...Sunday.
Tomorrow is yet another Sunday at church. For me, that means an early (for me...heh) morning, a lot of rehearsing/warming up, and then leading a group of 50+ in worship.
If you lead on enough Sundays, it's easy to fall into a 'rut' feeling. Each week becomes so similar to the one preceding it, that I have to admit the uniqueness of each week becomes more and more elusive all the time.
What do we do every week? Same old stuff, with some variation. Usually the same old stuff means 5 songs, some sort of video clip (maybe), a message, blah, blah... To vary it up, I mess with the order of the service sometimes, and I try to throw in some creative moments where I will draw songs out or try to create a meditative, celebrative, or prayerful moment... I also try to keep adding new songs of varying styles to the mix, too.
But in spite of these efforts, the whole experience can feel...canned. Don't get me wrong, I still find value in the way things are...and I believe God works through (or in spite of) the whole experience. Dave's messages are great. The warmth, friendliness, and genuineness of the crowd is also a vital part of the experience. But in spite of all this, I feel like something important is lacking.
Part of it is definitely a 'trap' a worship leader can fall into. Mainly, if you have a great 'experience' one week, you can be easily tempted to try to recapture that experience (or even add to it) the following week. I think this is foolish, because the 'experience' that is great often means that a service was emotionally touching, and it's often the emotion we seek again instead of God (I could write a book on the difference between encountering God and being 'moved' emotionally).
But the 'lacking' element I refer to is something else.
First, worship on Sunday mornings is not truly worship in and of itself. Sure, all the singing, praising, praying, etc. can be a facet of worship, but worship is and should be a more comprehensive experience that happens beyond the walls of the church... To worship truly means to serve, and the best worship I've ever experienced was not during a time of singing...it was during a time of serving someone else. Romans 12 is a great reference about what this means.
Maybe if the whole room could connect with this idea, then we could better embrace Sunday morning as a gathering or celebration rather than this 1-hour opportunity to cram God and all this creativity into such a short time span. I'm sure some people do, but I think the 'rut' feeling we fall into is somehow connected to the fact that many people (sadly, myself included sometimes) get their 'religion' on Sunday mornings, and if that one experience is not a fresh and vibrant one, then we're disappointed.
Second, I think there's a whole slew of elements we're not implementing. I'd like to change all kinds of things up to be more creative - in everything from how the room looks to the elements of the service to even experimenting with different ways of 'expression' during worship. I saw a video this past week that showed artists painting (instead of singing) during the worship service. One girl was painting a picture of Christ's pierced feet. Another painting was more abstract, but expressive.
The pastor of the church said he's often asked, "Doesn't the painting distract from the rest of the service?" The pastor answers, "Does the singing distract?" Heh...I think that's a great perspective. If we can worship God in song, why not in poetry, painting, or other often un-tapped art forms? Songwriting...maybe that would be another cool thing - rather than pulling the worship songs of others to praise God, erupt in praise with our OWN words. Changing the room around. Art on the walls.
It's a shame that the symbols (like candles, stained glass, etc.) became so iconic and, bluntly, idolized in the Catholic church. I walked into a huge Cathedral in New York City one year in my younger days, and I was very moved by the atmosphere. It was around noon on a weekday, and the building was packed with people praying. There were candles burning. Images of Christ everywhere. And as much as I know how these elements have, unfortunately become more than symbols for many Catholics, at that time I simply felt like everything in the building pointed to God. Maybe I was naive (I was only 17 at the time). But I still think it was awesome to be standing in a room where the very design and presence of art and symbols in the room focused my attention on God. THAT is what I found neat about it. If we could use such symbols without letting them become objects of worship in and of themselves, maybe...just maybe...it would help us focus, too. This is not some personal doctrine of mine, just an idea...thinking out loud, really...
The sad reality is that to implement either of these changes (worship beyond the walls of the church AND the incorporation of new elements into the service itself), is just too much for a lot of people. In spite of all our efforts, it often seems like people don't want anything inventive or creative. Rather, they're content to go through the motions and actually feel uncomfortable when those motions become unpredictable or different. But maybe that's where we all need to be: Uncomfortable. Maybe it would be good for our routine - our daily lives - to be interrupted.
Personally, I know several people who avoid church altogether because they can't see church (even one like ours) as anything but a bunch of people going through the motions week to week. And even though I think they're not giving us due credit at Crosspoint, I empathize with their point.
Maybe it's time to start taking some risks... I don't mean implementing some creative ideas simply just to be different, but to intentionally find ways to challenge people (our unique group in Decatur, Alabama) in unexpected ways and allow people to express their heart for God in more ways than 5 songs and hearing a message.
I would LOVE for people to help spout out some creative ideas. I can't possibly do such a task alone.
