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Apr. 14, 2008
Microphones, Glitches and Worship (oh my)
Posted in Church God Faith
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So... we had some glitches yesterday morning during our worship service. Some of them were obvious, like mikes going out. Others were less apparent, like not repeating one of the choruses. Only the keen observer or those involved in the planning process would notice probably. But these little things can add up when you are aware of all of them and can be very frustrating. The worship team works very hard to plan a worship service that is meaningful and seamless and, um, worship-ful. And yet, things always happen. Annoying things. Technological things. Frustrating things. I liken a worship service to live theater in some ways. It is NOT a performance, unless you mean for an audience of One, but it does have some of the elements of a play. When you watch a movie, there are no glitches. That is because filming a movie has the benefits of retakes and extensive editing. But in a live play, there are no retakes, no do-overs, no edits. Lines are dropped, props are forgotten, scenery falls. Sometimes things get out of order. But that is also what makes it exciting and fresh and vital-- you never get the same show twice. It can be frustrating to the actors and director because little things happen and you never get a perfect show, but the audience often has no idea. They don't have a script. And they are willing to go along with the noticeable foibles because it is worth it. Friday and Saturday night at The Magician's Nephew, we had some glitches. A picture fell off the wall, a special effect failed to work, some sound cues were too loud, a few little people forgot their lines. But none of that diminished the power of the story, none of it negated the talent of those involved in the show. It's just part of it. It happens. Often. Maybe less often at more professional theaters, maybe not. I was at a show at the Springer where they warned the kids that there would be a gunshot sound effect and not to be alarmed. Guess what? No gun shot. I don't know what happened, but it didn't detract from the show. If they hadn't warned us ahead of time, I wouldn't have known it was missing. Obviously a worship service is much different than a play. It is eternally significant, whereas a play is just entertainment. And when we are involved in something of eternal significance, we don't want to look sloppy or half-hearted. We don't want to detract or distract from the message or the One whose message we are bringing. But I don't think we will ever have a perfect worship service, at least not on this earth. Things will always happen. But they should only serve to remind us that we are imperfect, fallen creatures in need of grace. Nothing we do will ever fully reflect His glory and His majesty and His perfection. Our worship will always be tainted by our humanness. We will never be good enough. But none of that can diminish the power of the story we are commanded to tell. God has chosen us, His jars of clay, to carry His message, to proclaim His glory, to tell his story, knowing that we would never get it exactly right. |
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