ChetOS.net

Arron Chambers wrote on his blog that the Church of England will be using songs from U2 in an effort to boost congregations.  I cannot tell if Arron thinks it is a good thing, he is simply reporting it.

Also, I cannot tell if it is for the church service, or just for the Millennium Development Goals event (UN group seeking to cut world poverty in half).  Either way, the Bishop of Grantham said, "It is also very important that we continue to try and find ways of worshipping that are suprising, challenging, and fun."

Really, is that very important?  Who is the focus of worship?  Me?  It must be if it is important that worship be fun and suprising.  I am not saying that it cannot be fun to worship, it should be, but not because of what you are doing but rather because of who you are doing it for.  (Sorry for ending that sentence with a preposition).

Does it need to be suprising?  Who are you trying to suprise.  I'll give you a hint, whoever you are trying to suprise is the focus of what you are doing...  If I throw a suprise party for my wife, she is the focus.

God isn't suprised.

Anyway, Bono has stated clearly that the point for music (for him) is to glorify creation, not the Creator.

"We really [censored] that up, though. We really [censored] up our corner of the Christian market. I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it's to be true and not cover up the cracks. I love hymns and gospel music, but the idea of turning your music into a tool for evangelism is missing the point... Music is the language of the spirit anyway. Its first function is praise to creation." (Interview with Anthony Curtis first in Beliefnet 02/2001).  I agree that music isn't a tool of evangelism.  At least, I never see it used that way in the Bible.  However, I never see it used to praise creation, it always points back to the Creator.