Grace is “Amazing”
L
ook, I get it. “Christian radio” is many things, and not all of them great. I’ve worked in different radio formats, but have spent most of my time on Christian pop stations. I’ve seen all the sides of it. I know the artists, the record companies, the other Christian radio hosts, and the listeners. We’re all messed-up in our own uniquely horrible – and wonderful – ways. I can find things to criticize about the industry and, while I’m at it, about myself. But this, at least, is no longer one of those things: Radio songs are somehow “too positive” and too focused on grace, love, joy, light, and mercy. Years ago, I made this argument myself. After all, most of the Psalms aren’t overflowing with happy themes. I love theological discussion, and I’m not a particularly emotional person. I fully realize that life includes much suffering. We should expect it. So why doesn’t Christian music on the radio reflect it? Well, here’s an answer: It’s radio. Radio is a particular medium. People use radio, just like they use any tool. It turns out that people on the way home from a tough job do not use the radio to hear a song about sorrow and judgment. (We can foist it on them for their own good, but they have these darn buttons they can click.)
30
BETTER LIVING & MARKETPLACE MAGAZINE
And it’s not just the music; there’s plenty I don’t say on the radio, because people listen to the radio a certain way. I know I have to get to the point, and fast. I know I can’t overwhelm people with a lot of numbers while they’re driving. I know I shouldn’t talk about myself for ten straight minutes, because people didn’t turn on my station for that. Should art reflect the whole of life, what it means to be human, what it means to be a fallen creature in a fallen world? Absolutely. Does this mean Christian music radio needs to reflect all of that? No, because it’s used a particular way. One other thing: If you want more songs about judgment, please feel free to write them. Write great ones: Plaintive ones. Profound ones. Poetic ones. Please do it. I’ll listen. But do know that judgment, itself, is not remarkable. The world swims in it. It’s in the moral air we breathe, in and out of church, in every culture, and has been since the Garden of Eden. But grace, well… that’s different. It’s THE difference, actually. Grace is “amazing”, or so I’ve sung. Maybe there’s a reason people are, perhaps, more drawn to that song than any other. And maybe that’s not so bad after all
-Brant Hansen
