Write About Now

A few days ago a reader asked my opinion on the recent controversy surrounding American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back” program, specifically the big ending when the finalists sang the popular worship song “Shout to the Lord” amidst showers of confetti and sometimes-on-key emoting. The kerfluffle stems from the show’s decision to replace “My Jesus, my Savior” with “My Shepherd, my Savior” in the first line of the song. Christians predictably reacted with outrage and Idol used the correct lyrics in its reprise of the song the next night.

I actually haven’t watched AI in years, so I didn’t hear about this until it hit the blogosphere the next day. After watching the videos and reading the news blurbs, my overall take is the Christians bellyaching about the word choice are missing the broader point. Yes, it is ironic a show called American Idol removed Jesus, the one permissible “idol,” from the show. But replacing Jesus’ name makes the song more palatable to a much broader demographic, and American Idol is in the business of making money, not promoting Christianity. Given the total God focus of the song, I’m surprised they used it at all. So instead of focusing on the cut of one word, can’t we remember all the other great lyrics that remained in?

We modify “secular” culture to fit Christian ends all the time. (I especially enjoy the John 3:16 poker chips with the reminder, “Don’t gamble with eternity.”)  So they did it back. So it involved really ugly white outfits and a lot of confetti. People still heard words like Savior, and wanted more–that performance was downloaded more than any other that night.

I doubt the elimination of Jesus’ name from the song will keep anyone searching for Truth from finding Him; after all, He is a shepherd, constantly looking for his lost sheep and drawing them back home. Rather than feeling annoyed about Idol’s slight change, let’s celebrate the possibilities they created for our shepherd, our savior to reach more people.