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The era of visual worship
Started by Jords on 5 July 2008 - 10:28pm
| 5 July 2008 - 10:28pm | |
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This thought has been brewing since Passion London. Now I’ll admit I’m a bit of a geek so I was all over the slick visual effects and lighting during the event. It certain added the ‘wow’ factor for me. But the question is, did it aid in focusing on God, or was I lost in production heaven? Now I don’t know when the transition occurred, and for many churches the transition is still occurring or yet to even begin. We are moving from the traditional hymn books to worship led off big screens, and the next iteration is upon us. Lighting and video stimulus have already taken some churches by storm, leaving others still reading the letters off faded pages. So how do these new dimensions fit into worship as we know it? or knew it. Culturally the digital age is upon us. Kids are growing up in an age where a keyboard is more normal than a pen. Where research is done online and not in a library. If you’re reading this then you are already on the information highway called the world wide web. But how does God fit in? Two dimensions. Humans are mysterious creatures. A mixture of spiritual and tangible. Both are affected in worship, both have a part to play. Spiritually speaking nothing has changed. God is still the same today, tomorrow and yesterday. The spirit still has the same power as it always did. People used to meet God spiritually when singing from hymn books, and they still can when singing from a digital screen. It’s our constant when it comes to worship. A constant threaded through time itself. However the physical side lives in a world which is constantly changing. Our brains are no longer satisfied and content from reading off paper. We need something more to engage in. It seems we can’t write letters without a bouncy visual paperclip telling us what to do every two minutes. Where adverts on the tube are no longer static posters but moving visual screens. Everything in our society is screaming out to be noticed by the ever increasing aid of colour and movement. On the day So on Sunday we enter church. Greeted by a hymn book, or even a screen with white text on a black background. Things could go one of two ways: Firstly it could be a refreshment from the busy world around us. Or our brains could disengage and we would begin to drift. So we are at the stage where we need to step things up a gear. We need to continue to move with the trends of society in an attempt to meet people at their level and hopefully bring them into a situation where they can encounter God. Don’t get me wrong. God is perfectly able to do anything, He can meet people using hymn books. However by the aid of lighting and visual effects we can help take people to a place where their body, mind and spirit are in unison with God. We can take them to a place where they become most receptive to God’s movement. Of course there are a billion other variables which we have to take into account. But that’s beyond this topic. Conclusion So my original question was: Did the flash lighting and slick visuals distract me from worshipping God? My answer is no. Lighting is key in creating the right atmosphere. When you want spend a romantic evening with your partner you don’t whack the lights on full blast. You dim them down a bit to create the right ‘mood’. Same goes with worship depending on if you are celebrating God’s glory or crying out to Him in desperation we need the lighting to match otherwise it will be to hinder and distract us. Visuals help us to put words, ideas and thoughts into living, breathing, pictures. Again they help keep all our senses stimulated on one thing: God. Worship 2.0 isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Churches will need to engage with their congregation and community to determine if they are ready yet. However it’s an attractive tool which I believe we will begin to see more and more of in the future. Sorry for the lack of bible backup. Someone feel free to do the theology! Disagree? Think there is more to it? I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. |
Before I write the following, I must make it clear that I am all for lighting and production. I have seen the positive difference the correct lighting and production can make to a worship time, and one of the best examples I have seen was funnily enough on a 'passion' DVD.
I think that being involved as a lead worshipper in worship 2.0 (I love that phrase) is probably one of the strangest jobs going.
Think about it
You Stand On a stage therefore everyone can see you
Everyone seat is facing in your direction
You may be singing songs you wrote
There is a sound system amplifying your voice
There is a lighting rig pointing mostly at you
And your job is to divert everyones attention!!!!
Haha yeah I suppose that's very true. Never thought of it from that point of view.
I guess there isn't one perfect solution when it comes to worship. Lots of things work and often they only work when you mix it up with other styles.
For example at St Pauls (HTB) the band is in the centre of the room so if you do want to look at the band you are usually starring at their backs (yes Al does have a lovely back). It also means you are facing other people in the congregation. This may sound a bit creepy but I quite like watching other people worship and the expressions of love and joy on their faces. Helps me get into the swing of things sometimes.
And then you have the really intimate style in pastorate where there are no words and just someone with an acoustic guitar. So you just close your eyes and focus on God, which is also an awesome way of worshipping.
So while churches are moving to the 2.0 style I think it's just as important to strip it back every now and then to the basics.
On Saturday, I thought the best presentation of lyrics was Brian's one. Static slides but each one well designed. Personally, I didn't find the video elements used in the background of the morning's set helped my sense of worship, although they weren't as distracting as at the March event.
If your church has people with the right skills to do video backdrops and fly lighting rigs, then I can see a place for it. However, I hope that churches avoid feeling left behind because they can't manage it or wasting time and resources in doing it in a half-baked fashion and stealing away from other areas that would be a more appropriate use of those things.
BTW, how do people pick up the lyrics at St Pauls (HTB)? I like the idea of doing church in the round but wonder how that kind of thing works out?
Wulf
At St Pauls there is one main projection screen at the front. Then we have two plasmas which at 4 and 8 o'clock positions (if the main screen is at 12 o'clock). Which covers most angels.
Do most of the congregation face the band (and look over them at the screens) or just look directly at the screens? Also, are the band arranged in some kind of outward facing circle or are they all directed at the front?
Wulf
Yup so the church is a rectangle. With the band in a small circle in the middle. All facing inwards. Then the congregation are around them facing the backs of the band. You then look over them to the screen behind them whether that be a plasma or projection screen, depending what's easier to see.
Ah - so the band are set up for maximum communication with each other rather than to perform to the audience? I'd love to come and see that sometime - what are the service times?
Wulf
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Bassist for The Elusive Teeth, The Pico Brown Five and Hither Green Baptist Church
Personally I love all that's happening visually in times of worship, I couldn't be more for it. We use it quite heavily at St Paul's. Often with just a subtle blurred motion in the background.
Recently with a lot of teaching on Fire, with all that is happening around the world in regard to Lakeland we've been using motions of Fire, we've even in our Creative Worship services sampled in to the sound system audio of fire crackling.
Passion | London was great and I have a video of it, sheer genius. But I wasn't clapping at the visuals, I was clapping at the words on the screens saying Jesus is Here, Jesus is Alive, Greater Things Are Yet To Come In This City etc....
But the visuals did aid me in worship, and I'm going to use the word manipulate, they manipulated me into clapping, into applauding, something gave way in me like when a physiotherapist manipulates a bad back into the right position.
I also agree with the romantic lighting gesture, not that I've had much practice doing such thing.
Question: When we display images of beautiful mountains, clouds, etc. Are we fueling a growing trend of people moving to the countryside? As we seem to pin it up on the screens as idilic.
// www.danbladen.com // www.sph.org //
I see you have some urban graphics in the link to your Flickr set from your website. I think that, generally speaking, the "great outdoors" does a better job of causing people to lift their eyes up to the wonders of God than looking at the structures we have built.
Lots of scope for creativity though. Since we got a data projector running at our church, I often work on a set of pictures that has a sense of progression, echoing and reinforcing the progression of the songs - for example, perhaps a series of images that show the sun rising higher and higher in the sky until bursting into my much used "fiery cross" (God's creation is awesome in its beauty; more awesome still is his passionate love for us).
The next idea I have in mind is based on some of the slides used for Brian Doerksen's set on Saturday night at Worship Central. He used monochrome images throughout. I loved the typography but was expecting them to gradually switch into colour later on. I intend to play with the concept of moving from greyness to colour as we worship next time I lead.
Wulf
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Bassist for The Elusive Teeth, The Pico Brown Five and Hither Green Baptist Church
If anyone is wondering what Dan and myself are taking about regarding Passion London I video'd it ( http://blip.tv/file/972714 ). I know it's not probably legal but I'm sure they won't mind since it's for equipping.
St Pauls (HTB) service times are 11am and 6pm (or earlier if you want to get a snack and drink before the service and have a read of a newspaper on the sofas).