Yup, read it here:
Say “Narnia,” Collect $1000
12/5/2005
posted by Philip Ryken

Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Walt Disney Pictures is offering a free trip to London and a thousand dollars in cash to the winner of its promotional sermon contest. To qualify, a sermon has to mention Disney’s new Narnia film. So welcome to a new medium of marketing: the sermo-mercial. It would seem that something more than Aslan is on the move. I wonder: Would mentioning the film while decrying the absurdity of the promotion qualify one’s sermon for the contest?

To which I respond:

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” – Acts 8:20-23

And that is why it is called simony.

Way back in the mid ’90s (remember that far back? Were you born yet?) there was a magical place on the Internet (yes Virginia, we had the internet back then but it was in black and white) called NetRadio.com. They streamed music back before there were iPods and Podcasts. The cool thing was that you could tweak the station you were listening to. You’d pick the genre and then fine tune it by rating songs and artists. They’d adjust the mix according to your preference. I loved it. Alas, it was a victim of the DotCom Bust at the end of the Clinton era. NetRadio closed down.I just checked, it seems to be back. I haven’t listened yet.

Well, I just came across a new website called Pandora which resurrects that format! You start by giving the site a song or artist name and it grabs music similiar to that and starts streaming it to you. You can then turn down music you don’t like and add artists you do. For example, I started with Derek Webb and eventually was fed Dolly Parton. Big thumbs down on Dolly but when Goo Goo Dolls showed up, they got a thumbs up. I then added Coldplay and Nickel Creek.

This is how radio should be. We don’t need to be fed the music the labels decided we’d like, we should be able to pick and choose. Even those stations that have turned up lately with claims that they play “whatever they want” are full of it. All I ever hear on those stations is the same tired old crap they’ve worn grooves into CDs playing over and over because their corporate bosses decided we should like this band. All they do is play them in a different mix. Big deal. Just because they tell me every 25 minutes that they have a “wider variety” doesn’t make it so. My tastes cross station format lines and now I have a way to indulge them.

At the same time, I don’t mind being exposed to new music. This kind of format works for me because I can mix it the way I want to and they can still sneak in indie artists and new music. What isn’t to love? Thank you Pandora radio!

The 60 Second Trip is one of the coolest “tricking your eyes” thingies I’ve ever seen! Read and follow the instructions and be prepared to freak out.

(HT: FutureFeeder)

I’ve been thinking and reflecting on Christian worship lately. I remembered a quote I posted a while ago and just some other readings and things have kept coming up. Anyway, it was quite timely when Bob Kauflin, the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, a Reformed Charismatic church planting organization whom I have a lot of respect for, began blogging on Idolatry on Sunday Mornings (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5).

Bob makes some excellent observations such as “idolatry can be active in my heart even as I’m outwardly worshipping God. That’s a sobering thought. Whenever I think I can’t worship God unless ‘X’ is present, I’m making a profound statement. If ‘X’ is anything other than Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I’ve moved into idolatrous territory.” After some great comments on tradition he says, “The complementary idols of familiarity and comfort are often revealed in the words, ‘We’ve never done it that way before.'”I recall JI Packer saying something positive about tradition in Knowing God but I don’t have access to a copy at the moment. It would be interesting to compair the two (Packer and Kauflin) to see how these two godly men approach the question of tradition. This is certinally a trap we can fall in to. “What do you mean we’re doing Communion before the message?”

At the same time, Kauflin is fair and spread the warning all around, “Creativity is never our goal in worshipping God. It’s simply a means to the end of displaying and seeing the glory of Christ more clearly.” Amen. Just because we have PowerPoint and we can use it, should we? Technology (just to pick on a specific issue) has a way of inviting itself into places that it may not actually help. While words projected onto a screen may keep the congregations heads up and the voices going forward instead of into a book or the floor, hymnals are helpful because they have the music printed. Some people (a declining number I fear) can actually read music and may be able to sing parts. I’m not saying that one or the other is best, but we need to make sure that, as Kauflin said, we’re not doing it just because it is new.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. I think it will be very helpful and I’m so glad that it is coming from someone who is involved in leading music. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, criticize. I’d like to hear a person who can, criticize.