Springsteen explains Pete Seeger so well...

From Bruce's brilliant introductory speech at Pete Seeger's 90th birthday party:

As Pete and I travelled to Washington for President Obama's Inaugural Celebration, he told me the entire story of "We Shall Overcome". How it moved from a labor movement song and with Pete's inspiration had been adapted by the civil rights movement. That day as we sang "This Land Is Your Land" I looked at Pete, the first black president of the United States was seated to his right, and I thought of the incredible journey that Pete had taken. My own growing up in the sixties in towns scarred by race rioting made that moment nearly unbelievable and Pete had thirty extra years of struggle and real activism on his belt. He was so happy that day, it was like, Pete, you outlasted the bastards, man!...It was so nice. At rehearsals the day before, it was freezing, like fifteen degrees and Pete was there; he had his flannel shirt on. I said, man, you better wear something besides that flannel shirt! He says, yeah, I got my longjohns on under this thing.

And I asked him how he wanted to approach "This Land Is Your Land". It would be near the end of the show and all he said was, "Well, I know I want to sing all the verses, I want to sing all the ones that Woody wrote, especially the two that get left out, about private property and the relief office." I thought, of course, that's what Pete's done his whole life. He sings all the verses all the time, especially the ones that we'd like to leave out of our history as a people. At some point Pete Seeger decided he'd be a walking, singing reminder of all of America's history. He'd be a living archive of America's music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along, to push American events towards more humane and justified ends. He would have the audacity and the courage to sing in the voice of the people, and despite Pete's somewhat benign, grandfatherly appearance, he is a creature of a stubborn, defiant, and nasty optimism. Inside him he carries a steely toughness that belies that grandfatherly facade and it won't let him take a step back from the things he believes in. At 90, he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself. Pete Seeger still sings all the verses all the time, and he reminds us of our immense failures as well as shining a light toward our better angels and the horizon where the country we've imagined and hold dear we hope awaits us.

Now on top of it, he never wears it on his sleeve. He has become comfortable and casual in this immense role. He's funny and very eccentric. I'm gonna bring Tommy out, and the song Tommy Morello and I are about to sing I wrote in the mid-nineties and it started as a conversation I was having with myself. It was an attempt to regain my own moorings. Its last verse is the beautiful speech that Tom Joad whispers to his mother at the end of The Grapes of Wrath. "...Wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air Look for me Mom I'll be there."

Well, Pete has always been there.

For me that speech is always aspirational. For Pete, it's simply been a way of life. The singer in my song is in search of the ghost of Tom Joad. The spirit who has the guts and toughness to carry forth, to fight for and live their ideals.

I'm happy to report that spirit, the very ghost of Tom Joad is with us in the flesh tonight. He'll be on this stage momentarily, he's gonna look an awful lot like your granddad who wears flannel shirts and funny hats. He's gonna look like your granddad if your granddad could kick your ass.

This is for Pete...

Watch Bruce's speech right here, big thanks to iamworkingonadream

P

Thinking Naughty Thoughts... (in church!)

How could anyone resist a request to review a book on church practices entitled thus?! The byline, 'On church, and why I think we need to change', will bring groans from most clergy whilst the rest of us, that rapidly growing denomination on the edge of Exile, will celebrate. Written as a personal journey of discovery, de-discovery and re-discovery by South African author and 'thinker' Johan van der Merwe (JVDM), Thinking Naughty Thoughts covers a handful of sacred cows many Christians hold dear.

Despite the author having many close friends within the clergy, he tackles each topic, broken down per chapter, with vigour and clarity giving historical and theological context that question validity of much we accept without question. In fact, it is, indeed, written in a questioning style and although I sometimes found it a bit long winded that was only because my emerging thoughts have so much resonance with his subject matter.

JVDM covers questions such as 'Do I really have to belong to a local church?' and other thorny issues such as church leadership, tithing, church buildings and the biggie; worship. And it was when I reached the discussion on worship I was tipped over the edge, the PDF I'd been sent was no longer sufficient, I had to order the paperback!

In addition to the questions and personal conclusions there are some great quotes:

p96: ‘Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.’ (Sam Pascoe)

p226: However, now it seems that Christianity is more affected by Western culture, than Christianity is actually affecting the West. (John Michael Talbot)

p239: In my own case, the natural progression in my understanding and practice of worship went from noise and sound and lights and music to silence and solitude. Embracing silence and solitude, which Thomas Merton called 'the supreme luxuries of life,' has opened up my life to a rich and deep heritage of worship of which I was unaware in the time when my practice of worship was too one-dimensional and preoccupied with itself. (JVDM)

Some will say the practices critiqued are an easy target and I personally have some sympathy with that view, I cannot say I agree with absolutely everything JVDM says, particularly as he appears to still view through a lens tinted (tainted?) by fundamentalism, yet overall it was such a joy to read even if it serves to simply reinforce my own views. Regardless I feel hats need to be tipped in his general direction, at last someone has articulated views of all of us on that narrow edge of Exile, I rest our case...

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Living and breathing the hard day's night...

Whilst it's been a bit of a journey, along with a sometimes fraught learning curve, it really is a great joy to have finally launched our little book, The Secret Chord . This has been a co-authored project with my buddy Jonathan Evens who has been brilliant at curating all my vague ideas into something tangible as well as encouraging me to take the step of now writing words rather than principally music. We have taken heed of others and their projects, too, such as Sam Norton, Kester Brewin and Liz Hinds, as all of whom have completed self managed publishing projects and freely shared their progress.

So far The Secret Chord is available on Amazon Kindle with the paperback hot on its heels for release at the end of this month. If you don't own a Kindle there are some excellent freebie Apps for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and smartphones.

To supplement the book, both in physical form and when reading it on a non internet enabled Kindle, we have embarked on creating The Secret Chord website with all the web links and biographical notes along with some extra goodies. This will be more dynamic as we have plans for lots more content real soon...

We very much look forward to hearing your thoughts, please be gentle!

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Church and Drugs and Rock and Rollins...

Regular Greenbelt Festival contributor Peter Rollins at his provocative best.... Let us discuss?

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Sunday Service...

For all those that need nurture after another typical Sunday at church... thank you Mike Scott of The Waterboys and the stained glass works of Irish artist Harry Clarke.

h/t David Di Sabatino

Revival comes to West Mersea...

Residents of St. Peter's Road receiving the Wood of the LORD this morning.... a parishioner was encouraged by the new and charismatic preacher saying they would fit in well 'as our services are usually a bit wooden'. We're told the reading was from Isaiah 55:12 along with a relevant chorus.

The good news is the message Sufjan Stevens brings us which I wouldn't have found if I'd not searched for the obvious song!

Hands down for coffee...

P

Peter Gabriel - Thought for Sunday

The story behind the song 'In Your Eyes' in the build up to the release of his New Blood CD where Peter Gabriel's songs have been re-interpreted with orchestral arrangements. Peter talks about ambiguity in love songs, of hearing a spiritual 'layer' in addition to the literal interpretation. The topic of 'Redeeming Culture' has been tackled in a number of previous posts including:

• We might as well be strangers - A song from Keane interpreted as the topic of the nativity
• Hymns and Spiritual songs - Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood 'In the presence of the Lord' 
• Music is a Voice of God - Billy Preston and Mary J Blige 'taking it to church' 
• Redemptive Rock and Spiritual Songs - 30 Seconds To Mars music, lyrics and engagement 
• Art, Music and falling short on GodPod - "There's got to be a better song to sing than this?" 
• Redeeming Culture - a video explaining the thinking behind curating mainstream music for church services of worship

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If music be the food of love...

[ Click for Rob's download page ] [ Click for lyrics & chord chart ]

[ Click for After The Fire's live version of You recorded in 2008 ]

Here we go again! A MEME request has arrived from Graham Peacock, author of one of my regular blog reads, diggingalot, which means it would be rude not to respond! Although, I have to say, I was going to leave this particular debate alone for a while, despite having lots to say on the matter and much more than I will be able to here!

However, this does give me an opportunity, as I have been so warmly invited, to spell out a handful of things that seriously bug me! Graham's MEME asks for 'Your best contemporary worship song ever' but let's get some things straight first:

1. There is NO SUCH THING as Christian Music, CCM or whatever...
2. There is NO SUCH THING as Worship Music...
3. There is NO SUCH THING as Sacred Music...
4. There is NO SUCH THING as Secular Music...
5. Music itself is NOT Worship - although music can be worshipful...
6. Music IS often Spiritual - more on this in a future post...
7. There IS such a thing as a priority to care for the sick, the oppressed, the poor, the downtrodden and the immigrant...

Let's emphasise this with is an important quote in Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis:

Something can be labeled 'Christian' and not be true or good. It is possible for music to be labeled Christian and be terrible music. Just because it is a Christian book by a Christian author and it was purchased in a Christian bookstore doesn't mean it is all true or good or beautiful. A Christian political group puts me in an awkward position: What if I disagree with them? Am I less of a Christian? What if I am convinced the 'Christian' thing to do is to vote the exact opposite?

'Christian' (the word) is a great noun but a poor adjective.

Another issue with using 'Christian' and 'Worship' as adjectives coupled with the word music has meant that both new commercial opportunities and new genres have arisen over the years. These have led to sub-standard product being peddled to churches and Christians in preference to most mainstream music on the grounds the former is more sanctified. It is not! It is simply not as good as the mainstream equivalent, often a poor quality sound-alike!

I recall Francis Schaeffer said something along the lines of 'you can have good art with good message, bad art with a good message, good art with a bad message and finally bad art with a bad message'. My opinion (yes, opinion!) is the stuff described as 'Christian Music' and 'Worship Music' falls into the latter category. Why don't we see the image of the Creator in so much of the mainstream music / art that is there ready made to utilise in church?

In a service of divine worship music needs to enhance, encourage and engage the congregation. It should not be an opportunity to proselytise, pander to personal preferences or perform for performance's sake. Music must be an integrated element of the liturgy, whatever style the latter follows. Even worse, this type of music is all too often delivered in such an inappropriate, mind numbing, ear bleeding and indecipherable form that still doesn't hide its naffness! Of course, worship does not necessarily take place within a church anyway, it can and, perhaps, should, happen everywhere... that's a debate.

Although I do not think such a thing as 'contemporary worship music' exists I will just mention contemporary hymns. I do concede that songwriter Stuart Townend has created some moving hymnody, (good art, good message), for example, 'How Deep The Father's Love', which is distinctly different from the usual modern churchy fare.

Having said all that, I have made a suggestion above, simply entitled 'You', which is a song that readily engages me in worship. It is by my buddy Rob Halligan, singer / songwriter extrordinaire and also the lead singist in After The Fire. It spells out grandness, it quotes the good book, it employs poetic imagery, it evokes discipleship and even a personal response but not as a simpering request to cuddle up to Jesus. It is just at home in the set list when we play a full on mainstream concert or in a liturgical church service, thereby breaking any divide between the sacred and secular.

I know this only just scratches the surface, my plea is to leave the veil of the Temple riven.

PB

Liturgical music commission...

Listening to newsreader Jon Snow's Desert Island Disc selection the other day I was really struck by this stand out piece shown above which jogged a distant memory of experiencing it before...

Wikipedia reveals that witty composer Gioachino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle (Solemn Little Mass) received criticism from none other than Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte that it was 'neither little, solemn nor particularly liturgical'. Rossini prefaced his Mass with this play on words:

Good God—behold completed this poor little Mass—is it indeed sacred music [la musique sacrée] that I have just written, or merely some damned music [la sacré musique]? You know well, I was born for comic opera. Little science, a little heart, that is all. So may you be blessed, and grant me Paradise!

Written unusually for two pianos and a harmonium, this version has the pianos along with what sounds like a pipe organ. It is very daring to provide a musical surprise using upbeat tempo and syncopation in a setting for the Mass. So I am making this my suggestion of liturgical music that would inspire and engage even as a 'performance' choral piece in line with Kathryn's suggestion, more to follow...

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I rest my case...

Just when you thought it was safe with so many excellent posts on the subject of CCM songs we love to hate in comes this serious contribution... h/t jesusneedsnewpr.net

However, in the fullness of time I will be posting at least one response to the various blog responses.

P

The appalling CCM songs meme...

 

This is via Rev Sam originally from Doug aka Clayboy: 'Please try to name ONE (I know, there are so many to choose from) CCM praise song that you find unbearable and at least 2-3 reasons why, pointing to specific lyrics if you must.'

Like Sam I don't know any CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) stuff because I simply don't listen to it. However, anyone that goes to church often has to put up with 'praise' songs usually grouped under the 'Worship Music' category. So my example, written by 'leading worship leader Matt Redman' (and his missus) is this complete and utter drivel:

Let my words be few

You are God in heaven
And here am I on earth,
So I'll let my words be few-
Jesus I am so in love with You.

And I'll stand in awe of You,
Yes I'll stand in awe of You,
And I'll let my words be few-
Jesus I am so in love with You.

The simplest of all love songs
I want to bring to You,
So I'll let my words be few-
Jesus I am so in love with You.

The Meme requests that 2 - 3 reasons are given why it is unbearable:

1. It's total crap
2. It's unbelievably banal
3. Whenever I have heard it sung/performed the irony of a relatively short song being 'repeated ad infinitum until blessed' never seems to occur to the band!

One day I will really say what I think on the whole genre, both from a musical perspective and, particularly from the marketing side; the fleecing of Christians, temple trading... I could go on and on (until blessed!).

When these guys not only spout their 'songs' but also intersperse them with indecipherable Christianese there is a sense that actually God's name is being taken in vain. Furthermore the whole scene is so self perpetuating in that worship music propagators now organise training seminars and conferences where they train fledgling church musicians/songwriters to simply carry on producing more of the same 'spot the difference' rubbish. They could do much better by suffering (in the best sense of the word) the mentorship of genuine mainstream musicians, writers and producers but that challenges 'safeness'.

We have such a vast resource of more deeply creative and spiritual songs from the panoply of inspirational mainstream artists. Let's play them both in our pubs and churches rejoicing in the clarity of the image of the Creator in their art.

P

Also see contributions by:
Jon Evens
Phil Ritchie

I tag Tim, Sally, R J, Mike, Graham, Archdruid Eileen

Icons that rock...

It's taking me a while to understand how religious icons could enhance the mystical experience of worship... the question is does this help or hinder any progress in my thinking?!

h/t Father Simon

Jónsi - Totally Transcendent Tunes

Jónsi - Grow Till Tall from fadryke on Vimeo.

Advent Two

Every so often an musician emerges who is clearly a prodigious talent. Jónsi hails from Iceland and clearly draws on his cultural roots to season his incredibly atmospheric music. His live shows feature stunning background graphics which appear to both surround and integrate with the band's contribution. Wonderful stuff!

h/t Tim Abbott's recent blog review

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Hymns and Spiritual Songs...

One of the joys of being in the Blogosphere is making international virtual friends who lift your spirits with their thoughts and encouragement. Posting the video above was a direct result of reading this on the When Love Comes to Town blog, one that I have on my Blogroll and is clearly a fellow pilgrim on the 'Redeeming Culture' trail.

Over the last couple of days I have been wrestling with what to write about the version of 'In Christ Alone' that appeared as a just for fun 'cover song' on stellar musician Adam Young's Owl City Blog... so I am grateful for Mike Todd's excellent piece today, A Mild Rant on Sacredness, Owl City and The Jesus Station, which says so well what I wished I had thought of...

Cheers me dears!

PB

We all fall short of glory...

The 7 Link Challenge

1. Your first post - Seeing a No Entry sign and chain right across the entrance to a local church cracks me up (and saddens me) everytime I drive past. Managing to finally have photographic evidence was the incentive to start blogging! Next post showed how the pub approached it
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most - Having listened to the Podcast called GodPod #53 I saw an opportunity to respond and release my thoughts about art, music and have another pop at modern worship music.
3. A post which had a great discussion - My heartfelt post about struggling to understand Anglican obsessions Let me Through I'm an Anglican provoked comments with concern and resonance. The picture is not about voting with feet and more about our when offering resource(s) is turned away by attitudes of the 'shouty loudest' minorities.
4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written - This has to be an articulate outburst by musician Steve Lawson taking the greedy record companies apart as a result of the threat of the Digital Economy Bill. Steve's post also includes his favourite post of 2009.
5. Your most helpful post - Slightly tricky to determine so probably embedding the very clever World Cup Planner I tracked down, lots of return visits to check updates and results.
6. A post with a title that you are proud of - It's got to be Spinal Tap meets Chequebook Worship.
7. A post that you wish more people had read - It was one of those Memes that I pondered over muchly: I need(ed) some Time to Think...!

From: ProBlogger h/t The Church Mouse

Seven Deadly Social Sins...

The image of the Gandhi quotation poster above arrived in my Sojourners mailing as a 'free bonus' for signing up for a subscription. Although the quotation was familiar I still decided to follow my instinct to Google for a bit more background and was impressed by this analysis from Dr. Stephen R. Covey. Dr. Steven is one of the world's leading management consultants and author of the best selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The section I found most interesting was on Religion Without Sacrifice (which on the poster is quoted as 'Worship without Sacrifice', revealing?!):

Without sacrifice we may become active in a church but remain inactive in its gospel. In other words, we go for the social facade of religion and the piety of religious practices. There is no real walking with people or going the second mile or trying to deal with our social problems that may eventually undo our economic system. It takes sacrifice to serve the needs of other people - the sacrifice of our own pride and prejudice, among other things.

If a church or religion is seen as just another hierarchical system, its members won't have a sense of service or inner workship. Instead they will be into outward observances and all the visible accoutrements of religion. But they are neither God-centered nor principle-centered.

The principles of three of the Seven Habits pertain to how we deal with other people, how we serve them, how we sacrifice for them, how we contribute. Habits 4, 5 and 6 - win-win interdependency, empathy, and synergy - require tremendous sacrifice. I've come to believe that they require a broken heart and a contrite spirit - and that, for some, is the ultimate sacrifice. For example, I once observed a marriage where there were frequent arguments. One thought came to me : "These two people must have a broken heart and a contrite spirit toward each other or this union will never last." You can't have a oneness, a unity, without humility. Pride and selfishness will destroy the union between man and god, between man and woman, between man and man, between self and self.

The great servant leaders have that humility, the hallmark of inner religion. I know a few CEOs who are humble servant leaders - who sacrifice their pride and share their power - and I can say that their influence both inside and outside their companies is multiplied because of it. Sadly, many people want "religion," or at least the appearance of it, without any sacrifice. They want more spirituality but would never miss a meal in meaningful fasting or do one act of anonymous service to achieve it.

Read the full article here.

P

Redemptive Rock and Spiritual Songs...

The announcement that this band, 30 Seconds To Mars, are going to be visiting these shores again this Autumn I thought I would post some thoughts I have been mulling over for a wee while. Part of this is a reaction to the support I've had when I've stuck my head above the parapet and slagged off the dreadful Worship Music scene and genre. I hope this post gives some supporting evidence to explain why my views are more about substance than just taste driven opinions...

I have a relatively broad taste in music ranging from not too high brow classical, through ethnic / indigenous music to pop and stadium rock. I like pieces which have spirit, integrity, passion and believability regardless of whether it is technically impressive or flawed. I love hearing a song that makes you want to learn more about it, glean what's behind the lyrics and the artist.

Now this song is not particularly original and could be criticised for being derivative of other bands' earlier work. However, there is a certain comfort in a bit of familiarity when hearing something for the first time. This song, combined with the video, is such a great piece of art that issues challenges and hope! If anything it is the optimism musically and lyrically that I find so enthralling... and the depth of what the storyline covers is not lost on the band's followers, check out some of the comments on Youtube:

Can we all get the message? Eternal inspiration (song). No stupid fashion or trends (clothing). No damn pollution (bikes). No hate (car accident). Continuous miracles (white horse and resurrection). The good and true path (all going in the same direction because they know thats The way). True life (no death and no impossibilities).

unfortunatelly i don´t know if will have learned our lesson either, with all these things hapenning a lot of people are still destroying the nature, only thinking about money.

This song would be best suited to the part where someone makes a massive life-changing decision or turning point in their life.

We are born into a world at war for our hearts, and we are desperate for God. He wants us to become the "Kings and Queens" we were mean't to be. This can only be done by not making ourselves the focus of everything, and becomeing the "lesser god" that the song says.

and prompted this joined-up response:

This really does make me think of the oil spill in the Gulf. If honestly makes me what to cry. How much more are we going to punish the earth? I ask myself when will it be enough, to satisfy us selfish humans. It makes me so angry, but also at myself because I can't really do anything about it.

Here's one that suggests corporate singing still moves peeps:

i love this entire song, but especially the chanting "oh oh ohhhh" part! there's something about chants that always makes me go wow. it just sounds so cool when there's hundreds of voices blending together. =)

I love the shots in the video of the basic band, the flight cases, backs of guitar amps, it depicts the tools of the trade of a rockin' band, that's what it really looks like! That moves into images of redemption, the shining cross in the cityscape, the white horse...

Some will also be cynical of this band's rise to fame as singer Jared Leto was already a successful actor. Yet they have cemented relationships with their fanbase by inviting them to be part of the video as above and to take part in the recordings. Wikipedia quotes the band:

'How great would it be to invite the world to come and be a part of the next 30 Seconds to Mars album? There were some things [we tried] that were left-field sound experiments — using the group, the collective, as a musical instrument. We did everything from percussive expression to whispering to things that were a little bit more familiar, like inviting the 1,000 people that were there to sing the chorus of a song. And those people who were a part of it all will be a part of the next 30 Seconds to Mars album. It was quite simply one of the best things we've done as a band.'

So the chants are already congregational and not simply multi-tracked backing vocals!

This aptly demonstrates Seth Godin's notion of Tribes, where there are leaders but collaboration and inspiration are key. Obviously this band has a totally commercial purpose but their passionate and committed approach is definitely working... real music, heartfelt lyrics that listeners relate too, wonderful!

For the connoisseurs of amazing recording detail, check out the vocals only version here (starts 30s).

P

A year in the Sphere...

I started this blog in June last year (2009) and included code to record statistics 6 months ago. It has been an interesting journey, have learnt a great deal and would have chosen my categories differently if I knew then what I know now! I have found it immensely cathartic to record my thoughts before recursive brain whirr destroys my grey matter, that has been a personal and tangible benefit. I have to confess writing does not come easy to me so the discipline has been good. It is clear that the posts where I have been as original as possible and made the effort to knuckle down and get on with writing without letting 'it' take over have yielded the most response.

So here goes, a double statistic celebration, my first year on Blogspot:

1 Why modern worship songs are crap - my most read post ever!

2 BBC Radio 4's 'Soul Music' on Dido's Lament featuring Jeff Buckley

3 The 'Sunday's Coming' video depicting consumer style worship stuff

4 My review of Peter Gabriel's 'Scratch my Back' concert at the 02 London

5 Let me through I'm an Anglican... not!

6 One of After The Fire's youngest fans comes up with a brilliant CD design

7 Back to Pub Sunday - how the pub gets it right whilst the church gets it wrong

8 Ashamed Anglican? Bravo Father Tim and shame on you Archdeacon of York - should have stood by your man

9 Art and music discussed 'There's got to be a better song than this'

10 Art and Christianity - Antony Gormley's 'Field for the British Isles'

11 Angels from the realms of... er, Norway! Breathtaking and truly wonderful music

12 After The Fire becomes International Rescue as ATF ring tone finds mobile in snow drift

13 Mumford & Sons, music to mend and inspire!

14 Great tidings of joy in the Brit film Nativity!

15 Whilst we allow poverty through inequality we are culpable for disasters like Haiti - Thank God for cancellation of Haiti's debt since

16 Brilliant article in blokes mag Esquire by Greenbelt Festival speaker Shane Claiborne

17 The Carbon Calculator revealing issues with Tory and Labour Green attitudes

18 Pete Rollins in full flow on camera - Insurrectionist Theology

19 YouTube video explaining the total idiocy of the Digital Economy Bill passed in the wash-up in the last Parliament

20 On maintaining the tradition of saying grace at mealtimes

And some of my sub top 20 favourites:

24 Art and Christianity - The transcendental music of Bach's St matthew Passion

27 The BBC's drama 'All the Small Things' really matters - Choirs and stuff

28 Explanatory chart and definition of Progressive Rock

51 My Memorable Musical Moments Meme - pieces that knock you sideways

59 Video interview 'Redeeming Culture' covering After The Fire's Bradwell church service

84 Baptism - When best laid plans fail, mystery can take over

91 Rob Bell's incredible talk about maturity at Greenbelt 2009

98 5 deeply de-Christian doctrines meme

107 Nova Scotia's incredible 'Ice Cream Church' near Halifax and also here (#118)

110 The Devil Inside - The unbelievable Christian Rock equivalent of Guitar Hero

Top referring blogs excluding Google, Facebook and Twitter

1 theartistandthetartist.blogspot.com (James & Maggie)

2 elizaphanian.blogspot.com (Revd Sam)

3 philipstreehouse.blogspot.com (Phil Ritchie)

4 evangelistchanging.blogspot.com (Joe Haward)

5 cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com (Archdruid Eileen)

6 diggingalot.org (Graham Peacock)

7 davidkeen.blogspot.com (David Keen)

8 theconnexion.net (Richard Hall)

9 churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com (The Mouse!)

10 joinbetween.blogspot.com (Jonathan Evens)

Spinal Tap meets Chequebook Worship

Yeah, right, on one level this makes me crack up... on another it is a really sad indictment of all that is bad in this style of 'popular' church... and it is not just my 'opinion' or even my 'taste' (although I have both in abundance). The irony that dated music is 'Contemporary' and that technology makes the message of the Gospel 'Relevant' is cleverly captured. However, the 'Medium' changes the 'Message'...

Rob Bell summed this up so succinctly when answering a question on Mega Churches at Greenbelt 09:

The problem is that a large massive group of people who have gathered for an hour a week can easily deceive themselves into thinking that's 'Church'. But Church is a sort of revolutionary movement of people who have the body and blood at their centre who see themselves as we are here to break OUR bodies and to pour out OUR blood for the healing of the world. And what can easily happen is the 'show', the hour on Sunday, the big exciting thing, can easily become a surrogate for actual community...

Listen to the full version on Greenbelt website.

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Art, Music and falling short on Godpod

So goes the quote from Rita's mother in the wonderful film 'Educating Rita' which formed part of the discussion on the latest 'GodPod #53' which I stumbled across the other day. The main topic was principally on the subject of art by guest artist Charlie Mackesy. The quotation above, which Charlie drew attention to, was actually directed to church music, particularly so called modern worship music. Interestingly the conversation did not draw conclusions other than the rather easy cop-out about personal taste and preference despite promptings by host theologian Graham Tomlin asking whether their should be 'rules' to govern scope.

The consensus was very much that there shouldn't be such rules yet this is where I think things fail bigtime although I would prefer to use the term 'Absolutes' , I do have sympathy with the negative sense of rules! I certainly think this issue is worth a good listen as Charlie's contributions are excellent and, despite, generally, clergy being weak on the subject of music, Graham, as clearly a man of good taste (liking one of my fave bands 'Mumford and Sons'!) and author of the excellent book 'Provocative Church', would, if pushed, have had more to contribute on this subject.

However, the notion that something should be 'better' is profound, particularly concerning music played in churches. For many this seems a simple issue of old versus new and therefore it is just a matter of preference to 'enjoy' worship in your own comfort zone. Whilst there are clearly issues of old v new which has warranted a good few discussions the situation is much more interwoven than that. I would suggest that a lot of the time it is exactly one of how it could be better, so let's have a quick look at a couple of areas to consider:

Interestingly David Byrne has recently delivered a TED talk on the environment that creates music (styles) and refers directly to how certain church music developed because of the building space it was set in. In fact, BBC4's series Sacred Music highlighted how much of the early chants were an effective sound reinforcement system to project the liturgy to the corners of large churches and cathedrals. David Byrne also stated how music becomes 'auditory mush' when a style is played in a space that simply does not match.

One of the big problems with modern church music in the worship music genre is that it is generally 'not very good' to quote Martyn Joseph. The reasons for this are varied and include the church selling out to singer - songwriters, the development of a revenue earning business model and the fact that most so-called worship leaders (and record companies) lead conferences to train more leaders, thereby perpetuating the same mediocrity. Sadly Holy Trinity Brompton, on which even the edgy GodPods reside, is deeply guilty of this!

As far as more traditional music is concerned many of the same issues apply, however, it is more glaringly obvious when there are errors in tuning and choice of music. Church choirs and organs represent an earlier sell-out by the church when the West gallery musicians, usually blokey blokes who were still a bit tipsy from playing at a Saturday night party, were ousted out to make way for the more solemn and staid sucessors. Many say this was a contributing factor to there being a much lower percentage of men in the church.

To expand the 'not very good' aspect we have to realise so many of the singer/songwriters are not naturally gifted musicans (and/or authors). There are many instrumentalists that are pretty good but often they are playing in a style that is not appropriate and encourage the narcisstic issues surrounding the worship leader. Most great songwriters (in the real world) are teams, usually a double act where one focusses on music whilst the other concentrates on creating lyrics that at least rhyme, have a regular metre and are poetic :-) The latter point, hymn or song lyrics, was certainly discussed on GodPod #53 and, thankfully, on this the contributors were more decisive in their critique.

So I strongly feel we have to consider that there are 'Absolutes' as far as church music is concerned. It seems there is no common sense guidance to get people to think that what they do is to enable congregations to worship rather than be the worship, to serve rather than perform, to be special with a committment to excellence (yet ideally not necessarily perfect!) and try to be distinct rather than presenting a poor copy of world culture. The 'Absolutes' approach helps form strategies so that appropriate styles would be considered, standards of music and lyrics adhered to and that the musicians and singers have a greater understanding of music, basic theology and even why they are there in the first place.

Oh, yes, I have so much more to say on this...!

PB