Saturday, May 26, 2018

Should We Sing of God’s ‘Reckless Love’? [Podcast; Transcript]


“Reckless Love” — the mega-hit worship song. Its lyrics have reached millions and inspired over a dozen emails our way in the last month, like this one from Tim, a regular listener to the podcast. “Pastor John, hello! Over the past couple of months, I’ve been hearing the song ‘Reckless Love’ playing in churches and on the radio. One of the main lines in the chorus celebrates ‘the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.’ My question — is this a biblically and theologically correct way to describe God’s love? Is the term ‘reckless’ too reckless? I don’t want to sound judgmental, but every time I bring it up, I get called a Pharisee for focusing on just the one word rather than the message of the whole song. Just hoping you could shed some light because I truly believe that words matter, especially in songs of worship and praise.”

My response to this concern needs to be expressed to two different groups of people — pastors and lead worshipers, and the congregation. On the one hand, I’m lumping pastors and lead worshipers together as worship-service shapers, and the congregation as the other group. You have the shepherds to feed the flock with songs, and the sheep who are asked to savor the truth and the music that they’re being fed.

I have two words for the pastors and lead worshipers and something for the rest of us. Read Transcript or Listen to Podcast

No comments: