Bono Leads Worship?
Bono participating in a worship service in New York City, August 2004I'll never forget the first time I heard Bono sing '40' from the U2 album WAR. It was a techno remix of the 1983 release and I literally felt waves of goose bumps running up and down my body. Here was arguably the biggest rock n' roll star of my lifetime singing a psalm from the Old Testemant, a Worship song by any other name. It made me think about the potential for useing 'secular' songs for Worship. As I looked into it I discovered that this is not a new concept. Evidently many of our ancient hymns and spiritual songs found thier melodic origins in secular sources. For example, John Wesley put some of his 6,000 hymns to classical music, a few opera tunes, and perhaps a folk song or two.
Here are some other 'secular' songs that people have used in Worship.
"Lovesong" (the cure)
"You Raise Me Up" (josh groban)
"Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher" (jackie wilson)
"I'm a Believer" (neil diamond, made famous by the Monkees),
Lyrics from 40
Lyrics from You Raise Me Up
Lyrics for Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher
Lyrics for Lovesong
Lyrics for I'm a Believer
This is The Harbor Ben from the discussion board on worshiptogether.com. I thought it fitting to let you know about some of my conclusions from the discussion board by posting them here. Firstly, I'm glad to find that other worship leaders are as intrigued by the use of 'secular' songs in church services as I am. Secondly, I've found that there are other worship leaders out there that are just as animate about not using 'secular' songs as we are intrigued by the use of them. I believe that God's truths can be found in the work of people that do not claim Christ. Thirdly, I've found that The Church is bigger than me and the music I play, for that matter. Ultimately, my goal is that God is glorified and Christ is made known. If a kickin' song by a band can assist in that matter, sweet. Thanks for your support in this matter and for your openness to what God is doing through 'secular' music in the church.