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CURRENTLY IN MUSIC
Why I won’t judge Amy Grant

Peter J. Woelk

Amy Grant is no stranger to the contemporary Christian music world, and she is no stranger to controversy. Now, a new controversy has appeared. After 16 years of marriage, she and Gary Chapman have divorced over what she terms “irreconcilable differences”. Many are wondering what to make of Grant’s music. Should her music be banned? Should she be banned?

Grant is a popular Christian artist. She overcame every barrier of the secular music industry and has left an indelible mark in the pop Christian music scene. She has recorded over a dozen albums, toured often across North America, sung countless duets with Christian and secular artists and made appearances on talk shows like “Late Night With David Letterman”. In short, she did everything right to make the crossover to the secular music industry while not compromising her Christian principles. She became an icon for many artists.

Certainly, her fame came with a price. She was ridiculed at every major turn in her career. She was accused of turning her back on Christian music when she stepped in the direction of the secular music industry. The PR flowed as crisply then as now. Throughout the controversies, however, she held her head high and seemed to ignore the criticism. She defied the odds and endured.

Now, because of the divorce, many fans are upset and disillusioned with her. Many will abandon her music. She has fallen from grace, exposing her humanness. This has not been easy on her, and I believe this divorce will hurt her. In an interview with CCM magazine in November 1999 she talked about the divorce in a PR session that most presidents and political figures would envy: “If you’re gonna list my faults, let’s get to the real meat. You ain’t even scratched the surface . . . Let’s get real. Humanity is humanity. You want to know what my real black ugly stuff is? Go look in a mirror and everything that’s black and ugly about you, it’s the same about me.”

‘Humanity is humanity’. I love that line for in it lies the very essence of us all. Certainly, Jesus understood humanity. He gave up equality with God just to be one of us. He was blameless and without sin; yet He understood the dirt. That says a lot about Jesus.

When I was in Bible school, I made a decision to listen to Christian music. I couldn’t value any music if I knew the artist’s life was not measuring up to my understanding of what is a Christian. I then learned that a popular Christian band suddenly split up because one of its members had sinned. I felt violated. The music of this band that I once enjoyed soured in me. Their witness was tarnished, and their music was worthless. I could not listen to their music any more. I drew a line in the sand.

To some degree, Grant has disappointed me, but I cannot erase the fact that her music has had an influence on me. In the mid-1980s, she was the Christian pop music queen, and her budding talent proved she had longevity and tenacity. I thought she was a strong Christian who had her act together. Still, I can’t draw a line in the sand with her or her music.

Over the years, I’ve learned that judgement is stark and final. In contrast, love opens the way for reconciliation. Grant says, “Judgement is usually exercised from a distance . . . Jesus led by compassion. No one is never changed because of judgement. No one’s ever healed through judgement.”

The ministry of Grant has been tarnished. That is part of our human dirt. We constantly sin. We constantly need redemption and renewal. God gives it unconditionally. His mission is never tarnished.

What really matters is that Grant is human first, Christian second. Because she is in the public eye, she will be criticized and critiqued. It comes with her job. She knows that being in the spotlight has consequences.

Some have criticized Johnny Cash, a Christian who sings country songs, for his once drug-induced lifestyle. Yet, he beat the drugs that haunted him for many of his performing years. He says he is a child of God, but I know he is not perfect. Should I stop listening to him because I know he is not perfect? Does that sinful lifestyle he once had invalidate the “Christian” music he produced? Are all the gospel songs he ever sang worth zero because of his imperfection?

One day while Jesus was teaching the people, some teachers of the law and Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). They tried to trap Him by drawing a line in the sand, but Jesus didn’t acknowledge their line. Instead, He wrote on the ground with His finger. I don’t know what He wrote, but I suspect that it had to do with the Law’s condemnation of sin. When they kept pressuring Him for an answer, He said that the one among them who was without sin could cast the first stone. Again he wrote something on the ground. I imagine that He wrote over the condemning words staring up at Him with one word: Forgiven.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees went away, leaving the woman with Jesus. They came to condemn her. They left without that satisfaction because they didn’t have the authority to condemn her. Their legalism had muddled their vision. They could not see past the sin. Jesus, however, saw a child of the loving God who needed forgiveness. Jesus chose not to condemn her.

Therefore, I will not judge Grant. I will pray for her, for Chapman and for their three children. In the end, Grant is God’s responsibility, not mine. I don’t have the power to fling stones because I, like the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, am not perfect.

Today, I am careful about drawing lines in the sand and about throwing stones. Besides, I don’t have any stones, only sin.

Peter J. Woelk is editorial assistant for Mennonite Brethren Herald in Winnipeg.

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Last modified May 4, 2000.

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