From The Vault: Worship Songs That Suck…

Let’s face it the vetting process for “worship” songs just ain’t what it used to be, and even when proper theology was a little more strictly demanded C.S. Lewis still thought of them as fifth rate poetry set to sixth rate music.

If it’s on the radio and gives me an ecstatic feeling while I’m driving in my car seems to be the criteria for some worship leaders today… that and if Chris Tomlin sings it.

Lots of songs are coming out of many different traditions, and not all of them are great. Some songs just suck. Sometimes they suck musically. Sometimes they suck theologically.

So my question for you today is what worship song or songs irritate you–which is kind of ironic–and you would prefer never to have sung at your church again. I’ll get the ball rolling: Our God is an Awesome God.

Now I know this might seem like an odd choice but let me clarify. The chorus is OK and a decent song for churches today, though I would ask what people think when they sing “He reigns from heaven above” and if they may have a too transcendent understanding of God. Then we would have to follow this song with “I’m here to Meet With You Come and Meet with Me” and invite God from “heaven above” to have authority in this place. Seriously, am I the only one that has thoughts like this go through their head during worship?

Those semantics aside: the first verse of “Awesome God” is horrible. In fact, it sucks. I mean have you ever really listened to and thought about this epic piece of crap?

When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain’t just puttin’ on the ritz
(our God is an awesome God)
There is thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fist
(our God is an awesome God)
Well, the Lord wasn’t joking
When He kicked ‘em out of Eden
It wasn’t for no reason that He shed his blood
His return is very close and so you better be believing
that our God is an awesome God

It may be that this is the single worst verse ever written in the history of music, which is rather ironic considering how good the chorus is. “When He rolls up His sleeves He ain’t just puttin’ on the ritz” may be the worst line ever written in the worst verse ever written. I wish I had the time to fully deconstruct this foul smelling turd of a verse for you guys. It is bad on so many levels. Bad lazy song writing and weak theology. When will Christians ever learn that the most correct way for us to speak about God is God revealed in Christ? It boggles my mind when the majority of Christians I meet still have pretty much exclusively OT theologies for God, but call themselves followers of Christ. When this happens there is a bifurcation of the godhead that taken to its fullest (and most ridiculous) conclusion looks more like the Westboro Not-Baptist Cult than what I read in the NT.