A friend recently sent me this article.  In it speaker, author, writer, youth pastor Walt Mueller speaks of hearing Dr. Phil live in Philly speak on how our culture has created a narcissistic youth culture.  Here’s his thesis:

“Without ever saying the word, Dr. Phil kept pointing the conversation back to ‘narcissism’ and the behaviors that are rooted in a sense of privilege and entitlement that has not only swept through celebrity culture, but our culture-at-large as well.”

I totally agree.  I find myself getting sucked into this, as well.  I think we all, as American’s deal with this.  Our Western thought has pushed us past Capitalism and moved us to a point of thinking everyone deserves something… even celebrity status.

You know people like this.  How about those people that tweet (post on twitter for those non twitterers) every little thing they do and expect people to follow simply based on the fact that they’re who they are… like that Verizon commercial when the kids are telling their dad to “cool it with the twitter updates… we know you’re on the patio!”  I’ve been there.  (I’ve never tweeted that I was taking a dump so I guess that’s a bonus.)  I enjoy the randomness of the conversations.  That’s one reason I tweet.  Do I think I deserve celebrity status because of it?  Nope.  I don’t do anything worth mentioning there.  People that bring leadership and insight through their tweets are the best ones!  Keep it up you chosen few.  We could all use a little more insight.

I digress… The fact is, this narcissism has crept into EVERYTHING.  Even our worship.

I’m a skeptic at heart.  Worship leaders that record albums make a huge difference in our world of worship.  New music needs to be created, needs to be put out so we continue to grow in our faiths.  I love hearing and finding (and attempting to write) new material.  I love hearing the reasons behind songs and what they meant for a particular community.

I’ve also led worship for quite awhile.  I had my first worship leading experience in 1994.  That’s 15 years ago!  Makes me feel old!  I was a lowly 7th grader and the youth group I grew up in needed a male vocal.  The rest, as they say, is history.  There was a time when I wanted to be the next Chris Tomlin or David Crowder traveling and touring and leading worship with no connect and followup.  (Side bar: That’s what I respect about people like Crowder & Tomlin… they go home and lead.  They’re pastors at heart and they live that way.)  It was a narcissistic mode because I thought I was AWESOME.  I’d like to think that I’ve since grown out of that, but the truth is, I AM awesome!

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See! I still struggle with it!

But, it’s not just the leadership that I think struggle with narcissism in worship.  I think the crowd, tribe, audience, congregation (whatever you call it) does, too.

This past Sunday night, I led worship with the XPT band for about 600 peers (and by peers, I mean other followers of Christ).  The age range varied, the church we were in was not at all like Crosspoint, and honestly it was nerve-racking to think that they might not “like” the type of worship we put together.  Then, Angie nailed it on the head. “Who are you doing it for?  Them or GOD?”  I responded and she said something to the effect of, “Then get over it… it’s not about them.”

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We want things from our worship.  All of us.  Some of us like guitars with screaming distortion and heavenly delays, others like organs and violins.  Still others like silence.  I think we can all agree that we all have a particular “palette” when it comes to worship styles.  But, when we let our wants for worship outweigh the mightiness of the wonder of the Creator, don’t we make it about us?  Shouldn’t it always be about GOD?

“I’m sorry, LORD, for the thing I’ve made it.
It’s all about you.”

Still working through this…
PJT//