I've noticed a strange thing in local businesses in recent weeks: contemporary Christian music being played as the slightly audible music playing in the background. My local grocery store has done it for awhile, and last week the same thing was at Wendy's. It's not just that one song has snuck onto a playlist, but I stopped and listened...the whole time I was in these businesses, I could hear the quiet sounds of this music filtering into the heads of those who shopped and ate at these places.
I'm not here to say this is a bad thing. I'd much rather have my children hear this kind of music than most of the stuff on country or pop radio these days. To hear about how God is awesome is much more preferable than hearing about tractors, dirty girls, and the grunts that make up most of the stuff one hears today. I'm grateful that management of these businesses are happy to play this kind of music.
But it got me to thinking how very American this kind of influence is. We really like having Jesus in our lives, we like talking about God's goodness...but we like it as background music. None of the times I have heard this music was it blasted...too loud, and probably there would be complaints. But keep it in the background? Great.
American culture wants there to be Christian influences today...but we want it in the background. Don't make it too loud, don't make it too noticable, and certainly don't make it something too real. Even those who decry the fading of Christianity from our national landscape probably don't want Loud Jesus in their lives. They want a Jesus who waves the flag, tells us our consumerism and militarism are great, and generally marches to the beat of our drummer.
No, background Jesus suits us just fine.
