The Tension Continues…
2 Comments Published by Camron Ware - Visual Worshiper February 23rd, 2009 in Visual WorshipDoes everything we do in church have to tie in directly to the message and be thematic? Or can it ok that something simply just be “cool”?
Ahh..the question that drives myself and a few close friends to always find the balance in how we use technology in worship. There is always tension! We are using material, physical things to point to a supreme Lord that can’t be touched, or seen, or heard. (You know what I mean.)
What other entity on the planet other than the Church has this kind of tension and challenge? (Not talking about other religions)
Kent over at ChurchRelevance posted this:
http://churchrelevance.com/lifechurchtv-tulsa-christmas/
Read all the comments.
I went over to the Church Relevance site and posted this…
I’m going to be honest. I hope you can sense my heart.
First off… I LOVE the drum-line and/or trash can drumming vibe. There’s something VERY cool about that texture. We used to do it on a fairly regular basis at Irving Bible. It was always cool and full of energy. And there is something very ’street level’ about it… seems to communicate getting radical and getting our hands dirty for the kingdom.
Beyond that, here is what I push back against with the over-all presentation here…
1. The two story riser set up, over-all look, feel, and vibe would be laughed off any respectable stage in the non-church world. It’s cheesy. I don’t understand why we do stuff like this.
2. The cheesiness of this particular set-up and vibe aside, the concert stage/club worship vibe is troubling to me as well…
‘The medium is the message.’
What that means is that the method of communication is NEVER neutral. Media matters. There’s a lot to unpack there… too much for this comment.
The showy concert/club vibe brings elements with it (that cannot be fully removed) that are antithetical and distracting from the essence of Christian worship.
That being said… I DO think that Christ honoring concerts that even blend performance and worship are not only possible, but good!
The question is whether this approach should become the ONLY way we worship on a week to week basis or for a very important gathering time for Christians like a Christmas service. I say no. I think the Church and the world is better served by a more reverent, focused, sacramental regular worship format. If we want to add a little rock-star worship now and then on the side that’s cool.
But we need to understand its pitfalls and dangers. And that it is a poor replacement (actually no replacement at all) for a more profound understanding of what the people of God do when we meet as a community of God, with God, on a regular basis. AND especially when we gather on such important times for our family such as Advent, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc….
Just because people are singing, lifting hands, bouncing up and down or whatever, doesn’t mean that we are truly engaging in the essence of meaningful Christian worship that breathes with the grace of God and profoundly changes our lives. We would do all that at any concert for an artist we are into. It sounds a bit old school… but, Christian worship should really be holy. That is… profoundly different. There’s no school like the old school.
Please understand I’m not necessarily talking about music style… hymns and organs, that type of thing. It’s deeper than that.
Finally… I DO appreciate the commitment to going all out for Jesus, and the heart and passion for worship! None of that is in doubt here! Keep that up! My push back is on a deeper more philosophical level. Just food for thought.
If it’s a worship service. Keep it that. Keep it focused and intentional.
If it’s a Concert / Event / Special. Go for it and make it huge! But beware… See below.
The church has hurt itself by chastising the world and it has lost all sense. Slowly its regaining but its a slow road. So 1 of 2 things is going to happen, the church will be come the intentional worship point in a community and endorse the outside entertainment venues OR it will become the alternate entertainment venue and continue to pull off weak replicas. That stuff costs money and it needs to be done on par or it comes off as pretentious and mocking.
Thats my 4 cents…
- Reece