Crimperman.org

Image by Joelk75 - CC:By

In the past couple of days I’ve seen the subject of worship come up on Twitter a bit more than usual. Initially it was a series of joke #machoWorshipSongs and this seemed to evolve into a discussion about the use of masculine/feminine/romantic language in worship songs.

In the first instance I and a few others commented to each other that the “joke” was somewhat lost as so many of the songs we use in worship have a masculine or (as one person put it) pseudo-aggressive tone to them. In the second it emerged from a comment about how men don’t like the “Jesus is my boyfriend” type songs intoa debate about the appropriateness of this language and how it’s not just men who dislike them.

What I find interesting is that both fell into the standard trap of presuming “worship” is a) collective/corporate and b) uses words and language. Yes it’s true we get as many “Worship is more than singing!” declarations as we do “The church is the people not the building” ones and to the most part both are valid statements but what these discussions reminded me of was something I preached about a few years back.

What is worship?

It’s a well known meme that wroship derives from worth-ship, that is when we worship we are giving God worth, telling him what he is worth to us. This is interesting because it makes it easy to extend worship into the rest of our lives. Sometimes I struggle to think of worship in any other context than singing, praying, making, painting, playing etc. in a collective sense. It’s easy for us to say our lives should be worship but how do we do that.

The answer – I believe – is found in the following passage:

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. _{Matt 5:14-16 NIV}

When we shine, when we show our best in service to others we are giving God value in our eyes and in theirs (note v16). This is something that I find very important and it’s the inspiration behind #EntertainingAngels (formerly known as Give Up bad Coffee For Lent).

We give God worth.
We worship.

Service is worship, worship is service

Serving others is worship. Putting the needs of others before yourself is worship. Look at how that passage appears in the Message (emphasis mine):

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand-shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. _{Matt 5:14-16 The Message}

So let’s stop worrying if Church doesn’t appeal to our particular tastes and start figuring out if we leave a good taste in the mouths of those we meet. Because I have a sneaky feeling that in heaven people will spend a lot more time interacting with each other than they do standing beside each other singing.

As a side effect of this, once we also start to think of worship emerging from service it puts our roles in church in a new perspective, particularly if we are “worship” leaders.

Another quality video. Although sometimes these types of productions can become a bit “samey”, I think the presentation here really brings the text to life and in the end it is a cracking text.

( h/t @biblefresh )

Regular readers of this blog (if there exists such a beast) will know I am quite passionate about the ideas of freedom in church. To be more specific I really dislike the idea of restricting people through draconian copyright from worshipping and journeying with God. Recently I’ve noticed some a increase in some quarters at releasing some of the restrictions usually associated with copyright symbols. Music and other resource books are increasingly appearing with “photocopy permissions”. At face value this sounds wonderful and you’d be forgiven for believing it is generous on the part of the publisher. I’m sure the author/publisher/editor thinks they are being generous too – except they aren’t really. They’re just being confusing.

As an example let’s take a recent resource book I bought. “Free Photocopying included!” shouts the red splash logo on the front cover. “Great!” you think and you begin copying to use in your church. You do this because nobody usually reads the small print when the big print is so unambiguous. The problem here is that the standard copyright terms inside the front cover include the words..

“All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, any part of this copyrighted file without permission in writing from the author” (emphasis mine)

Note that it says “including photocopying” there but hang-on the front cover says I can copy it. The introduction tries to clarify things by mentioning that “This book includes a licence which permits you to photocopy it but – for obvious reasons – for use within your group only”. So that’s clear then. There’s is your permission in writing.

Except it’s still not clear. What is my group, how often can I copy this and what if I am responsible for several “groups”? I know it sounds like I’m being pedantic here but believe me an “Intellectual Property” Lawyer would be even more so. Suppose I use this book for ten years. During that time I need to give copies to several people in two groups. Over time copies get lost, fade or people leave the group. Do I have to get the copies back off the people who leave? How many times can I copy it? If the people I give it to, copy their copies am I responsible or them? How big does the author expect a group to be before they expect me to buy a new book?

“Oh you’re being silly Ryan” I hear you say. “Nobody is really going to care about such trivial details – least of all a Christian author.” Except we’ve had cases where Christian organisations sue other ones because they have similar sounding names. We have Christian CDs with copy protection on them and we’ve had situations where Churches receive threatening letters for putting something they believed to be public domain in their newsletter. Sadly the fact is that if you’re not prepared to sue and you don’t really care then you don’t include the copying restriction text in the first place. A Christian (or any) Author may not intend to sue a copyright infringement but you can bet the publisher will. The publishing industry has even popularised it as a “crime” (it’s not it’s a civil not a legal infringement). And again to my eye it looks more like the Church is intent on copying (if you’ll pardon the pun) the way the rest of the world does this kind of stuff.

A Better way

I know there’ll be arguments of “People have to be paid” and “You can’t get everything for free” coming about now. I’ve heard them and I’ve answered them before. I won’t bother doing so again here but there is a better way to give people the freedom to photocopy without leaving all these legal holes for them to fall into. How about putting a specific licence on the work. One which might say: “You can copy this and pass those copies around. You cannot sell it and you have to say where you got the original”. That’s the essence of the Creative Commons licences. Specifically it’s a Attribution-Non-Commercial one. Some people familiar with CC will balk at my use of NC in there but in this context it works. You can add bits like “It has to be copied unaltered” (No-derivatives) and “You can’t restrict the way anybody uses the copies” (Share-alike) but these licences are specific. They tell you what you can and can’t do and they do so in plain English (or whatever language you prefer). Suddenly all my questions above are answered:

What is my group? group size and number is irrelevant, make as any copes as you need
How often can I copy this? As often as you like – just don’t sell the copies and say where you got it.
What if I am responsible for several “groups”? doesn’t matter
Do I have to get the copies back off the people who leave? no
How many times can I copy it? As many times as you need
If the people I give it to, copy their copies am I responsible or them? neither, it’s fine
How big does the author expect a group to be before they expect me to buy a new book? doesn’t matter

Right now I imagine any authors reading this (if they have got this far) will be shaking their heads and dismissing me and mad. How can I possibly suggest removing their income like this. But I’m not. I can’t think of a Christian book I have read in the last twenty or thirty years that was written or compiled by somebody whose sole job was an author. Most of the authors are involved ins some kind of ministry or job which gives their writing on that subject a certain weight. In short they are already receiving an income, the royalties from books (which is but a small percentage of the price you and I pay) are n top of their salary. But they have expenses? Which can probably be met by the sales of the book anyway quite early on. It’s common to presume that what I am suggesting here will result in fewer book sales because everyone will copy the one book. That’s not borne out by evidence elsewhere. Some authors have seen their book sales increase when they released the text elsewhere under Creative Commons. The thing is this happens now. People photocopies some pages from a book, the recipient likes it and then buys the book. Some people prefer to buy physical books as well. Yes the profit from sales may drop but not as much as you think and mostly that will hit the publishing company not the author.

Nothing will happen

That sounds a bit defeatist but I am not expecting anything much to happen immediately following this post. Firstly I’m not that popular so I doubt many people will read it. Secondly people are not generally inclined to share these days. That’s funny because we all tell our kids too and our faith is based on free gifts that must be shared with others. One day maybe the Church will get this. Certainly a small pocket of it does now but right now, sadly, the Church seems to be quite merrily following the example set by the selfish and greedy parts of the world around us.

If you want to read more on this subject here are some of my blog posts on it:

• Authorised (KJ) version – not so free then
• Christians and copyright: why can’t we share?
• m108, document freedom and the church
• Announcing m108: the next step on freeing the Church
• Taking risks and freeingup worship
• Christianity that doesn’t spread straight from the fridge
• Human rights vs Human responsibility

We're keeping the logo image despite the name change

Almost 40 days ago I blogged about how some of us on Twitter had inadvertently started a movement. We called this Give up bad coffee for lent or GUBC4L. I later blogged further about the way different churches had taken up the “cause”.

For those who haven’t heard of this there is an important point to make: this is not just about coffee, this is about service. What we’re trying to generate is greater effort in the hospitality shown in our churches. You’ll find more information on the previous two tweets and the others I link to from there so I won’t repeat it all here.

The sharp-eyed among you will have spotted that Lent will soon end and that raises the question of what happens to the L in GUBC4L? Certainly none of those involved want this to stop just because of the Church calendar. Doing hospitality well and to the best of our ability and effort is scriptural.

So continue it will but with a new moniker. GUBC4L becomes Entertaining Angels. Yes it’s a reference to Hebrews 13:2 but let’s not think that the reason for serving people well is only because one of them might be an angel. It’s an important reason but remember we should serve people because they are worth it (just ask God who gave his only Son for them) and because we are representing God to everyone we serve in our Church and our lives. If God did not settle for “that’ll do”, neither should we.

So let the coffee, the cake, the decent posters and loving service continue for we might just be Entertaining Angels.

Get involved

GUBC4L had a twibbon and #GUBC4L hashtag to accompany it. These will become #EntertainingAngels as well. The twibbon service is down right now but I’ll sort that when it comes back. Update 23 April 2011 – the Twibbon service is back up now and I have chamged the name of the campaign to Entertaining Angels.

In the meantime you can join in simply by serving well. If you are on Twitter or Facebook you can add the twibbon to your avatar (profile pic) by following the twibbon link I’ll add later (when the service is back). If you are on Twitter and you do (or encounter) something as part of Entertaining Angels, celebrate it by adding the #EntertainingAngels hashtag to a tweet.

The Give Up Bad Coffee For Lent twibbon.

This is a follow-up post to the one on Give up bad coffee for lent (which increasingly becoming a misnomer). It’s been good to see support for churches showing their best in their service. I’ve heard reports of churches experiencing increased activity and participation in their post-service refreshments time (or whatever you call the time coffee is served) just by serving fresh coffee. Indeed some have reported that they have people turn up after church just for the coffee! It’s amazing how the smell (and taste) of good fresh-brewed coffee (and maybe the prospect of some cake) can get people together and it’s important to ensure visitors and regulars alike can share in this most vital but oft neglected part of our church service.

But again it’s more than just serving coffee and cake. We have to be welcoming in all things. This does not mean (as I recently read about) “ushering” first-time visitors into an office to await an “official welcome” by the church leader. Neither is it inundating the poor souls with repeated questions about their personal life. The trouble is in our attempts to not do these things we can often go too far the other way. A friend of mine on (and off) Twitter, tweeted the following:

@Kneewax RT @revmaryhawes: Visited a church. Stayed for coffee 15 minutes later no one had spoken to me <<< #gubc4l it's all about gospel hospitality

The first part was @revmaryhawes experience and the second part the response of my friend @kneewax. I like that term Gospel Hospitality so I’m borrowing it. I did a bit of digging around on it though and found some useful articles. One in particular stood out in the context of GUBC4L. Written by David Black in 2005 and entitled ‘Gospel of Hospitality’ it says:

This Gospel of Hospitality invites people to come with their hopes and failures and questions to a place where they will be unconditionally accepted and, over time, brought to an understanding of their failings and God’s forgiveness. It is a place of refuge for the weary traveler. It welcomes the stranger, the neighbor, the pilgrim. Our only motivation is the fact that, being ourselves recipients of God’s hospitality that made us members of His household, we now have the joy of becoming conduits of His hospitality to others. (emphasis mine)

There’s a lot more to that piece so do go and read it. As you’d expect it also quotes 1 Peter 4:9 regarding hospitality “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” _{1 Peter 4:9 NIV}. Other versions speak of doing so “cheerfully” or “without complaining”. Again though I’m going to come back to The Message and widen the context slightly:

⁸Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. ⁹Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless – cheerfully. ¹⁰Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: ¹¹if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything – encores to the end of time. Oh, yes! _{1 Peter 4:8-11 MSG}

Serve coffee as if your life depended on it? Well yes. Because it’s not just your life. Making somebody welcome could mean a big difference in their life. As Mother Theresa said “We cannot do great things but we can do small things with great love” and “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”.

So how do we respond to newcomers?

Many – better than I – have tried and failed to answer this trickiest of questions so I’m largely ducking out of it here too. Mostly that’s because the how depends upon the where and the who. It’s something we should “play by ear”. We should respond to people as people and not just another new face. They’ve come through our door for a reason, they may not wish to share it but if we are to make their visit worthwhile then how we treat them is vital. This should be a no-brainer but sadly it’s not. All too often we can be too busy running around doing stuff that we forget the people the stuff is for.

I would say that whenever I have been to a church for the first time the coffee time is the place where I have been able to get to know more about it than at any other. The friendly churches are not those that have “newcomer spotters” who prey upon strange faces. The friendly ones are the ones where you are engaged and involved in a non-threatening way. More oftne than not that will happen over coffee making it a decent cup means you have given value to those to whom you are serving it. Serving is where we will “entertain angels unawares”. But we shouldn’t serve our best just on the off chance that this is an angel in dire need of a latte. We should serve our best because the people we are serving are God’s children and because like it or not we are His representatives at that moment, in that place.

You can show your support for Give Up Bad Coffee for Lent via the Twibbon on your facebook or twitter avatars. You can also use the twitter hashtag of #GUBC4L but above all you can show support by being generous, serving your best and showing some Gospel Hospitality.

The Give Up Bad Coffee For Lent twibbon. (c) Ryan Cartwright CC:By

So if you haven’t heard I seemed to have gotten involved in the start of a movement. Okay that’s probably a little over-dramatic but following a rather frantic twitter conversation the other day there has begun a genuine call for change in the Church (particularly the UK). It’s called ‘Give Up Bad Coffee For Lent’ and is named after a joke I made on Twitter. For more information on the birth of this campaign and a great summary of what we’re all on about you’d be better to go read the excellent blog post by @Twurchsteward. Come back here afterwards though

Following the flurry of tweets and the above blog post I decided — in a sudden burst of unilateralism — to create a Twibbon campaign. For those who don’t know a Twibbon is a way of displaying a small logo on your facebook or twitter avatar/profile picture to show support for a cause. To my surprise it has been taken up by several outside of our initial group and for that I thank you. It did also raise several questions and it struck me that the name alone might need some clarification so here are some FAQs:

What do you mean by “bad coffee”? To be honest it varies from person to person but this is about doing our best in service and hospitality. So it’s about taste and quality but not necessarily at the expense of fairtrade etc. So it’s not about particular brands or even types of coffee so much as it is about the attitude behind the provision of coffee. See the next question for more.

Why coffee? It’s not really about coffee but that is a focal point because it’s an area where many a Church needs improvement.This campaign is really about serving people with our best effort. It’s about combating the idea that while we’re happy to get and do the best we can for our own use, in Churches there can be too often an approach of “that will do – it’s just for Church”. What this campaign says is That will not do. as @Twurchsteward says..

> The Bible is fairly clear on the subject of hospitality – my current bible study plan covers passage after passage in the OT commanding Israel to offer the best of their hospitality, to welcome all comers with the very best they have to offer.

and…

> The bible exhorts us again and again to treat others with the generosity, love and welcome that we would wish to receive – why ? Because when we honour each other we honour our Creator – because “when you do this to the least of these, you do it to me” .

But we already serve good coffee? That’s great but does your Church show it’s best in all matters of hospitality? How’s the cleaning, the flowers, the toilet roll? This is about so much more than coffee. It’s about love. If we show our best then people may stick around but honestly if you go into a shop and get treated in a sub standard way — how often do you go back?

So you’re saying the Church should pander to visitors rather than attend to more important things? If you want to put it that way, yes the Church should “pander” to visitors or as you might rephrase it: make them feel welcome. This is God’s house and we are His family by adoption. When people enter your house do you not expect your family to make them feel welcome? Serving decent coffee/tea/biscuits may seem trivial but it adds to a welcoming atmosphere.

What happens after Lent? The Lent but is just an accident of timing. This is really a rallying cry to the Church. In the words of many of my school reports this campaign simply says “Hospitality: must try harder”. Also don’t think this is the responsibility of Church leaders, the hand and the heart serving the cup is as important (if not more so) here as the liquid inside the cup and the person buying the beans.

To end I just want to go back to @Twurchstewards quote about honouring God as we honour each other. It puts me in mind of Matthew 5:14-16 which speaks of us as being the light of the world and not hiding our light under a bushel. Personally I like the way the Message puts it:

> 14 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 15 If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. 16 Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven Matt.5:14-16 MSG

Isn’t that what we’re talking about here? Let’s be generous with our hospitality. Let’s shine. Let’s give up bad coffee…and not just for lent.

If you want to join in then by all means comment here or alternatively show your support via the Twibbon on your facebook or twitter avatars. You can also use the twitter hashtag of #GUBC4L

The skill, talent and dedication on display here is inspiring. The message too. That’s all

Brief version: Frustrated by restrictive licencing stifling what should be free worship and resources, I am looking for like-minded Christians to discuss a proposal to produce an on-line directory of Christian resources which have freedom built in. See http://m108.crimperman.org for further details and to join the discussion

Okay that’s a bit of a grand title but hopefully it got your attention. As you may know I am a keen advocate of freedom in Christian resources such as music, art and writing. This site is covered by a licence which explicitly permits you to redistribute the material as long as you don’t stop others doing so. I’ve also written about the subject of freedom in the way Christian resources are provided and used in two previous posts.

• Christianity that doesn’t spread from the fridge
• Taking risks and freeing up worship

The latter invoked a bit of discussion, some on here and some with friends offline and I would like to thank all those who have discussed this already for giving me a bit of a kickstart.

The m108 galaxy ( image from http://www.astr.ua.edu/gifimages/m108.html )

Copyright and restrictive licencing of resources is a reasonably hot topic right now and the Church has not escaped. I have noted a shift in support for what is known in some circles and the open content movement. Others have waxed more lyrically than I could on the subject but in generally it involves content creators moving away from draconian imposition and towards freeing up users to use their content including sharing it with others and remixing it. The most popular of these efforts with regard media and arts is the Creative Commons – which is what I use here.  In the Church as I have already written it seems frankly daft that those who are using God given gifts to create wonderful ways to give him glory would seriously want to sue a fellow Christian for making an additional photocopy. Churches and church  leaders are finding themselves navigating through a minefield of legal requirements which prohibit the free movement and growth of the Church itself.

It seems frankly daft that those who are using God given gifts to create wonderful ways to give him glory would seriously want to sue a fellow Christian for making an additional photocopy

To a certain extent you can’t blame the musicians, writers and artists because they are following the only pattern they see – that of big business. We are in a world where music and words, art and poetry have become “Intellectual Property” (a term which still does not have a proper legal definition in most places). IP is something which we treat as precious, as some kind of golden goose. We dare not let it go in case it never comes back. And yet this does not sit well with the Jesus I know, who turned the tables on those making a profit from worship in the temple, who said “Freely you have received, freely give.” or as the Message puts it …

You have been treated generously, so live generously. _{Matt 10:8 MSG}

The next step

But what if we do let it go? What if we say “copy it just don’t sell it”? I fear that if we continue down this path the Church, even more than greater society, may stifle itself in a fog of restrictions and fear. As Christians we want to do the right thing so I am not advocating we start copying that which we are not permitted to. I am suggesting that rather than break the law we use it. I am suggesting that we, content creators, free the users of the content we have made so they can glorify God with it.

But how do we do that? What form should it take? What about…?

Exactly. before we take the “next step” we need to make sure we know where we are headed. For that purpose I have set up a discussion forum to discuss this proposition. Specifically to discuss a web-based directory of Christian resources with freedom built in. For now I have called this project The m108 project as an homage to Matthew 10:8 but even the name of the project is up for discussion. I have since discovered that m108 is the name given to a galaxy within the constellation of Ursa Major (The great bear). This galaxy (pictured above) is described as having “no noticeably strong center, being a motley collection of features often referred to, in classic understatement, as very dusty”. I like that.

So if you are a user, maker or observer of Christian music, art, literature, liturgy, youth and children’s work, video – pretty much anything which the Church at large could use to glorify God, please hop over to http://m108.crimperman.org . I know this is a cliche but this time your opinion, your view really counts. This project won’t take off or grow unless it represents us, God’s family. Feel free to comment here but if you have a view or question on this matter please consider contributing your comments at the m108 site. Right now we need discussion, no more.

Honestly I have no idea if this is going to work but I feel that we have to at least try. It’s not enough for me to do this alone and while it is small I take comfort from the fact that when Jesus fed thousands from a packed lunch he got his disciples to share it around and he did a great deal with a small amount. Taking part will not tag you as involved, I won’t chase you up to do more later but I would say that in my experience God might.  But surely that’s not a bad thing is it?

Way back in 2005 (was it really that long ago) I posted a piece on my blog entitled “Christianity that doesn’t spread from the fridge“.

In that I explained how the use of copyright can stifle the spread of worship and faith among churches. I also focused on the ridiculous situation that means the vehicles of worship and relationship that God has inspired his people to create are locked down and used as revenue generators rather than faith-builders. If you read this blog long enough you’ll soon discover I am a fan of freedom and for creative works (including the text and artwork on this site) I encourage the use of Creative Commons licences. My spreading from the fridge piece ended with a rallying cry:

So here’s a wake up call to the Christian publishers, Bible houses, Song composers and authors of today: Think about why you do that work? If it’s for God’s glory and the furtherance of God’s kingdom then are you not restricting the very purpose of that work by restricting the fair usage of it by others? Christianity is about risks – take one with the work you do for him and see if God likes it.

I’m happy to say that I’ve found somebody who has. I’m not for a second claiming that they did because of anything I wrote – I doubt they’ve even heard of me – but when I found the music it blessed me. Yes I know that can be a cheesy phrase, all too often bandied around but in this instance it’s the most accurate description I can use.

Take Me In | live worship | freely download | freely use

Murray Bunton of Australia has produced and made available a live album of great original songs and made them available under a Creative Commons licence. I’m never any good at music reviews so I’m not going to try and explain where these songs fit in the spectrum of Christian music. What I will say is that the songs on this album are of a high quality – in terms of the writing, performance and production.

Murray has also made the recordings, the lyrics  and the guitar chord sheets freely available under the same licence as my artwork: the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-Alike licence. This means you can use them, copy them, pass them around as much as you like without charge or penalty. You just can’t sell them or use them in a comercial venture. Seems entirely fair to me and I applaud and thank Murray for this step. Others will be greatly encouraged by the music and further still by the decision to allow the works to be freely used in their intended purpose.

If you produce or know of other Christian worship songs under a Creative Commons licence, feel free to post a link as a comment here.

I have long been a fan of the open source philosophy along with others like Creative Commons. I like the way they allow you to distribute things in a fair manner whilst still protecting the author or the work to the extent they prefer. Much better than the restrictive and prohibitive copyright licences used so often today. This blog is distributed under a Creative commons licence. Basically you can distribute it without penalty or charge as long as you give others the same rights.

Recently it struck me how much the Christian viewpoint is left unhindered by such licences and how much it is hindered and impinged by copyright and publishing law.

Take for example a worship or praise song. In days of old, hymns were written by men and women for the use of all, without penalty, and the for the glory of God. They may have been published or distributed by word of mouth but rarely was there a restriction on their use. In short the aim of the author was to glorify God and they saw no reduction of this aim by allowing as many people as possible to freely and fairly use their works to this end.

These days? Somebody writes a song, releases it on a CD and then releases the sheet music under a copyright licence. Suddenly churches using these songs – to glorify God – are left with a minefield of legalese to overcome so that they are not “robbing” the author of their livlihood. Payments to copyright agencies (aren’t these just protection rackets?) abound on the off chance that you may use a song that was (shock) written to be used in that way.

In short, in 1850 somebody could write a hymn and churches could use it. Somebody hearing it in one church could introduce it to another without breaking the law. These days, you hear a song in one church, ask the musician for a copy of the sheet music and, if it is handed over, both of you are breaking the law. Result? songs that are written to worship God are not allowed to do so because it would impinge on the “rights” of the author. The same author who wrote the song to worship God! What is really meant by “rights” is “income”. If no copyright is placed on the music, or so the philosiphy goes, then you and I could distribute and sell said music and rob the author of their livlihood from selling the stuff they’ve written.

Imagine if people like Hillsongs, Survivor and Kingsway published their sheet music under a Creative Commons licence? You would be freely allowed to copy and distribute the sheet music but not sell it. So the song is used for it’s intended purpose (worshipping God) by many more churches, none of whom are breaking the law by doing so, none of whom are paying a licence fee just because they used a song in it’s indended purpose. But only the original composer/publisher may sell the song. This means a CD with it on continues to earn the composer a royalty.

Transpose this to Bibles. There are some great modern translation of the Bible. Some of you may not like them, everyone has their favourites. There are also some great computer programs to help us read and study the bible. But unless someone pays a licence then this software often only includes public domain translations like the KJV. “But if you want to use it you should pay for it” you say. fair enough but let’s take the New Century Version for example (the same applies to other versions).

I own two paper copies of the NCV in differing sizes and with differing extra bits. I also own a Palm Pilot PDA with some bible software on it. In order for me to read the NCV on my Palm Pilot I must buy another version of it. Okay so far I’m with this, seems fair. But I also own desktop bible software which doesn’t come with the NCV. I think it’s fair usage for me to want to use the same elcetronic version in two programs but only one at a time. I’ve bought the Bible (a few times now) – the translators, publishers et al have been rewarded for their work – I just want to use it on two programs. To me, this is like reading it in two different chairs. But no I would have to either wait for the software company to bring out an NCV module and then buy that one or use differing translations in differing places.

Again, suppose I have an electronic copy of a bible. I come across a friend who cannot afford one but would like one. Or I come across a friend who – not being a Christian – would like to look into the Bible on a try before you buy-in basis. I could tell both these people to go buy a modern version but doesn’t it come across as more gracious for me to give them a copy? Wouldn’t it more in the spirit of Christ for me to not expect them to pay? “So give them yours” you say – can’t it’s licenced to me and not transferrable. “Buy them one” you say – can’t because it’s no longer available for their operating system. “Copy yours – the publisher won’t mind” – no they may not mind (mostly because they wouldn’t know) but it is still illegal to do this – what does that tell my friends?

If digital versions of Bibles used Creative Commons licences then I could freely use it on any software I liked and pass it to friends for their use. At the same time I would not be allowed to sell it – only if the publisher authorises it.

“So” you’re thinking, “if the publishers use Creative Commons licences and allow you to give their stuff away – why would anyone buy them? They still lose money.”

Well, no they don’t the paper versions are still under copyright law. The recorded version of songs are also still under copyright and publishing law. And in fact if someone is given an electronic copy of a particular translation and uses it regularly, it would make sense to assume that when it comes to buying their own paper version they would plumb for the same translation.

Some authors have found that when they published their books under a Creative commons licence electronically, sales of the paper version have not dropped but been enhanced by the free distribution of the electronic one.

The point

Okay so here’s the point of this post…

It strikes me that a major aim of Christians is to become more Christ like. This would be the Christ who said “Freely you have received, freely give” then and who turned the tables on the temple sellers for making unfair profits from those who simply wanted to follow God’s way?

Where would Christianity be today if the gospel and epistle writers had prohibited copying and distribution of their writings without royalty payments? Where would we be today had people like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale had slapped copyright all over their translation or if Charles Wesley or John Newton had done the same with their hymns?

What would have happened? Christianity would have died along with the hope of humankind that it brings.

Perhaps you’re thinking that those people weren’t in this age, they didn’t need to be have been concerned about the “wrong” sorts of people corrupting their work from it’s purpose. Perhaps it’s true that they didn’t have to earn a living from their works. Perhaps these are true but most of them worked in conditions far less privielged than we do today. Most of them could have been killed if the “wrong” people got their hands on their work. Yet they did that work and they did for the higher purpose we all serve – the Kingdom of heaven.

So here’s a wake up call to the Christian publishers, Bible houses, Song composers and authors of today:

Think about why you do that work? If it’s for God’s glory and the furtherance of the God’s kingdom then are you not restricting the very purpose of that work by restricting the fair usage of it by others?

Christianity is about risks – take one with the work you do for him and see if God likes it.