NOS at Greenbelt
I. Brown
Do you mean Nine O'clock Service?
If so, then....
...I went, I saw the images on the screens, 'nice graphics' I thought.
I listened to what was being sung, it helped that the lyrics were occasionally
displayed on the video screens. 'Oh dear' I thought, 'Oh dear oh dear oh dear'
just slightly 'dodgy'. I may be wrong, but from how I read the lyrics, it was
not God who was being worshipped, but the earth. My friends and I left soon
afterwards.
For me the musical highlight of the weekend was Fat & Frantic - yes my friends
and I queued thorugh all that wind etc. It was well worth it. Seminar wise,
I preferred the guy who talked about New Age in science fiction. I must
admit to being a bit of a trekker. Yes, I know it gets 'dodgy' in places.
What did anyone else think?
Ian B.
Paul Andrew Bennett
[blah deleted]
>I listened to what was being sung, it helped that the lyrics were occasionally
>displayed on the video screens. 'Oh dear' I thought, 'Oh dear oh dear oh dear'
>just slightly 'dodgy'. I may be wrong, but from how I read the lyrics, it was
>not God who was being worshipped, but the earth. My friends and I left soon
>afterwards.
I've been following the NOS story with interest over the past five years.
At the beginning, *everyone* thought they were good - check the Greenbelt
1988 programme. They were making the church available to the 'house'
culture, *without* compromising the message. Their services featured
house music, with prayer, smells, liturgy and the like.
Then, 1989. They were due to go to Greenbelt. Had to pull out -
"problems with our parent church". In the end, they split from the
church.
At Greenbelt 1992 I think a lot of people saw why. In my opinion, NOS
have got lost and confused. Below is a list of some of the things
about that infamous Friday night that worried me
* Hypnotic music. (hear me out...) Emotion is Ok, in fact, emotion
should be encouraged, but you should *always* be in control. That
was Jesus' message: take me or leave me, no hook.
* Sexual imagery in the lyrics. Would you feel happy singing to God,
asking him to "caress my spine", etc? Not once was Jesus' name
mentioned in the lyrics.
* Dancers. I thnk this has been covered...
* Reading. The women reading the Bible got dramatic: *too* dramatic.
They screamed and laughed hysterically. It felt worrying.
* Symbols. The symbols flashed on the screen could be associated
with the occult. Apparantly, NOS were "reclaiming" the "stolen"
Christian symbols. Fine, but they really should have told us -
for many people, this was too much. The speed at which they
flashed by was also disturbing: hinst of subliminal advertising...?
I left. Later, I returned to my tent - the group of people I had gone
with (all 20/21yr olds) were livid. Some were in tears. After the
"service", a leaflet was being handed out. I don't remember the exact
words, but it was something on the lines of
"The post-modern Christian agrees with the Buddhist in their view that
there are two forces: light and dark. We should learn to embrace
the dark and not run away"
I lay awake all night, depressed.
The next morning, the thing on most people's minds was NOS. John Smith
in a seminar said he thought that they'd taken the "worshipping in
Spirit" bit too far. He said he thought that if they didn't sort out
their basic theology quickly, things would go drastically wrong.
People were blaming Greenbelt. This annoyed me. The reason Greenbelt
is *so* popular is that they are willing to risk things. Remember the
"white witch" two years ago? They are happy to make mistakes, and will
admit to this. NOS was an experiment - it was always billed as such,
but could the GB exec have forseen its effect? Maybe, but just how
far do you go in sensoring a festival? I believe Greenbelt has learnt
from this. Perhaps they will invite NOS again, but not until they are
firmly back on the rails.
Sorry to preach: I thought I had something to say... Rave music is
causing enough problems in the "secular" world. It's going to be
a tough one to "claim" for God; anyone trying to do so must take
*great* care. I think NOS tripped up. I'm not trying to bash rave:
check the "Late Late Service" from Glasgow; watch, take part,
enjoy. But don't *ever* loose your guard.
Pray for these folk.
Paul.
--
Paul Bennett _ onewhe
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Under disguise at BT's LEC until September /|\ twowhe
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