When I was young, I would watch on Saturday afternoons the show American Bandstand hosted by America’s youngest teenager by the name of Dick Clark. The show (based in Los Angeles) would feature all of these really cool looking people (now I watch the reruns out of nostalgia and think, these people are dorks) dancing to the latest songs on the Top 40. The main purpose of watching American Bandstand was to see if your favorite song that you heard on the radio numerous times the following week would be played on American Bandstand. Also, there were two ‘acts’ that appeared that would ‘lip-sync’ their songs and their musicians would mock play their instruments followed by an interview by America’s youngest teenager.
I even remember the original theme and the theme that Barry Manilow wrote that went something like this:
We’re goin’ hoppin’ (Hop)
we’re goin’ hoppin’ today
where things are poppin’ (Pop)
the Philadelphia way
we’re gonna drop in (Drop)
on all the music they play
on the Bandstand (Bandstand)…..
I then began to think about the entire praise and worship scene and how much of it is more spectacle than sanctity and the analogy of modern praise and worship to American Bandstand was too close for comfort. I wonder how many Christians in America really go to church only to see and hear the music being played instead of the Word being preached? I really wondered if Church on Sunday Morning is becoming too much like American Bandstand to where we come to church to watch a worship (host) leader who thinks he or she is America’s youngest and energetic teenager hoping that he or she will sing our favorite modern Christian songs we heard numerous times the past week on Christian radio?
When I hear them singing, I really begin to wonder if they are really worshipping God or are they ’spiritually lip-syncing’ where they are actually singing the song in the physical but are spiritually going through the motions to make the audience believe that they are really worshipping but instead are performing?
We’re goin’ Church hoppin’ (Hop)
we’re goin’ charismatic bunny hoppin’ today
where things are poppin’ (Pop)
the Church of Philadelphia way
we’re gonna drop in (Drop)
on all the music they pray
on the Worship Bandstand (Bandstand)
What’s next, the ‘rate-a-record’ or the ‘dance contest’?
