how will you find god in the music? - worship trick 17

tim sent me an e-mail about an evening he created for the young people he works with in ohio. it's a really simple idea (that actually also must have taken hours to put together!)...

come up with a playlist of songs that connect with both the music your young people are into and that connect with spiritual themes in some way or open up questions. send them the playlist so they can burn it onto their mp3 players (you may need a few spare). then create a booklet/postcards or something to accompany the songs and invite the young people to seek god in the music using the booklet to jot down their thoughts/reflections. the worship experience is simply that - they sit down or walk around and listen. tim created a graphic page with comments and questions for each song. they are listed in a series of 14 posts on his blog. this is the first so just click through from there. an example of the image with a track i know is UNKLE burn my shadow away

sounds like it went really well. i can imagine harry (my 15 year old) loving this kind of thing. we could try it at grace some time though there is a range of tastes in music so it might be a challenge. this may be a really obvious thing to say but it strikes me as really important to use music that young people listen to and not a load of christian music tracks - the whole point is helping them find god in the everyday and not in the christian subculture (not to mention which music is better ;-) ). anyway nice one tim...

Comments

[LauraHD]

Nice. We did a similar thing last year for us oldies ;-) - a service called "Live!" using live clips of bands playing (inc Moby, Faithless, U2, Ash). People also got given a fanzine-style sheet at the start of teh evening that gave them things to think about or do during the service. We even had a chill out room with water, ear plugs, etc. (See http://www.sanctus1.co.uk/blog/2006/06/thank-you-for-music-songs-were-singing.html)

[Jo]

I am doing this on sunday at a memorial service: thus using soundtrack material (Elizabeth [divity theme], Saving Private Ryan, Atonement [elegy to Dunkirk - including Dear Lord and Father of mankind], Pride and Prejudice, Doctor Who [Abide with Me is a gift!] ) and classical chillout music.

I love that music can enable people to meet with God at an entirely different level.

As it is a memorial service, the whole atmosphere is one of memory, journey and grief, so the mood is sombre. But what a neat idea to develop for different contexts and different groups of people - both as the soundtrack to worship and as small group work.

[iTalker]

Hi
Music is also the glue that holds together labyrinths. We've had some brilliant feed back from putting the right music on MP3 players as people move around the various stations. Posting videos up on youtube with interesting original soundtracks is another fascinating way to connect with all kinds of networks. Have a look at samypmedia on youtube. by the way we're looking forward to you coming to the CWW Gathering in Edinburgh next year.Have a look at our web page www.cwwresources.org.uk

I broadcast regularly on local radio doing what they call a godslot. I've found that you can say a lot in a 30 sec sound bite about an idea if you top it and tail it with a song that fits the theme and the DJs programme in which your participating.
iTalker