Occasionally the pastors at New Canaan Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia will allude to a song in their sermons and will sing a few lines from it while preaching just to illustrate a point.
However, it is quite unusual to hear that a church and its worship team will sing an entire pop culture song during the Sunday morning service.
Last Sunday, February 12, 2012 even before British singer Adele picked up six Grammys, a church in New Jersey started a "Pop God" sermon series by singing one of her songs during Sunday morning worship.
Liquid Church is one of the fastest growing megachurches in New Jersey. Lead Pastor Tim Lucas said it was fun to kick things off with Adele because her song "Rolling in the Deep" ended up winning a Grammy.
The pastor told the Christian Post:
"The church is talking about the same things the culture is talking about."
Liquid Church is using the new series to highlight themes from the Book of Hosea about a prophet who was told by God to marry a prostitute. Lucas said as he was studying the story and the emotion associated with God's relationship with his people, he felt like it matched the "heartbroken torture" of the Adele song.
Responses from the congregation
Church leaders were nervous as to how the congregation would react. Even though some people were surprised, many applauded, and no one walked out. Lucas said:
"They were willing to see, 'What's the connection here?'"
A video was shown as the worship team was performing the song "Rolling in the Deep." The congregation began to clap to the beat of the song.
Some are debating the integration of songs like Adele's, or popular icons from the culture, within the church.
Lucas said that by looking at the Adele song, Liquid Church was able to get into the content and message behind the music. "Adele's songs are deeply personal. There is pain people can relate to – a divorce, a break up." Lucas said that during these times people are asking, "Where is God? Where do you go with your pain?"
By highlighting these famous songs, the church can show people who they can go to when they are hurting.
Spokesperson Rich Birch echoed those thoughts and said that Liquid Church is reaching out to people who are looking for a type of spirituality that connects them to everyday life.
Liquid Church will continue its "Pop God" series next week with the Cee-Lo Green song "Forget You." (This is the clean version).
Songs by the Foo-Fighter and Bruno Mars will also be included in the series
This writer is glad she is not a member of Liquid Church. There is a time and place for everything under the sun. It is her belief that Liquid Church is compromising itself when a song like Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You" replaces "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" or "Amazing Grace." This writer wonders if the church knows that Cee-Lo's Green saying "Forget You" is realy a cleaner way of saying something else that sounds like "Forget You." In fact, some version of the song uses the four-letter "f" word. Admittedly, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" might be more acceptable than Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You."
Can you imagine hearing pop culture songs during a sacred worship service? Heaven forbid!
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