Religion in music - Ed Kowalczyk

Time for some controversy.
Unless you've been living under a rock (or aren't awesome) you would be aware that my favourite band LIVE have broken up. following this break-up 3 of the members have joined some other awesome rocks to form 'The gracious few' while the lead man Ed Kowalczyk has gone down the path of solo music.
I'm not in denial and I am aware that the past few years of Live have sucked and it has pretty much been a solo project for Ed anyway but his newest single Grace has left a bad taste in my music which has lead me to doubt whether I will buy his album or go to see him when he comes to Sydney.
The song itself has all the tools to be successful on Radio, however, it doesnt do a good job of hiding the fact that it is designed to be a hit (I hope you understand what I mean) it is completely formulaic with smooth verses and 'heavy' chorus. There is a nice melody in the chorus it is, however, the lyrics which have turned me off.

The lyrics start off harmless enough in the first verse and chorus. I was a little uncomfortable with them as I'm not a religious person but Ed has always sung about the spiritual and I have enjoyed it. The reason I have enjoyed it is that it has always centred on the individual's communion with the universe including nature, his fellow man and his spirit. A song like Run to the water for example has some great metaphor for running to the spiritual release of nature and the universe. Grace, I feel crosses a line from being a 'spiritual song' to being a religious or even 'Christian' song. I'm talking Hillsong style Y'know? "Praise him" and all that jazz. The lyric that epitomises this is "Every time I feel the sunshine I thank the lord up above for seeing something I couldn't see at all". This has alienated me as a non religious fan and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The difference between a song like this and 'heaven' for example is that Heaven has a personal touch and is about the singer's feeling that heaven is manifested in his daughters in other words. The song is about his daughters with heaven being a metaphor for how deeply he loves them etc and this is beautiful. Hell even a song like 'Love shines' puts religion in a position of objectivity talking about how the different prophets are a great example of how to treat each other.
While that lyric in Grace may sound personal. There is nothing new about it. Ed might as well have gone to Church and taken notes from the priest and written them down. This is nothing we haven't heard before from CHRISTIAN bands who are at least up front about their intentions. I expect better from Ed and i demand deeper meaning than surface 'faith' in music that is suppose to address the spirit.
Now there is why I may refrain from buying the album.
Here is why I'll avoid the concert.
The reason I would go is to hear my favourite Live tunes played by one of the greatest songwriters ever. While his acoustic show was a little bit corny, it wasn't horrible and it was a nice communal feeling in the audience. Here is the big turnoff - On the Fans of live message board I have heard word that Ed has been changing the lyrics to old Live songs to follow in with his newly realised christianity. Thats right folks, Apparently the lyrics to selling the drama "And to christ, a cross and to me, a chair, I will sit and earn a ransom from up here" have been replaced with "and to christ, a cross, and to me, a chair, I will sit and praise him from down here"
Obviously Ed doesn't feel those old songs represent his anymore. If this is the case he shouldn't play them. It isn't like these songs are completely blasphemous to start with. They just throw questioning and personal angst and perspective to these issues. I feel that Ed is shitting on his legacy and if anything is reducing his chances of opening up his audiences spiritual eyes by being some obvious.
To me, these factors have demonstrated that it may be that Ed is all spirit and no soul.