The Beatles & The Bishop
Can secular music be made sacred?
Oct 21st, 2008 | By Skye Jethani | Category: Culture, Features, WorshipThe Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, has written a new book advocating the use of pop music in churches to help explain the Bible to a generation of irreligious people. The book, Finding Faith, has been supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams who called it “profound and challenging.” In it, Bishop Baines explains how music from artists like The Beatles and U2 helped him articulate and express his faith.
Transmitting popular music into the church isn’t new. It’s widely known that Martin Luther used the melodies of popular pub tunes for a number of his hymns, and the Wesleys used folk tunes during their revivals in England. But what are we to make of contemporary secular pop music? Does it have religious value?
Leadership journal columnist, Rich Muchow, who is also a worship leader at Saddleback Church, recently wrote about this question. He says, “We shouldn’t rule out a song based solely on the artist who wrote or recorded it. An otherwise secular song can be sacred if used for godly purposes in exactly the same way that nature can be used to point to God.”
Bishop Baines takes a slightly differnt view from Muchow’s appeal to general revelation. Here’s an excerpt from the Telegraph article about his book:
Hundreds of evangelical churches have already turned to guitar-based songs instead of traditional hymns, but the bishop suggests that clergy still need to be more creative in appealing to non-churchgoers.
Artists highlighted for exploring Christian themes in their music include Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, who famously claimed the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
“For many people the language of the Bible has become inaccessible and yet pop song writers can make a connection with people because their language is fresh,” he said.
Read the full aricle here.
What do you think? Should we be using more “secular” music in church? Here are three ways to pose the question:
1. For the theologically-minded: Does secular music in worship honor God?
2. For the spiritual formation-minded: Does secular music transform or simply reinforce worldly values among Christians?
3. For the missionally pragmatic-minded: Is secular music what non-Christians are looking for from church?
Hmmm…
1.) I think it can. I’m all for common grace, plundering the Egyptians, etc. But I wonder: We can quote non-Xn philosophy, secular ethics, books, movies, etc. because we can explain our reason. But with songs, we are talking about using it in its entirety (and conceivably in place of another song). So I think…we wouldn’t replace the sermon and read 4 chapters of Moby Dick instead. Though we might quote it extensively.
So, from my perspective, if you are going to use it, you need to be clear as to why in terms of communication to the congregation.
2.) I think it could definitely transform, but again only with extensive reflection and discussion. I often use secular music to make a point in a small group. But there you can listen, reflect, and talk about it.
3.) I’m less and less sold that non-Xns are all that excited about secular music in worship. My experience has been, at least, that boomers were more into that kind of thing. Gen Xers and younger want something more authentic and are expecting Christian worship to be something different than what they hear on the radio (thus the huge revival of hymns among young people).
great question. glad to have stumbled here.
1.) This really gets at the heart of a hermeneutic question. If a song is written in a context removed from the worship of God, can it be applied to worship God? Only if we are comfortable with a “reading” of the song that detaches it from it’s original context. If the secular song is addressing God with a question, or praising God, then even if it is written by a secular artist, it ceases to be secular and becomes “religious” in which case, I’d agree with Reitano—plunder away.
2.) Art in general, and music in specific, tend to deal on the very levels of life that need transformation—pain, anger, frustration, love, politics… It seems that whatever is able to get us to that place or on that plane of reflection (the beatles, U2, Bob Dylan, etc) is worthy being labeled spiritually formative as long as once we get there we deal with the anger, frustration, love, etc. in formative ways. Here, music, or a work of art, or a movie…leads us to a place that needs formation. I’ve been lead to such places by some of the most unrelated and secular “forces” (for example, the movie INSTINCT with Anthony Hopkins took me to a place that ended up being very formative).
3.) I wholeheartedly agree with Reitano.