Our very level-headed friend Eddie Arthur went over the edge today and named Matt Redman’s Heart of Worship the Worst Worship Song ever. And Eddie’s so hip normally. Even a bit… emergent. All this confirms my speculations that he’s now letting his hound Bassam do the writing. Dogs are extremely conservative when it comes to liturgy.
Come on, Eddie, quit being such an old-fashioned twit. Even if Matt’s song is not to your liking, what do you hope to achieve by slandering him publicly? (Besides boost traffic to your blog?!?)
Prescribed penance for your sin is the following: nine hours on your knees listening to the complete collection of Women of Faith CDs.
[...] and Eddie, list it as one of “The Worst Worship Songs Ever”? I am glad that at least Lingamish has jumped in to defend [...]
C’mon David – read the post before you comment on it. I never said that ‘heart of worship’ was the worst worship song ever (sounds like a CD from your local Christian book store). I said it was a personal bête noire and then quoted Alistair’s very amusing comments about it.
Get your exegesis right before drawing conclusions! “Twit” indeed!
Anyway, thanks for the extra traffic!!!! You are a star.
Sorry I was so busy jumping to conclusions that I didn’t have time!
Some people might consider some of the worship songs that I have written as the “Worst Worship Songs Ever” but I find the whole idea of labeling worship songs in this way extremely offensive. As I looked at comments on Alistair’s post it became apparent that what he was really opposed to, and I think this was your problem as well, was that songs were being used inappropriately within the church service. Second, Alistair and others didn’t understand the significance of the songs within their original context (talk about lack of careful exegesis!).
I sympathize totally with someone who grows tired of singing “This is the air I breathe” or “I could sing of your love forever” over and over and over again. But I don’t think we can fault the songwriters. In an appropriate context I have sung both those songs and found them as an meaningful expression of worship.
Give my regards to Bassam.
You can all blame me for this “worst worship songs” ever thing, although to be honest I think I pinched that headline from someone else’s blog posting (see my original article. Lest anyone think I was being deliberately offensive, it was a bit of Friday afternoon fun, not to be taken too seriously, but to provide a chuckle and a bit of banter on worship to boot. Looks like I succeeded!
Yes, Alistair, it’s a sorry thing that a fellow can blog away writing real works of art and then the thing he goes down in history for is an off-the-cuff post written with tongue in cheek. Such are the banal tastes of the rabble. My most popular post ever is about tattoos… sigh.
But someone daft enough to include theology and sexuality in the tagline of his blog might be worth watching… I’m glad I discovered you.
Yeah, this is the first time on your blog as well. Looks interesting! Your comment about sexuality reminds me I need to continue blogging about it!
[...] June 19th, 2007 · No Comments After slamming Eddie and Alistair last week for dissing Matt Redman’s song Heart of Worship, one of my old friends reminded me of my own guilt in a similar area and asked what my penance should be. I had written: Prescribed penance for your sin is the following: nine hours on your knees listening to the complete… [...]