Songwriter Graham Kendrick has managed to land in the book 50 People Who Buggered-Up Britain by Quentin Letts, a parliamentary sketch writer for the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail condensed the book into three installments (menaces 1-20, menaces 21-35, menaces 36-50). For whatever it’s worth, Kendrick ranked a lowly No. 39, which makes him less of a nuisance than Howard Schultz of Starbucks, the late Princess Diana, loudmouth John McEnroe, Magaret Thatcher, or the thoroughly modern twins, Topsy and Tim.
At GetReligion we are not above laughing at certain contemporary church music. Far from it. Still, Letts sounds both peevish and in over his head when blaming Kendrick for the devolution of British hymnody:
He started writing hymns in the late Sixties and has now written 400 of the ruddy things. Should it not be a strength of Anglican worship that it does not move with the times and instead provides continuity at a time of baffling change?
But no. It’s out with the harmonium! In with the electric guitar! Out with the hymns sung by our forebears, such as He Who Would Valiant Be and Hills Of The North. In with the roughagerich Bind Us Together or the negro spiritual cum grammatical solecism It’s A Me, O’ Lord.
The sturdy hymns of England, musical embodiment of the stoicism, resolve and undemonstrative solidarity of our nation, are in severe peril, and all thanks to ill-shaven remnants of the late Sixties — grinning inadequates who have never got over the fact that they weren’t Cat Stevens.
It could have been worse. Letts blames Ronald Jasper (menace No. 26) for nothing less than Britain’s notoriously sparse church attendance:
The turbulent Jasper, Dean of York from 1975-84, was the man who more than any other liturgical scholar was responsible for the erosion of the finest expression of religion in the English language, the Book of Common Prayer.
Change, change, change, that was Jasper’s goal — and finally he got his way.
At his urging the Church produced the Alternative Service Book, the dreaded ASB, unrhythmic, babyish, its prose as tinny as a can of beans.
No wonder our churches are nowadays so much more empty. Jasper caused this, the bloody fool.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones of the Telegraph brought a bit more depth to a brief blog item about Letts’ shots at Kendrick and Jasper:
Change can be tough, and is often not for the better, but young people want to be entertained.
The success of churches such as Holy Trinity Brompton and Hillsong shows that there are thousands who want the modern worship songs.
A nostalgic longing for hymns of yore does not tackle the issue of appealing to the younger generation put off by notions of church as old and stuffy.
The problem with the drive to be more contemporary is that it’s left a gulf in the style of worship and a scarcity of churches offering more traditional services.
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Comments (13) |
October 15, 2008, at 10:55 am
Well, the “Daily Mail” does specialise in Professional Grouchiness, so I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
I do think it’s meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek. Though there is a good point behind it: “Shine, Jesus, Shine” is the kind of thing you learn when you’re seven years old. That’s all well and good, but if you’re still singing it (with the same mindset) when you’re thirty or forty…
… which is to say no more than you have to grow in your spiritual life. An understanding of the faith appropriate for a seven year old is no good for an adult, and those adults who stopped at seven will of course abandon the church later on, blaming it for being dull, boring, irrelevant, or the like.
October 15, 2008, at 11:01 am
God bless Graham Kendrick, and God save the press!
October 15, 2008, at 11:46 am
1 Cor 14:20 does say that we need to mature in our thinking, nevertheless, Matt 18:3 indicates there are certain aspects of our faith where a childlike approach is desirable.
As to whether music is one of those areas, well, that’s above my paygrade.
October 15, 2008, at 12:43 pm
I am not a big fan of most praise songs, but “Shine, Jesus, Shine” is a favorite. And I am not going to apologize for it.
October 15, 2008, at 2:00 pm
I feel that Letts was too kind in his portrayal of happy-clappy music.
October 15, 2008, at 7:00 pm
It strikes me that there’s a very simple test for such music: does it help you get closer to God or not. Of course, knowing the answer to this question can be non-trivial, but to my way of thinking that’s the correct question. The point about whether or not the music is received as entertainment as opposed to focusing the mind on God is, therefore, apt. But I’ve read articles which I think can be summed up as rationalizations for why someone does not like a particular musical style. Maybe for Christians the test should be a Biblical one? Does the music Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord or not.
October 15, 2008, at 7:53 pm
In all fairness to Graham Kendrick, his song “Amazing Love,” while not quite in the same league as Charles Wesley’s hymn of the same title, is (for a contemporary popular Christian piece) quite substantive in its theological content….
October 16, 2008, at 9:54 am
My rule of thumb on such things is simple: Can my five year old daughter and my ninety year old shut in both receive and benefit from the hymn? If my five year old can’t, it’s probably because the melody is not designed to be sung. If my shut-in can’t, then the text probably doesn’t proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead.
Shine Jesus Shine failes in both counts. While it is singable, it is not something you want to sing 500 times in a row like a five year old. Compare that to numerous sturdy hymns that have taught the faith for generations.
The text for Shine Jesus Shine says absolutely nothing that will comfort the dying and distressed. It is an almost random gather of words that happen to have Jesus as one of the words. No cross. No death. No resurrection. No hope. No vindication on judgment day. What’s the point?
Thanks for an insightful article.
October 16, 2008, at 10:26 am
I hate it when contemporary music is chalked up to “entertainment” for “young people”. You know who gets most frustrated when my “contemporary” worship service works in a few hymns and a responsive reading? baby boomers. I know there is some contemporary music that is bad musically and lyrically. There are quite a few mediocre hymns too, we just don’t sing the miserable ones any more.
I don’t care for “Shine Jesus Shine”, but I don’t think it’s an abomination. I wish people would have a more measured, ecumenical approach toward church music.
October 16, 2008, at 10:31 am
Couldn’t disagree more. For those unfamiliar with the song, here are the lyrics (taken from Kendrick’s Web site, without permission). Judge for yourselves. Or judge not, lest you be judged.
Lord, the light of your love is shining
In the midst of the darkness, shining
Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us
Set us free by the truth you now bring us
Shine on me, shine on me
Chorus:
Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father’s glory
Blaze, Spirit, blaze
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth your word
Lord, and let there be light
Lord, I come to your awesome presence
From the shadows into your radiance
By the blood I may enter your brightness
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness
Shine on me, shine on me
Chorus
As we gaze on your kingly brightness
So our faces display your likeness
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here may our lives tell your story
Shine on me, shine on me
Chorus
Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1987 Make Way Music,
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
October 16, 2008, at 10:32 am
(I was disagreeing with Todd in #9.)
October 16, 2008, at 5:39 pm
Well, this comment is not directly on the article, but everybody else is off topic, so I guess I can be, too.
Why get stuck on “Shine, Jesus, Shine”? How about “Knowing You”? The text is pretty much right out of Philippians 3! Try going to the official Kendrick website and see the number of songs he has written! Good grief, does a songwriter have to include all of theology in one song?
Graham Kendrick used to be the director of music in the Ichthus Network of Churches movement that was started by Roger Forster, who is a personal friend of mine. Roger preaches a thorough-going theology (when was the last time you heard an hour-long exposition of Leviticus in a Sunday sermon, and Graham Kendrick put a lot of his sermon material to music.
Mollie, I have served as a Lutheran pastor in Germany, and all I can say is that you need to wake up to where God is leading alive Lutheran congregations there, especially in terms of music and worship. Look up names like Winrich Scheffbuch, Konrad Eisler, Ulrich Parzany, to name just a few of the older ones. The Spirit is moving in new directions, and we’re going to have to adjust.
Here is the text of “Knowing You,” which I hope is legal to post here, but by all means go to the website. I’m guessing Kendrick has written at least 300 songs, many of them with depth:
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord
Now my heart’s desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die.
October 23, 2008, at 4:11 pm
What baffles me is why he’d choose Kendrick, who clearly has a lot more substance to his songs than a lot of what’s out there in Maranatha Praise and such things. The more recent generation from the Passion movement has a higher theology to fluff ratio than the 80s-early 90s stuff that the older brnads keep putting out, but Kendrick was clearly a standout among that first generation of mass-produced contemporary worship music, certainly not the person to blame for the worst of it.