Lingamish has posed the question, “Are you in love with Jesus?”, in a recent post about “Jesus is my boyfriend” worship songs on his Lingamish Forum*. He cites “Let my words be few” as a representative example of this genre:
You are God in heaven
And here am I on earth
So I’ll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with YouChorus:
And I’ll stand in awe of You, Jesus
Yes, I’ll stand in awe of You
And I’ll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with YouThe simplest of all love songs
I want to bring to You
So I’ll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with You
The lyrics to the song above remind me of the translation “debate” over John 3:16. Does the “so” (For God so loved the world…) mean that God has an infinite amount of love for the world, or is this a literary way of saying “God loved the world in this way:“? Maybe both? Similarly, what exactly does the “so” in “I am so in love with you” mean? Does it mean that we love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, as much as we possibly can? Or can we use this phrase as an introduction to our love, “Jesus, this is the way that I love you:“?
Then there’s that little word “in”. It’s not enough for the lyricist to say “Jesus, I love you so much“. No, instead we have to be “in love” with Jesus. “In love” raises the specter of candy, fluffy gifts, satin and silk, hormones, hands in back pockets, pimply awkwardness, and all the other associations of the flush of new relationships. One gets the feeling that these “Jesus is my boyfriend” love songs were written in the rush of new faith. But what about us with years of faith water under the bridge? Does God still want us to be His giggly lovers?
As a guy, it’s hard to stand there in the pews and sing “I am so in love with you“. Those are words I use with my wife, with whom I have an intimate relationship, a relationship unlike every other relationship I have in the world. I would hope that women would experience the same discomfort, especially if they’re standing next to their husbands while singing. Maybe single Christians can sing those words without pause, maybe that’s their advantage in serving Christ, as Paul wrote. But we married folk need to be “in love” with our better halves.
Further, I think there’s little disagreement that “love” is one of those words that has become culturally corrupted. It can mean any of a thousand different things, but we live in a time that interprets this word by the flesh rather than the spirit — witness the words I’ve already written in this post. We can deny that as much as we want as Christians, but the simple fact is that Western men cannot say “I love you” to other men or women (not their wives) without raising eyebrows at the least and being accused of homosexuality or adultery at the worst. Maybe it’s different in other cultures, but I can only speak to mine.
All that to say that “love” itself maybe is a bad word to be singing. Unless we want an exegetical introduction to each worship song… “We’re going to be singing a love song to God, but let it be understood that this is agape love that reflects our Christian brotherhood and unity in Christ.” I didn’t think so…
In a recent post, I wrote that “worship [is] supposed to be an outpouring to God, not about God… Worship about God makes the mode of worship the focus, not God. If the methods of worship are the focus, then you’ve set up an idol.” So what does this mean for “boyfriend” worship songs?
If I sing about how much I love God (“I love you soooooo much…”), the focus is on me and my love. If I sing about what it is that I love about God (“This is why I love you…”), the focus is on God. Instead of saying “I love you”, describe your love for God:
Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet never did I breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold.
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific – and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise -
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
As Keats’ breath was taken away in astonishment at Homer’s verse rendered by Chapman’s free pen, so our breath is taken away by the awesome grandeur and wonder of God’s creation and by the intimate, sufficient care He shows to even the smallest sparrows. That is the God I love and want to sing to!
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!– “How Great Thou Art”, Carl G. Boberg and R.J. Hughes
Surely, these verses say “I love you”, don’t they?
* Note: I’m posting this on my blog rather than the forums due to Lingamish’s recent warning that he may be switching platforms.
13 Comments
“Love” as a culturally corrupted word reminds me of the scene in that great movie, Roxanne in which Steve Martin is having difficulty putting his feelings for Daryl Hannah into words:
“Words—they’re all used up. They’re hard to say. They’ve all been wasted on the shampoo commercials and the ads and the flavorings. All those beautiful words. I mean how can you love a floor wax? How can you love a diaper? How can I use the same word about you that someone else used about a stuffing? I’m exploding with love for you and I can’t use the word.”
I agree with you 100% The problem is I don’t think people really think through the words they are singing. They sing them and then sit through them because that’s what they are supposed to do, those are the words on the screen.
This weekend, a church I attended sung “Heart of Worship” which I haven’t sang in a long time. I was thinking about the lyrics when I realized something odd. Not only was it very “me” centered (about what I do) but it wasn’t even a song OF worship, it was a song ABOUT worship! We were singing a song of how we should worship for worship, and not actually worshipping. I mean, the song would make a great “confessional song” but worship it is not. We might as well have been singing “This is what we should be doing/ instead of what we are doing.”
ElShaddai, I’m in love with you.
@Rick: Great quote! I haven’t seen the movie, but I can imagine Steve Martin pulling that off!
@Bryan: regarding HoW, see this post. In essence, you’re correct – the song is about creating an idol of worship. I often wonder if worship pastors think about that message when we sing it – the last time it was sung at our church, there was an extended guitar solo some time after the second verse. I just stood there looking at the band, scratching my head, thinking, “do they get the irony?”
@Lingamish: When I gaze upon your prose / I feel a tingle in my toes / I feel my heart skip a beat / because I think you’re pretty neat!
Gross!!
Dang, I forgot to mention…
“Let my words be few” is very close to James Blunt’s “You’re beautiful.”
Sing these lines:
“Let my words be few, cuz Jesus I am so in love with you.”
and
“And I don’t know what to do, cuz I’ll never be with you.”
Uncanny, don’t you think?!?
Excellent. You’ve found a way to express a frustration that has plagued me for years. When I was serving as a music pastor I tried very hard to avoid the “boyfriend” songs, but they’re everywhere!
One of my heroes is a Scottish Puritan pastor named Samuel Rutherford. He really loved his Jesus! Here is a taste of how he spoke of Christ while suffering for him in exile:
“It is but our soft and lazy flesh that hath raised an ill report of the cross of Christ. O sweet, sweet is his yoke! Christ’s chains are of pure gold; sufferings for him are perfumed. I would not give my weeping for the laughing of all the fourteen prelates; I would not exchange my sadness with the world’s joy. O lovely, lovely Jesus, how sweet must thy kisses be when they cross smelleth so sweetly!”
Funny, my reaction to the hymn, “How Great Thou Art”–it was just about the only hymn one church I attended ever sang, and sometimes I got so sick of them plugging it in there as if they had done the hymn thing by including it.
By reading your post tonight and thinking through the different songs, I was struck by parallels to that hymn and the song “Here I am to Worship,” which I’ve also heard criticized for starting with the emphasis on “me”.
Now I want to write the two songs out (at least the first verse and chorus of “How Great Thou Art” and compare how they say what they say, and see if they are as similar as I’m thinking or not.
In any case, you’ve given me a good bit to think about.
Will, that’s a great quote. A historical perspective can prevent us from condemning our contemporaries and reconsider the validity of amorous language.
exlexia wrote:
That’s a great observation – it does seem to be a “me” song, though the verses are rightly on track – just the chorus and vamp changes perspective to “me”.
I wonder if the Psalms would stand up to this type of critique, or whether we’re being obsessive with an ascetic mindset. Or is there a critical difference between written poetry and sung verse?
As you probably know from our interaction on my post (called “The Heart of Worship“), I am in complete agreement. It’s all about where you put the focus. I don’t have any interest at all in songs about me and how special He thinks I am. Redman does a fairly good job in many cases in leaving the “me” focus out, but man, did he drop the ball on “Let My Words Be Few”! Of the big names, I think Tomlin’s got some of the most theocentric lyrics. I am really digging Sovereign Grace’s music right now, with its steadfast commitment to emphasizing the gospel in their lyrics.
Ed. Steve, I hope you don’t mind – I added a link to your thoughts on HoW. It’s a great post and well worth reading again!
hey i like what u said. “love is culturally corrupted” haha
The song heart of worship is actually written when Redman’s church was going through the form of worship they are in. The pastors decided that they have no band playing a couple of weeks because worship is not about the song or lyrics, its your heart.
In the song, there is a line “im sorry Lord for the thing i’ve made it” the form that people call it worship, if u just sing a song u sing, it might not be worship. The heart counts and God search in the depths of people’s heart.
When the band is playing out of tune or not in key, when the worship song sang in youth service is so old you got frustrated, when you think the worship team should not be the way they should be.
Question is, will you still CHOOSE to worship?
frankly i cant stand people going conferences and video down the ‘performance’ of the worship team during worship.
erm..the questions are asked not to the author but to every one who read it haha xD
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