There is a trend towards singing songs addressed to a Jesus who has been stripped of any references to the narrative that makes him who he is. Such songs speak of a “Lord” called “Jesus” who makes the singers feel loved and accepted, but often there is no reference to his incarnation, his teaching, his miracles, his life, his death-resurrection-ascension or his coming return.

It is not that there is anything necessarily wrong with a song that does this. If in a meeting some of the other songs, Scripture readings, prayers, and sermon fill in the details, then the congregation understands that the Jesus in this minimalist song is the same Jesus painted elsewhere in such rich colors.

The problem is that if such songs become dominant, we gradually lose sight of the biblical Christ and replace him with “Jesus-my-personal-therapist” or “Jesus-my-mystical-girlfriend.” “Jesus-the-personal-therapist” and “Jesus-the-mystic-girlfriend” are vague characters who give worshippers warm fuzzy feelings of acceptance, but I think one has to seriously ask whether such Christs are the real Christ at all.

from Worshipping Trinity