Wow.
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When this first happened, and I decided to post it, I didn’t really know what to think. All I could say was, “Wow.” Not an enthusiastic “Wow!” More of a blank stare “wow.” I’ve thought about it some more today, and here’s my opinion:
Right off the bat, I noticed that they did not use THE Name, Jesus. Instead, the lyrics were,
My shepherd, my savior
Lord, there is none like you
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship you.
Shout to the Lord
All the earth let us sing
Power and majesty, Praise to the king
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of your name
I sing for joy at the work of your hands
Forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in you.
Without the name of Jesus this song is stripped of its meaning. What mighty love? What power? What majesty? What refuge? Refuge from what? King of what? What’s his name? What works? Who will you love? For whom will you stand? What promise? What guarantee? In whom?
Just “God?” Well, there are a plethora of those. I could sing this song to my favorite flavor of ice cream. I love Cookies N’ Cream by Blue Bell. It makes me happy. It beckons me to steal away to the kitchen for a spoonful, a little fellowship, if you will. My half gallon remains in the freezer until after dinner (usually), but all day I know it is there, a promise of sweet, creamy goodness for the evening or my comfort for a stressful moment. Ice cream isn’t much on power and strength — it melts. But isn’t that the way it goes with idols? They fail eventually. I want a worship song to be specific.
I’ve read a couple of other bloggers who indicated that they plan to buy the performance on iTunes and add it to their worship playlist. That’s fine. By removing Jesus from the song, however, it becomes too vague and meaningless to me. Perhaps they just enjoyed the group performance — the idol contestants did well.
The other question I have is, Why did they choose a worship song? “Shout to the Lord” is not a popular song outside of evangelical circles. I doubt you’ve ever heard it on any radio station besides the ones designated for Christian music. I firmly believe in God’s sovereign reign over all things, even song choice. So, now I’m wondering what in the world He’s doing among the folks surrounding American Idol this year!
Now if I tilt the lens a bit I can see some negative outcomes. What if more of our beloved worship songs are given the AI treatment, stripped of their true meaning, and sung to some nebulous idea of a god who doesn’t offend? I’m not sure we should be so quick to accept and praise what they did last night.
Then again, maybe I am wrong to try to read into the song choice. They needed a big number with a choir, and “Shout to the Lord” is a powerful, moving song. No more, no less.
Those are my thoughts on it.
As you were.
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Leslie Wiggins 
13 responses to “Updated — American Idols sing what?”
Wow!
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I absolutely did not get that.They did feel the need to take Jesus’ name out of it, but left in worship and king and other references to the fact that He is God.I did not understand the song and it really bothered me.
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I thought this was very strange and I still can’t figure out what the point was. Maybe because last night was an inspirational special show to raise money for aids victims in Africa, the producers wanted to slip in a song about God, but they had to follow it up with totally random stand-up bit the bleeped out language, just so it wouldn’t appear like anyone was taking the God stuff seriously. At least that is how it appeared to me.
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I totally agree, it really bothered me also. Tonight, they did sing the song with Jesus’ name for, but I still don’t understand what the point was.
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I had to miss the show, but now I’m glad I did. I would’ve just gotten angry. I’ve read reports that 2 of the contestants are part of another religion that is widely considered Christian. Maybe God is up to something, but I can’t imagine He is happy with His Name being removed from the song.
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Taking out the word “Jesus” means that it’s “inclusive.” A Muslim could sing that song, too.
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I just thought “how wierd!” Good observation – I didn’t notice the removal of Jesus’ name, so I would agree that was a “softening” of the song itself. I think that song is a more popular one on all the Time Life CD’s you see on TV, worship songs in general, so maybe that’s why they chose that particular song. They sang it again the following night, & I still just had the same reaction of “huh” – I too just didn’t get it.
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Oh, I didn’t think about the fact that that song has been featured on all of those other CDs.
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Great discussion, yes it is a pity they took out Jesus’ name but I heard that the following show they sang it again with Jesus’ name in it, which was great. I guess living in Spain where something like that would never happen I tend to lean more towards Paul’s statement “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”Having said that, I didn’t actually see the show or the context of it all.
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I have to disagree. We sing plenty of worship songs that do not include the word “Jesus”. There are lots of names for Jesus…Rose of Sharon, Morning Star, Alpha and Omega, Shepherd Savior, Coming King, Master, Messiah, Son of God, Jehovah, Redeemer, Friend, Healer. The song did include some of these. I think worship comes from the heart not from the lyrics.
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One more thing…as to “why”? I think Idol tries to pull from all genres of music. Country, Rock and Roll, Gospel, and I think Contemporary Worship is a genre all its own.
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Yes, but the lyrics to this song are “My Jesus.” They took it out for a reason. They didn’t want it to be just about Jesus.
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Thank you for making a fuss about this Leslie. I agree with you 100%.
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