Album Notes

Come to the Feast: Progressive, Inclusive Christian Music

The music of Come to the Feast is Christian, but you’ll probably never hear it on Christian radio. “Broadcasters don’t want to play songs about how the church is racially divided, or homophobic” he says. “They can’t afford to tick off their base. Homeless people inviting the rest of us to Holy Communion? Wisecracks about not waving the Bible like a flag? The church can learn from gay Christians? That stuff’s just not gonna make it onto the standard CCM playlist.”

But goading the Christian right isn’t the point, he’s quick to say. “I’m not writing and performing primarily against anyone,” he says. “I’m just writing the way I see it. The music is my perspective, my faith, the things that I’m for.”

What is he for, then? “Well, the song ‘T.A.M.B.O.’ says that I’m for a church that really lives out Jesus’ prayer ‘…that they all may be one.’ ‘Garments of Love’ says that I’m for standing with the kids who get picked on, for reaching across boundaries like race, class and sexual orientation. “All for Love” says that I’m for a positive, spiritual approach to sexuality. And the title track, ‘Come to the Feast,’ says that I’m for churches that practice extravagant welcome.

The Come to the Feast CD is a compilation of songs that Christopher wrote for regional and national church events over the course of a decade. Most of the songs are written get people singing, and they usually succeed. “I’ve gotten hilarious letters from youth leaders,” he says. “They say things like, ‘Thank you so much for writing “Fruits of the Spirit,” which our youth group sang over and over in the van, ALL THE WAY FROM SOUTH CAROLINA TO OREGON.’ I’m glad it’s a fun song, but I feel pretty sorry for those youth leaders.”

Christopher has played in coffee houses, camps, churches, and on college campuses from the Carolinas to the Dakotas, from New York City and New Hampshire to Kansas and Colorado. Presently he is based in St. Louis, where he lives with his family. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, currently teaching preaching and worship at Eden Seminary.