Really? Do We Really Need That?

The other day MJ and I went into Curitiba to a store called Makro. (You may remember our first visit there last year and the whole thing with us trying to leave the store. If not click HERE) It’s a bulk-membership-discount-kinda place where we go to buy food and cleaning supplies. We usually go about once a month and stock-up on basic stuff. When we’re there I just trail behind MJ pushing her cart while I’m pushing my cart (it takes 2 carts for our family). She picks out what we need and I just help haul the stuff up and down the aisles and up to the register for her. Well, we were there the other day and as I was standing there, waiting for MJ to put the next thing in the cart, I looked over on the shelf and noticed something that I’ve never seen before... shrimp flavored potato chips! That’s right shrimp flavored. OK. Really? Is there really a big public outcry that’s demanding chips that taste like shrimp? Is there really that many people who would actually eat these things that you would need to even produce them? I love fried shrimp, shrimp gumbo, boiled shrimp, shrimp-on-the-barbie (that’s a shout out to all our Australian friends, haha!), shrimp scampi and my great grandmother made this stuff called shrimp pearlo that was amazing... but I can never recall eating a bag of chips and then all of the sudden think, “Hmm... you know what would make these things even better? A little shrimp flavoring!” lol! Seriously. It’s almost like a gag gift you’d buy at Spencer’s ( a novelty shop in America ) in the mall. It would be right on the shelf next to the plastic dog poop and the air freshener that’s scented like rotten eggs. And, what if I bought these, and I accidentally left an open bag in my car because I couldn't eat them all at once? Can you imagine the smell? And speaking of smell, “what’s my breath gonna smell like after I munch on them things?”
So my question is, “do we really need chips flavored like fish... I mean, shrimp? Seriously...
That’s a perfect segue into a pet peeve of mine that relates to the church... secular music that’s used in the worship set. That’s right, taking a song that wasn’t written by somebody with the intent on bringing glory to God and using it as part of the setlist in a Sunday worship service. Some churches do it a change a few of the words so that it supposedly “makes it a christian song.” But my thought is, “do we really need that?” Just like the shrimp flavored chips, I think it’s unnecessary. I mean, there’s tons of great songs and song writers out there now (it’s not like it used to be when we only had Michael W Smith and Amy Grant to choose from because everything else was either horribly cheesy or written in the 1800’s). And when I’m sitting there worshipping God, with my eyes closed, I don’t need to be doing it to a song that I used to listen to while I was making out with my 16 year old girlfriend... just sayin’.
I know some people have strong opinions about this too. Some pastors (who I respect greatly, by-the-way) say they’re doing it to build a bridge to people who are lost. As great as that sounds, I remember, when I wasn’t following Jesus, when I would go to church I was looking for something different... not the same! Or even similar to what I already had, if you want to get technical. I needed something that was radically different. I didn’t need to sing a song that I had just listened to in my car as I was “burnin’ one” before I came inside either. I didn’t need to hear a song that I already knew so I would think “the church understood me” or that “the church was cool.” It wasn’t necessary. I needed something different. I needed Jesus.
And don’t get me started on the whole “what makes a song secular” and “what makes a song christian,” debate. I’ve got friends (close friends) in ministry who’ll debate over this issue until their hoarse. But for me, if the song was written with the intention of bringing glory to God then it sing it in church. Everything else is unnecessary... just like those shrimp flavored chips: )

Pass the Chips (unless they taste fishy),
Jim


PS - And no I’m not a prude that only listens to hymns either. Actually, I really don’t even like most hymns. To me, most hymns sing “about God” as opposed to most contemporary worship songs, that sing “to God.” But that’s just me.
As I re-read this blog before I posted it I realized that I potentially offended a wide range of people. The ‘secular songs in service people’ and ‘the hymns folks’... sorry, but to quote Bobby Brown, “It’s My Prerogative.” See, I can use secular song references too! haha!