{"id":6511,"date":"2011-10-19T07:44:32","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T12:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/?p=6511"},"modified":"2015-09-04T20:18:19","modified_gmt":"2015-09-05T02:18:19","slug":"on-being-embarrassed-when-worship-songs-seem-sexual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/on-being-embarrassed-when-worship-songs-seem-sexual\/","title":{"rendered":"On Being Embarrassed When Worship Songs Seem Sexual"},"content":{"rendered":"

[CAUTION: This post is\u00a0satirical. Calm down.]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Over-sexualized.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Worship songs? No. Everything.<\/p>\n

I’ve been both a victim\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0a participant in the American cultural norm…Scope out opportunities to rejoin comments with,\u00a0“That’s what she said.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

(To be sure, the phrase was around long before the TV show “The Office”, but a certain Michael Scott character seemed to usher the phrase into a broad and sweeping cultural vernacular. Am I right?)<\/em><\/p>\n

So now, it seems thousands of words and phrases are hijacked, and church gatherings are not immune to it either. Or, maybe it’s just me. It can be hilarious, dreadful, or just plain embarrassing. Recently, a few worship songs have sort of had their way with me on this, so to speak.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
“Bride of Christ” by Marion Coltman (I thought it was entitled: “Jesus, keep your hands where we can see ’em”) …and it’s all just a bit too much for me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I didn’t want to think it at the time, but the Casting Crowns song “Your Love is Extravagant” sounded just a little too much like a “friends with\u00a0benefits<\/em>” song. Golly, all you have to do is take the “t” off Christ, and you have a fine mess (in my head):<\/p>\n

Your Love is Extravagant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your love is extravagant
\nYour friendship, it is intimate
\nI feel like moving to the rhythm of Your grace
\nYour fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
\nYour love is extravagant<\/p>\n

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
\nNo greater love have I ever known You considered me a friend
\nCapture my heart again<\/p>\n

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
\nNo greater love have I ever known; You considered me a friend<\/p>\n

Capture my heart again
\nYour love is extravagant
\nYour friendship, it is intimate<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don’t get me wrong, Casting Crowns does so many great worship songs<\/strong> I really enjoy. This may be one your favorites, which is fine. I hope it creates a worshipful experience for you, and for everyone, but I<\/em> get derailed.<\/p>\n

Basically, if a worship song talks about touching, my mind wanders<\/strong>.\u00a0Such as Kari Jobe song:<\/p>\n

I wanna sit at your feet.<\/p>\n

Drink from the cup in your hand.<\/p>\n

Lay back against you and breathe, here your heart beat<\/p>\n

This love is so deep, it’s more than I can stand.<\/p>\n

I melt in your peace, it’s overwhelming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fact is love\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0risky.<\/strong>\u00a0God is risky…Obviously risky and risqu\u00e9 has sort of been a fine line in songwriting. But, to be honest, I realize that love can often feel awkward as it gets emotionally deeper. When it starts to change and effect us\u2013and affect us. The awkwardness is part of the path to greater spiritual maturity. (In this case, I’ll let you know for sure when I get there.)<\/p>\n

Admittedly, the psalms that King David wrote got quite amatory<\/strong>, and for some it feels embarrassing. I can handle David getting up close and personal with God. I’m fine with Song of Solomon’s sexy talk, and David’s passionate poem songs, but maybe in singing those things corporately, we confront those issues of intimacy differently than we do in our times of personal devotions, songs, or prayers. What do you think about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the challenge, for me, is a renewing of my mind a bit more, and praying for better ears to hear. Thank you for your patience with me, Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lastly, for all you songwriters out there,\u00a0<\/strong>if you’re writing something sweet to sing for Jesus, please\u2013for me\u2013don’t put the words “intimate,” “secret place,” and “rhythm” too close together. (It can be a “worship hijack” for some of us, okay, for me<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

When was the last time you felt embarrassed\/awkward at the worst time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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…if a worship song talks about touching, my mind wanders. Such as this Kari Jobe song:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5626],"tags":[135,4642,287,5208,612,619,12,15,5659,4889,915,4377,1184,5053,1286,1335,1388,1604,5210,37,6538,4716,1763,1801,1875,4081,5209,4652,1927,1961,2077,2201,2223,53,2501,2502,6074,5449,2592,2676,2723,2779,2877,5617,6002,3041,3044,5206,5211,4628,3092,3096,3145,3147,3184,5048,3943,5205,3404,3421,3444,3522,3742,91,5207,3768],"class_list":["post-6511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spark-my-muse","tag-acuff","tag-american","tag-audience","tag-casting-crowns","tag-change","tag-character","tag-christ","tag-church","tag-comments","tag-cup","tag-david","tag-do","tag-experience","tag-fact","tag-fine","tag-fragrance","tag-funny","tag-heart","tag-hillsong","tag-hope","tag-humor","tag-if","tag-in","tag-intimacy","tag-jon-acuff","tag-just","tag-kari-jobe","tag-king","tag-king-david","tag-language","tag-love","tag-mess","tag-mind","tag-music","tag-path","tag-patience","tag-personal","tag-plain","tag-poem","tag-praying","tag-psalms","tag-readers","tag-rhythm","tag-risque","tag-secret","tag-sex","tag-sexual","tag-sexualized","tag-sexy","tag-show","tag-sing","tag-singing","tag-song","tag-songs","tag-spiritual","tag-stories","tag-sweet","tag-thats-what-she-said","tag-the-office","tag-things","tag-time","tag-tv","tag-words","tag-worship","tag-worship-songs","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6511"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16474,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions\/16474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}