Chase the Setting Sun...

CCM tends to stick very closely to the positive side of the Christian life and who God is (love, glory, worship, power etc) and seemingly rarely focusses on the down side of life in general (sin, temptation, struggles, persecution etc.). When it does focus on these things it tends to be that Jesus overcame them. I'm not really sure why this seems to be the case. Maybe it is because most CCM is worship music so it is focussed on the God of love, glory, worship, power and so on.

I think worship music that occasionally focusses on the broken nature of humanity and the struggles we all face would be maybe even more powerful at times than constantly talking about how "my God is mighty to save". Even though He is...

Along with CCM (and lots of secular rock) I also listen to Christian rap artists like Lecrae, Tedashii, and Trip Lee among others (many of them on Reach Records). I've noticed that these rappers deal very effectively with human nature and the things that keep us from following whole heartedly after the God of love.

How could it impact our worship services if we were a little more honest, in our worship through music, about who we are and the very real reasons why we need a God that is loving, powerful, and mighty? Do you think there is merit to our worship music better contrasting the ways we constantly fall short with the ways God never does?

Am I totally missing the boat here? Maybe I'm just not well versed in Christian music and I'm missing a bunch of good stuff that fits what I'm talking about. I'll admit, I listen mostly to secular music even though I am a contemporary worship director.

What do you think?