts. And though the bulk of CCM is cheesy, I do enjoy it on occa­sion. So much of the prob­lem with CCM is that it’s tied in with the ways we do church and apply the gospel to our lives, that it seems like a los­ing bat­tle to try chang­ing it. The record labels aren’t the only ones these days pack­ag­ing and com­mod­i­fy­ing faith: mar­ket­ing, focus groups, and pan­der­ing to “felt needs” are quickly becom­ing the sta­tus quo for church as well as busi­ness. Unvar­nished truth is just too real for a lot of peo­ple, I guess.

I’m much more inter­ested in peo­ple like Osenga, Derek Webb, and the whole Square Peg crew who make “Chris­t­ian” music, but on their own terms. Or peo­ple like Bono, Daniel Lanois, T-Bone Bur­nett, et al who believe, and whose belief is an inte­gral part of their art, but don’t even bother try­ing to fit the “Pos­i­tive Fam­ily” demographic.

I hardly even lis­ten to Chris­t­ian radio any­more — the local sta­tion I used to lis­ten to all the time has become more and more annoy­ing, with its satel­lite con­tent beamed in to Maine from plas­tic Nashville Borg cubes of pos­i­tiv­ity. Any­way, my Ipod plays every­thing I like.

Gandhi once said “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” In that case, I guess I’d like to see more peo­ple sup­port­ing great art, regard­less of cat­e­gory, label, or “pos­i­tive family-friendliness.”

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