According to the clergy lady in the video below, the Metal Culture has a lot in common with Christianity. Who knew?
Using what people are familiar with to introduce them to Christ seems to me to be a good idea – after all, St. Paul did it.
I’m not sure that that is what is going on here, though; it could be just be a measure of the church’s desperation to lure people into its sanctuaries – and once they are there, not know what to do with them.
Is, as the event organiser Simon Cross says, the Incarnation really about having “a bit of a laugh for Christmas”?
From here:
The Very Heavy Christmas Carol Service was first held last year and is claimed by its organisers to be the only one in the UK.
As well as carols, the service on Saturday evening will include specially written “Punk Poetry” lessons.Event organiser Simon Cross said the service was a “a bit of a laugh for Christmas”.
Here is last year’s production:
I don’t have a problem with the concept (I liked both Busted’s version of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and Cynthia Clawson’s version of “Immortal, Invisible”) and I would certainly consider attending an event like this, but it would be nice if they could sing in tune.
To be clear, I would never say the incarnation was a bit of a laugh for Christmas – that would be ridiculous. This service was a bit of a laugh though, and allowed us to engage positively with a lot of people who would never normally choose to get involved in anything remotely Christian. It was organised by an ecumenical group, the choice to use a Sanctuary building was based on it’s iconic nature locally and gothic architecture, not out of a desire to ‘lure people in’ – that too would be ridiculous. As for singing in tune… well – does this face look bothered? 😛
As I understood it, it was the SERVICE that was about having a bit of a laugh, not the Incarnation.
Quite so.
I have no issues with different flavours of music for worship. The tune for the Lutheran anthem “A mighty fortress is our God” written my Martin Luther came from an old German beer hall song.
Being raised and still living in Saskatchewan, one quickly has to get used to Country and Western music. I prefer the more traditional, classical type of worship music but in my community, the Country and Western style is working. The Sundays in our rural congregation, when our country gospel group leads worship, has for the most part our best attendance.
As an aside, as one comedian once said, the good thing about the history and discovery channels is that they now provide opportunities for ugly people to be seen on television. Christian rock music provides opportunities for fat unattractive guys to play in a rock band in front of an actual audience.
I _love_ country worship music.