Technology in Worship

There is a lot of discussion in churches of our size about whether the use of video and lighting in worship is important or distracting. Some people feel like colored lights and image magnification (or IMAG) takes your focus off of the ultimate goal of glorifying God. A lot of larger churches have been using impressive sound, video, and lighting systems for some time now and consider them an integral part of their worship experience.

A friend of mine put me in touch with Cameron Ware, who runs the website Visual Worshipper. He believes that use of technology runs deep into the roots of the church:

“If you look at the old churches and cathedrals; they used the technology they had at their disposal to create works of art that tell the stories of the Bible.”

He does, however, think that technology, when mismanaged, can be very distracting.

“The key is WHAT is being presented; and WHEN. Imagery needs to be thought through, and made sure that it glorifies God and does not distract the congregation away from Him. IMAG is tricky - it's purpose is originally logistical. But, churches try and use it as a worship element when it's really not that at all.”

Steven Proctor, from WorshipVJ.com, says that he uses this process to determine when to use certain elements of technology:

“I run everything through this filter: how is it echoing our response to God's revelation, or how is it bringing a revelation to our people? How is the image on the screen guiding people in deeper worship? You can't tell me that a 30 foot blown up version of the worship leader's soul-patch during "How Great Is Our God" is doing that.”

We need to make sure that everything that we do has the ultimate goal of bringing people closer to an understanding of God's sacrificial love for them. If our goal is not Jesus, all of our efforts are worthless. Please pray that all of the leaders in the Worship Arts Department keep the pursuit of glorifying God as our number one priority.

-Thomas

A Sloppy Wet Kiss

As I listen through worship songs month after month in my personal time, and think about the ones that I would like to share on Sunday morning, there are many things that I listen for, one of the most important of these details being the lyrics.

This being the case, I was particularly drawn to a song that we will be introducing this coming week in the worship service called “How He Loves.” You can view a video and listen to the song here:

This song has had such an impact on me. The first time I heard it, I was floored. Then, to hear my children singing it out in the car as we run errands around town is the sweetest sound.

There is a lyric in the song that may bear some explanation as it could throw you if you don’t take the time to really think about what it means. The lyric says, “Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss.”

Here is an excerpt from the songwriter’s blog explaining the thought behind the lyric:

///“HEAVEN meets EARTH like a sloppy wet kiss”
The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy. Think about the birth of a child, or even the death of Jesus himself. These miracles are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sloppy ("gory" may be more realistic, but “Heaven meets earth like a gory mess” didn’t seem to have the same ring). Why does the church have such a problem with things being sloppy? Do we really think we’re fooling anyone on Sunday morning, especially God? Are we going to offend him? I mean, he’s seen us naked in the shower all week and knows our worst thoughts, and still thinks we’re awesome. What if we took all the energy we spent faking and used that energy to enjoy the Lord instead? That could be revolutionary!///

You can read the rest of the blog here:

http://johnmarkmcmillan.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-he-loves-david-crowder-and-sloppy.html

I look forward to worshipping God with you this week and singing this new song together!

Julie

Focus

In addition to loving music, one of my other great passions is photography. Over the past few years, I've developed quite an obsession with all things related to photography -- buying equipment, reading articles, trying new things to improve my skills.

You don't have to have a great knowledge of photography to know that focus is an essential ingredient for a quality photo. Some of my favorite photos have the subject in sharp focus in the foreground and a blurred background (referred to as bokeh). Here's an example:





Do you see how Sadie is in focus in the foreground and everything else is blurred in the background?

We can and should apply this same technique to worship. Our focus should be on Him alone. Sometimes that includes the words "I" and "me" referring to our love of Him or our desire to know Him more, etc. But the focus should be on Him.

I recently came across a video clip of Jennie Lee Riddle who wrote the song "Revelation Song." Like many of you, this is one of my favorite songs to lead in worship. In the video, she talks about how she had gotten tired of so many worship songs with "I" or "me" as the focus. She was inspired to pen a song focused on the One who is worthy of our sharp focus.

If you have a few minutes and want to hear what she has to say, take a look here -- Song Story: Revelation Song.

blessings~

Kresta