Few of us really listen to background music. These musical strains are played simply to create atmosphere. They’re musical blotters used to dampen the clatter of everyday life.

The other day, while eating in a restaurant with friends, I barely noticed the background music. Of course no one is really expected to notice background music. It’s there simply to provide an acoustic texture, a nonobtrusive sound that baffles the noise of clattering silverware and spirited conversation.  

During a brief pause in the conversation I picked up the familiar tune to an old Beatles song, “Penny Lane.” Before long I caught myself humming, Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes. There beneath the blue suburban skies . . .  

Abruptly, my musings were interrupted with a haunting question. “Could the Beatles have imagined their songs would eventually become background music?” Surely not!  

In the 1960's when the Beatles dawned upon the American horizon their music was anything but background sound. The Beatles represented the cutting edge of Rock and Roll. Many viewed the Fab Four as radicals. Their long hair and pulsating rhythms created no small stir between Beatle-crazed adolescents and their wary parents. Could the Beatles have imagined that their cutting-edge songs would eventually become background music? Surely not!

As I thought more about the taming of Beatles music I thought about the church. In some ways there are distinct parallels between the two.

Like the Beatles, Christians were, at one time, considered extremists. They created a stir wherever they went. Many viewed them as political dissidents. Orthodox religious leaders looked upon their cutting-edge theology with suspicion and contempt. National leaders imprisoned them and even executed them to protect society from their radical ideas.  

Today most of society no longer views Christians as cutting-edge dissidents. We who profess Jesus Christ enjoy a muted acceptance throughout the world. No longer do heads of state try to silence our witness. No longer does the church’s radical voice challenge the status quo. For the most part we’re ignored, ignored because we no longer pose a threat to societal norms. Convictions that once clashed against popular morality have been domesticated. Like Beatles tunes, our cutting-edge religion has been tamed. Sadly, we’ve become little more than background music, nonobtrusive acoustic texture offered to dampen the clatter of everyday life.

I wonder if the Beatles ever envisioned their songs as background music. I wonder if Jesus ever envisioned the same for the church.