Tag Archives: Worship

Come, ye sinner, poor and needy

Posted on February 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

One of my favorite hymns is Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.  I sometimes get some flak for selecting it because people see it as a “downer,” but I’ll take this hymn over 90% of the praise music we sing.  It also ranks up there with some of the great theological hymns of the faith like A mighty fortress and How firm a foundation in terms of my fondness for it.  The hymn is a stark reminder we are sinners and must trust in the bounty of God in order to be relieved of our burden.  In the refrain worshippers get to declare, “I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in his arms.”  There is something absolutely beautiful about being reminded of sinners running to the savior, instead of away – and also with re-inserting ourselves into the place of “sinner,” which we too easily forget as we become “respectable.”

I often like to look at older versions of my favorite hymns, in order to see what verses have been dropped out, or what language may have been changed over the years or through translation.  Oddly enough, I’d never done this for Come, ye sinners, poor and needy until this morning. I found two verses which our hymnal doesn’t contain, the first of which strikes my heart to the core.

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies;
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

In those words I can hear the voice of God.  Too often we treat grace like a cheap commodity.  We “get saved” like we’re subscribing for a magazine subscription.  I think folks who are outside the faith take notice of how cheaply we treat grace, and how quickly we forgive our own sins while condemning others, and come to the conclusion the faith is of little actually worth in our hearts and in the world. In the above verse I hear the voice of God reminding us of how precious the price was which purchased us from sin and death. God speaks, “Sinner, will this not suffice to release you from brokenness, pain, and despair?  Will this not suffice to  quench your thirst for righteousness and your longing for love?”  And in response to that glorious question worshippers are privileged to respond, “I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in his arms.”

How beautiful.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Pastoring

Tagged ,

What a way to end Summer

Posted on September 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Bruce Springsteen Stage

My view of the stage

Shortly before I returned from vacation I received an email from my church treasurer. It had some updates on ongoing projects, nothing out of the ordinary. The last line, however, stood out. It said, “I would also like for you to be my guest at the Bruce Springsteen concert on September 2.” Accepting the invitation was a no-brainer.

Now, I'm not much of a concert-goer. Actually, I'm not much of a music-listener at all. I find listening to music too distracting when I'm trying to write, read, or do other work. As such, I don't find much time to partake. I appreciate good music, and I love to sing, but listening is not one of my frequent pass-times. Since I've been at Central, however, Larry has shared his love of Bruce's music with me. He's shared books on the Catholic themes found in his music, posited that we should get the choir or band to play some of his music during worship, and even purchased “Wrecking Ball” for me this past spring. Before meeting Larry, Bruce Springsteen had always been a cultural force I was aware of, but not one I truly appreciated. After years of being introduced to the depth of Springsteen's music, I can say I'm beginning to appreciate his artistry. Wrecking Ball, in particular, is an album I've listened to over and over and over again. With Larry, I think our Church should be introduced to Rocky Ground at some point. My growing appreciation for Bruce's music meant that, if I were go to any concert, it would be his.

Technicals

I had never been to a concert at Citizen's Bank Park, so I didn't know what to expect when I arrived. The setup was impressive. Most of center field was filled by a massive stage and three screens. Ramps travelled down from the stage at the front and sides for Bruce and other band members to travel upon during the concert. The lighting and speaker rigs which adorned to structure were equally large. The lighting platform over the front of the stage actually held four or five people inside it's triangular frame. These guys climbed to the platform on metal “rope-ladders” and remained up there the entire show. It would not be a job I would want, especially given the humidity of the night – the heat on that platform has to be insane.

The sound system was adequate, but the treble was up too high. Bruce uses an impressive brass section, as well as some strings, in his music – which is one of most attractive points of the sound for me. In the concert, however, the over-loaded treble occasionally transformed the string and brass instruments into little more than white noise. As far as a stadium concert goes it wasn't terrible, but even Larry said he'd never heard the sound set up like that before.

Bruce's shows aren't about wowing people with gimmicky visuals, and the lighting choices reflected his style. The lighting was very good, and played with the music seamlessly. Actually, the lighting blended in with the show so well I forgot it was there most of the time. That's probably the best compliment I can give to the lighting director, it “just worked.”

The performance

Bruce Springsteen is insane.

There was no opening act, just Bruce listed at 7:30PM. He began about 30 minutes after the scheduled start, and played until just before midnight. Without a break. During songs he weaved in and out of the crowd to several platforms set up in the field. He interacted with the audience, and even paid compliments to folks as he passed them. At one point even he was taken aback a bit by the sight of a baby adorned in green ear protectors, “Hey look, there's a baby here!” he shouted.

As Bruce went around the crowd he began collecting people's signs, which I had never seen before. A bit later in the show he began to page through them, making comments – when he came across a sign with the name of a song he would show it to the band, prop the sign on his microphone, and sing it. About one song, “Rockin' at Night” he declared, “I don't think we've sung that in 25 years, but I bet we can still play it.” After working on some cords with the band, play it he did. From memory. After 25 years. Wow.

Bruce's comfort on the stage is what makes him such a good show-man. He loves interacting with the crowd, his band-mates, and has no problems going “off-script.” As he worked out “Rockin' at Night,” for example, he spent a good two or three minutes simply working with the band on the progression. Even as he did so, he was still very much present to the audience. He even kept a running commentary while he went through. Rather than being a moment of boredom, it became a brief moment of insight into how the band works together. Performers who are less sure of themselves, would never ad lib in that way – Bruce is so prepared he made it look planned.

The concert set ended around 10:30 or so with a bow and a brief moment of darkness. Then began the encore, which ended around 11:50. His encore was longer than some band's shows. By the end of the night, he was still jogging, crowd-surfing, dancing, and playing with the audience. Citizen's Bank Park turned on the lights three songs into the encore, but it did little to slow the party down. In fact, the sudden day-glow on the field actually seemed to draw Bruce out into the audience more. During “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” Bruce was 25-30 yards from the main stage, performing flawlessly with his distant bandmates. Then, at the line, “And the Big Man joined the Band” everything paused for a video tribute to Clarence Clemmons – 3 ½ hours in the show, the crowd took their roar up a notch.

Phildalephia was one of the first cities, to embrace Springsteen's music, and decades later that bond still shows. During “Wrecking Ball” his lines about the Giants were lustily booed by the Philly crowd, and you could see Bruce laugh heartily at the response. Even though the song is about the destruction of the Meadowlands, during the performance he made sure to show a video of the demolition of Veteran's Stadium. He did say, “The Spectrum” in reference to it – but as I think it was his only mistake all night I'll let it pass. Knowing the iconic structure was part of his audience's memory, and seeing that it was paid tribute too, demonstrated the link Philly has with him.

Theology

Theology at a “secular” concert? Heck ya.

Bruce's music is rife with Catholic imagery and eschatological hope. During the concert he frequently made reference to “ghosts,” which were all those good things in the past which are lost to us and yet still part of us. The value of the the “ghosts” for Bruce, was the memory and presence of love. The echo of the “cloud of witnesses” was palpable.

Prior to performing “Spirit of the Night” Bruce took on the persona of a black preacher, and the audience a congregation. He shouted, “Can you feel the spirit?” The crowd roared back in affirmation. At this moment my theological mind kicked in – I looked around at the crowd lost in ecstasy and thought, “This is a moment of transcendance for a lot of these people.”

After the main set ended with “Land of Hopes and Dreams” Bruce came back and spoke of the “train” which is coming, and has been talked about for centuries, but never seems to get here. To help make sense of it, he remarked at how we went back to explore some of the people who had talked about the “train” over the years. These reflections led to the song, “We Are Alive.” This song continues the strong allusions to the cloud of witnesses, adding to them a vague hope of resurrection. “We Are Alive” is my favorite song in the Wrecking Ball album.

Conclusion

As I wrote in the previous section, attending a Bruce Springsteen concert is a a moment of trascendance for many in attendance. People come expecting an experience, and they recieve one. For many, Springsteen's spiritual musings may be the most religious thing they do all year, even for the church-goers in the audience.

Since the arrival of the entertainment culture in the 20th Century Churches have struggled with this transcendant expectation. Religious euphoria seems to be a built-in need for human-beings, and it seems that sports, movies, or a rock concert fill that need as good as any religious service. I'm sure many would say it fulfills the need better than any religious service.

In response, churches have tried to capture the religious euphoria of entertainment. Sanctuaries have become concert halls, sermons sound like the pre-game shows on FOX sports, and Sunday performances strive to capture the melodrama of the movies. “Contemporary” churches seem to be, in fact, the only ones which are growing.

As I enjoyed Bruce Springsteen on Sunday night, however, I saw again the folly of this religious response to the entertainment culture. As much as people did experience a taste of transcendance at the Ballpark, it was the fabrication of lights, sound, and the personality of Bruce which lead them there. People came expecting to have Bruce take them somewhere, and he did.

Many people come to church without any such expectations. They come expecting to sing some songs they like, hear a sermon they don't hate, and drop some money in the plate. Many “strong Christians” come to worship on Sunday out of grudging obligation instead of hopeful expectation. Even when people come to church in expectation they tend to come with the same mentality of a concert-goer. They come expecting the band, choir, dancers, pastor to take them somewhere. If they don't go anywhere – then those performers failed to deliver.

Worship, however, shouldn't be dependent on the people “up front” to take the congregation places. In fact the band, choir, organist, dancers, and pastors are actually supposed to be on the same journey as the congregation-at-large. When we come to worship looking for a transcendant experience, it shouldn't be based on the things we've set up. Rather, our hope to capture a glimpse of what Bruce calls, “the train which is always coming” needs to fall upon our Savior. Through the Spirit we can be taken places in worship, hear the “train” coming, and maybe participate in proclaiming it ourselves.

Seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert was an incredible way to end the Summer, and the experience has reminded me just how much the Church has to re-learn.

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Reviews, Thoughts, worship

Tagged , ,

The odd-relevance of “hoodie-gate” for the Church

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 4 Comments

Mark Zuckerberg, who is a rather odd guy (I say that by way of affection, “normal” people annoy me), started Facebook.  He made millions upon millions of dollars and created a platform where people re-connect and share with one another.  Yes, it has problems.  They like to play fast and loose with privacy a good amount of time, and the timeline is evil.  Still, it’s quite an accomplishment for a guy who is under thirty.

Now Zuck is planning Facebook’s IPO, and when it happens he’ll turn into a Billionaire overnight.  That boggles my mind.  Still, all that he’s accomplished before turning thirty is not impressive enough for the parasites of Wall Street.  For them, apparently, Zuckerberg much bow down in homage and wear “grown up clothes” when coming and asking for money.  Instead Zuckerberg work jeans and a hoodie, which sent Wall Street in a tizzy about being “disrespected.”  Sigh.

Then, today, I read a post on CNet regarding comments by an analyst named Michael Pachter who linked coming to Wall Street in a hoodie to going to a Church wearing a hoodie and said, “You shouldn’t do that.”  Why?  Because it doesn’t show respect for the institution.

I made two quick points on Facebook regarding these comments.  I’ll share those here and then add one more.

First, there are enough grungy links between the greed of Wall Street and the Church (in people’s minds, even if not in reality).  Please leave us out of the financial sector’s huff, OK?

Second, if the Church, Wall Street, or any institution is either so insecure or arrogant that it get’s freaked out by a sweatshirt then, frankly, to the nether-regions with the institution.  Such a thin veil of security shows just how fragile and weak such institutions are – and I’m tired of their games.  Zuckerberg was right to wear his hoodie – as if to say, “Look, here I am.  This is who I am and it’s what brought me to this point in my life.  If you want me, you get me – not some grown-up version you think I should be.”

Third, Wall Street (much like the Church) has completely missed the point of this entire exchange.  They assume Zuckerberg is coming to Wall Street asking for money – because that’s their motivation.  May I strongly suggest that Zuckerberg is heading to Wall Street out of curiosity – offering what he’s made to the market just to see what it’s worth.  He’s not coming his hands empty, asking for more, he’s got something to give, and he expected the offended bankers to understand the difference.  The Church does this, doesn’t it?  We have people come in and the system says, “Oh, you want what we have?  Well, let’s see how you smarten up some before we let you all the way through the door.”  The reality is, if people come to a church, which is getting rarer and rarer the longer we don’t learn this lesson, they come because they want to give themselves to see what can happen through their service.  They’ll show respect for the institution when it proves it’s worth to help them serve.

So, wear your hoodies to worship – and if the institution balks then tell it to take a gut check about what’s really important, and then tell it to repent.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Baptist, Geek, Pastoring, Thoughts

Tagged , , , ,

Distractions smactions…

Posted on May 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

One of the first objections I hear from pastors regarding the use of digital technology in worship is,

“Then people will be too distracted, I want them to be completely focused on the sermon.”

I don’t buy it, for several reasons.

First, this makes the assumption that people ever were “completely focused on the sermon.” Well, perhaps “ever” is too strong a word.  It makes the assumption that people have been focused on the sermon at any point since the advent of recorded (and then broadcast) media.  Since this advent, the choice has been between mostly “ok” preachers, and a recording of your favorite entertainment or a really good preacher/teacher.  Is it any wonder people have been finding it difficult to listen to what is preached in churches since the late 1800′s?

Second, the desire as expressed above is too narrow.  I guess I can’t blame the preachers I know.  After all, in Protestant circles, we spend a lot of time being taught how to preach during our education.  On the other hand, we don’t spend a significant amount of time on the nature of worship.  Is it any wonder we think of worship as, “Three songs, an offering, and a sermon?”  The reality is, we need to help people focus on the entire pageant of worship – and not simply the sermon.  If this is the case, and I believe it is, then perhaps digital technology could be helpful rather than distracting.

Third, it assumes that taking away people’s digital devices would mean their attention would be automatically focused where we want people to focus.  This isn’t the case.  Taking away digital devices will merely shift a people who are naturally distracted and shift their attention to a  new distraction.  These range anywhere from writing out a shopping list, playing hangman with a neighbor, doodling on the bulletin, or (when all else fails) napping.  My working theory would be the subtraction of digital devices in low-church Protestant worship, in particular, would actually increase the amount of people being distracted from worship by their bad napping habit.

So, if people are going to be distracted anyway, what can we do?  Do we simply give up and never hope people learn/grow/change through worship?  Not at all.

People are distracted, but many are able to sit through  a sporting event, movie, or TV show with no problems – and even point out details later on.  Why?  Because there is movement.  The shifts in these media are such that it changes people’s perceptions and keeps their attention.  Churches, particularly low-Church Protestants, need to remember worship needs a movement to it.  People need to be able to change their eye levels, move their body position, and even cheer when the drama of God is unfolded (a good  liturgical “Alleluia!” is a wonderful example of this).

We can also, frankly, preach differently.  Aside from using a screen well (which I cover here), we can also work our content to match our audience.  Preaching is about communication, not about getting through a weighty manuscript and tossing out huge amounts of data at people.  We can always stretch people to be able to focus for longer periods of time, and we should do this, but perhaps preaching isn’t the best venue for this.  How many of us have been in, or preached, sermons where the main point was covered ten minutes earlier – but the sermon keeps on going because there are stories to tell and quotations to utter forth?  What if we just cut off the sermon when the main point was made?

Finally we need to allow for the truth that people will be distracted.  We are not an “all there” society, and haven’t been for generations.  We are a “here and elsewhere” society, and this was true long before the advent of texting.    If we use digital devices to aid in the awareness that worship is a movement, however, perhaps we can subvert a distracting influence and make it an ally to help people be more “present.”  No, it’s not an easy path to walk – and for some people a digital device will never help them focus.  I do know, however, that it’s easier help people turn the wheel toward a different heading, than it is to scream out against a forward momentum which has been gaining steam for over a century.  One lands us in a different location, the other gets us run over and bitter.  I’ll choose the former.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Geek, Pastoring, Thoughts, worship

Tagged , , ,

Worship

Posted on January 10, 2012 | 1 Comment

 

 I guess people could argue that this should read, “It’s about being changed for service,” but I don’t agree.  All service (both in and out of “church”) is worship, and as we serve we’re supposed to look more like Christ. In a culture where worship  is often rated according to, “What I like,” I don’t find it difficult to understand why so many Christians seem to be anything but Christ-like in thought and action.  When our criteria for worship is us, we are worshipping ourselves.

Let’s be changed as a worshipping people through service to God, God’s image, and God’s Creation in the name of Jesus.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Motivation

Tagged , , ,

Aftermath

Posted on December 4, 2011 | 1 Comment
Let me be clear, I love worship and I am compelled to preach and teach – but by Sunday afternoon it’s usually all I can do to get changed and take a nap.  Worship is an emotionally powerful experience for me, and while I love to preach it does wipe this introvert out.  Throw in another presentation during a church meeting and, well, I feel like I’ve been pummeled.

Thankfully, the folks at Central (who are not trolls, get your mind out of the gutter), are very gracious to me and accept the fact that my mental and emotional facilities are at low ebb once the benediction has been said.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Comics

Tagged ,

From the Garden to the City: Imagination

Posted on September 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

Note: If you’re interested in checking out From the Garden to the City before you buy the book – you can help unlock chapters by clicking here.

When the assignments came out for this blog tour I have to confess that I saw my name next to “imagination” and did a little jig. As you can see from this blog post I wrote two years ago, imagination is where my heart, mind, and soul dwell. I realize a tendency towards imaginative play may put me in the minority as an adult (it certainly gets me into trouble from time to time). As John puts it so well in chapter 2,

It’s commonly held that adults have lot the propensity for imaginative play. While kids have the ability to look past the world as it is and see the world as it could be, adults are only able to see the real world.

On the other hand, John asserts that this propensity for imaginative play is awakened even for adults through the presence of our tools. If a person looks at a tool and embraces it, they have done so because they imagined it’s usefulness to shape the world around them. Equally true, however, is the imagination needed to see a tool and reject it. After all, even a rejection of a tool is done by seeing how it might impact our interactions with the world. Perhaps the greatest example we can see of this today is with Twitter. Many have used their imagination to see how twitter can be useful for spreading short bits of information. Others, however, imagine what life would be like with this tool and reject it. Both take imagination, and it’s to John’s credit that he’s pointed this out to his readers.

The bulk of this chapter, is spent on exploring the impact a tool has on us when we take it up and actually use it. When we do so, John asserts that we see three separate narratives in play:

  1. The story of how we human-beings shape this world through the use of tools
  2. The story of how our tools end up shaping us
  3. The story of our our shaping, and being shaped, finds it’s way into our souls

Rather than write an abstract on each of these narratives, I thought I’d write about how I’ve seen these stories playing out in my own pastoral ministry. Writing about a narrative with a narrative makes sense to me.

Story 1 – Reshaping the environment

As I mentioned above, I put a strong emphasis on imagination in my life. I enjoy playing with a new “toy” – be it a book, device, web-technology, or anything else that comes my way. As I explore the aspects of each new toy, I imagine how the tool can be used to help me in my various callings – pastor, teacher, husband, and father (just to name a few). As I’ve grown up post television, my imagination tends to gravitate towards visual and narrative outlets rather than analytical and spoken. In other words, in my first story my imagination is already spiraling out from the way I’ve been transformed by the other two narratives!

To help fulfill my calling as pastor and teacher, the congregation I pastor has implemented various new(ish) communications technologies to maintain a connection with one another. Facebook, texting, and e-mail are now primary means of communication. In worship, I put my visual affinity to work though use of a projector – “painting” my sermon with images as I go through. This means that every point that might be made with a bullet, has an image placed on the screen instead. The combination of these two tracks has allowed the congregation to communicate better (not very well, as of yet, but better) than it had in many years. Information is passed on, and the use of visual metaphors in a sermon ties in well with a congregation which has already had it’s minds re-wired by TV and other visual media.

Story 2 – Being reshaped

The use of these various communications technologies has had an impact on the way the members are connected with one another.

First, it’s almost turned the church office into an unnecessary appendage. In the congregation’s previous communications model, the office was the clearing house for all information. Now that the communications style is more distributed, however, the office has almost become a residual appendage. The phone is largely silent, and the “relay” function the office used to serve as is now limited to activating the prayer chain and updating the web-site. The office isn’t even needed to update the congregational calendar anymore, as we update it with our events the moment we make a decision to hold them.

Second, the combination of visual stimulus in our teaching and the persistent stream of small blocks of information has accelerated the sense of frustration many have with the way that events are managed in the congregation. As a new wave of disciples, who are used to visual and rapid-fire communication, have come into the fellowship many of the long-standing ministries of the church have not been able to offer a compelling reason to participate. Two long-standing Sunday school classes have folded due to this inability to draw in new participants, and our venerable women’s missionary society has suffered a similar fate. Another tradition, the Sunday School Opening, has likewise failed to draw people in – despite efforts to make it more dynamic. “This is the way we do things” is no longer enough to compel people to participate – people are encountering a faster-paced and more dynamic way of “doing things” within the congregation.

Story 3 – Into our souls

The transformations illustrated above, however, beg the question, “Is rapid-fire and dynamic communication something which will inevitably lead to a good outcome?” The answer is, of course, no. For example, Twitter has helped people stand up to oppressive regimes around the world – but it was also used to help the recent London riots avoid efforts to contain the violence. Rapid-fire and dynamic communication is transforming us, but how can we make room for the Holy Spirit to shepherd that transformation into something which accentuates our presence as God’s image in this world? In answer to this question, our congregation has turned to yet another venerable tradition which was on the brink of extinction – the prayer meeting.

Prayer meetings at our church, like many churches around the world, used to consist of going around a circle sharing prayer requests, perhaps doing a short Bible study, and then going around the circle allowing people to pray “as they feel led.” It was meaningful for some, but many more (including myself, a confessed ADD-addled geek) chaffed under this format – it was neither rapid-fire nor dynamic. We needed to create a sense of progression, which allowed for people to have time to digest smaller bit of ideas, while making them feel the meeting was moving. To achieve this, we turned to the liturgical and contemplative traditions. The liturgical tradition creates a sense that the prayer meeting is following a deliberate trajectory. We center-down, confess our sins, pray for our town and our congregation, meditate on Scripture (via a community lectio divina), and then share our own prayer concerns. The trajectory creates the type of movement people crave (in a format people are familiar with by transitioning the movement and giving instructions via the projector). Hand in hand with this sense of movement, the contemplative tradition allows us to appeal to the rapid-fire existence in which we live. Contemplative prayers tend to rely less on the verbosity of our words, and more on the power of the Spirit to communicate through a profound lack of speech (or even silence).

We approximate this idea by holding to a common discipline as we pray out loud. As we pray for ourselves, our neighbors, our church, and others we will often lead with the invitation, “As you pray, please pray as you are lead but limit yourself to 1 sentence at a time (with minimal semi-colons).” Other times, we will even limit prayers to a single word! This brings, into moments that are largely filled with silence, a form of the “rapid fire” communication to which we have become accustomed. Most of the prayers people utter are probably no longer than what you can put in a Tweet! We do, however, make room for compulsive semi-colon users. At a prayer meeting several months ago one part of our movement went for nearly 45 minutes – and people couldn’t believe it because they’d been able to actually hear the bulk of the prayers which were offered.

Conclusion

I hope, in the telling of these three narratives, I’ve communicated something faithful to John’s intent. Our church reached out and changed our environment, saw that we were being transformed by the very tools we used, and then moved to direct that inevitable transformation back towards the God who created our desire to use tools in the first place. Have we been successful? I don’t know, you’d have to ask me that question again in a few years to even hazard a guess. I do hope, however, that we’ve moved wisely. All transformations are dangerous endeavors and fraught with spiritual potholes. We’ve tried to keep our eyes on Jesus, who calls us to follow him.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Books, From the Garden to the City, Geek, Pastoring

Tagged , , ,

The five year lag

Posted on August 19, 2011 | 2 Comments

The other day I had a brief twitter conversation with @johndyer (whom all my readers should follow) about technology in the Church. John often hears complaints that churches are “five years behind the rest of the world” technology-wise and, being a thoughtful technologist remind the complainers, “Look, its 2011 and George Lucas has JUST gotten Star Was on Blue Ray.” It’s a good point, the rest of the world is sometimes not as far ahead as we think.In our exchange however, I pointed out that the irony was that Blue Ray was a DOA medium anyway, so John may have picked a better example. His response was, “Doesn’t that make it a better point?” Again, he has a good thought, people are so keen on “catching up” that we end up running blindly into dead ends. I agree, which is why I think that John wasn’t really talking about the “five year lag” at all. Our conversation ended with me asserting that the real problem facing churches is not a five year lag in technology, but rather the continued assumption that technology is just another gimmick “to get young people in.” Full disclosure, the quoted segment made no appearance in our twitter exchange – I was thinking it, but didn’t write it.

As churches, we need to stop looking for “the next big thing.” It is a dead end which leaves us looking like the outcast in the corner who has no confidence in their social skills but keeps on shouting, “Look at me, look at me, I can be cool too!” We owe our Savior, and the world, something better than that. What we’re seeing now is not a fad to be latched on to until something better comes along. We are seeing a significant social shift in the ways people connect with each other that is literally re-mapping our brains. It is powerful, pervasive, and has been going on longer than we sometimes think (I’d argue the telephone started the transition in earnest when it started entering people’s homes).

There is much in this shift to be heralded. For example, the speed and accuracy which which information can be passed and acted upon is something to be marveled at. Yet there is also much to be cautious about. Our communications shift is having an effect on our ability to memorize information (accelerating a process which began with the Gutenberg Press). It also further blurs the line between “urgent” and “important” because all of our data seems to demand immediate attention. This blurring creates an inability to be “present” in any given situation, which creates problems for spiritual activities like worship and prayer.

If churches drop their tendency to see technology as just another gimmick, then we can deal with both the positive and negative aspects of our communications with much needed wisdom. For example, we can accept people’s packed schedules by moving our “meetings” into an online space like a private email list or forum. This would give people an opportunity to interact with ideas over time, and become part of their daily rhythm. On the other hand, we can make deliberate moves to slow worship and prayer down. Instead of succumbing to the “more more more!” ethos of our culture, we can teach people the beauty of the contemplative prayer traditions and the freedom they bring to our communion with the Triune God. As we engage the positive and negative aspects of our cultural shift perhaps we’ll stop complaining about a five year lag in the tools we use and start contemplating on how we can communicate the Gospel well in this world.

Thanks, John, for spurring my thoughts!

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Geek, Mobile, Thoughts

Tagged , ,

Re-purposing and expanding

Posted on August 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

The 4 year old router Central purchased is starting to get a bit flaky.  The hardware of the router is actually pretty good, but the firmware has always been terrible (and never updated).  As the demands of our network have gotten more and more, the bugginess of the firmware has popped up more and more.  Finally, this week it’s become all but useless and it keeps dropping our iOS devices from the network.  I have a feeling that the router doesn’t like devices which go to sleep and wake up trying to reconnect to the network (our AppleTV has the same problem).  After months of tweaking the settings to try and fix the issue, I’m tired of the growing drops.   It can’t be wiped to put dd-wrt on it (otherwise I wouldn’t have needed to upgrade) so, we just ordered an upgrade for ourselves.

This leaves the orphaned Buffalo router without a job. I think if I do a reset to default settings and keep the network load light it still might be a useful tool, and I believe I’ve got a job that might fit the bill – a “worship network.”

At Central we’ve been playing with QR codes to pass on information to the congregation.  We started with the worship bulletin and announcements, and have added lyrics to the mix (thanks to OpenLP 2.0).  It’s worked well, but I’ve been looking for a better solution.  The QR codes our web site work great for smart-phones, but if someone comes in with a wifi only device we need to give out the network key so people can access the network.  This diminishes its usefulness (not to mention the security issues).

As a solution, I can set up the Buffalo to create an unencrypted network over in the building on Sunday mornings and set up a local web server on my Mac (or the office Mac).  On this server we can create a local web-site which has our Bulletin, Announcements, links to sign ups for special events, and added materials for worship – lyrics, background information for the day’s Scripture readings, and even stories about the congregation, and explanations of the worship space.  This would all be local only, so the information would need to be mirrored on our web-site, but it would be quite useful for people who have wifi devices without needing to give out an encryption password or going through the pain of setting up a guest network.  It’s an idea, anyway.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Geek, Thoughts, worship

Tagged ,

The hidden gem of OpenLP

Posted on August 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

At Central, we use the open source program OpenLP.org for our lyrics projection. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the commercial apps have – but it’s simple, fast, and free. These are three great traits for a church running on a shoestring IT budget.

OpenLP recently releases their 2.0 beta for general use, and I immediately picked up on a feature that I felt was going to be “killer.” it’s not the new song editor, or the ability to play videos from within the app. These are nice features, to be sure, but they aren’t something that utterly blew me away. What blew me away is a hidden gem called “stage view.”

Stage view is linked to a new remote plugin in OpenLP 2.0. This starts a local web-server which creates a nice AJAX enabled website. Actually, it creates two web-sites. The first site (for which it was devised) allows a client to control the songs as they are projected on the screen. It’s fast and well thought-out, but there does need to be a better way to switch songs the interface. The second site is the aforementioned “stage view.” In stage view, the lyrics of the current song show up in a reverse contrast theme, Each “page” shows the current song in white, with the next slide below it in grey. Above the lyrics is the programmed progression of the song, so people viewing the lyrics this way know how the song is going to be sung. The “page” changes with a slight lag compared to the lyrics on the screen, but since the lyrics of the next slide are already displayed it’s not a big deal.

As you might expect from the name, stage view is meant for the people in the worship team. It allows them to see the progression of the song as rehearsed, and the reverse contrast prevents the creation of a “glow” on the band. In our Church, however, it’s going to be used for something else – accessibility.

My son has a genetic condition called, “ocular albinism.” This means he doesn’t process visual data well – which makes reading lyrics off a screen impossible. Since we got the iPad, we have put the lyrics in a dropbox folder his tablet can access, letting him sing along. It’s been great, but also creates a lot of clutter in the drop box. It was also impossible to edit the lyrics meant for his tablet match the way songs had been rehearsed as it would make the lyrics so cluttered as to be unreadable. With OpenLP screen view, however, I no longer have to create a separate lyric file for my son, the lyrics match exactly what’s being sung by the congregation, and the link to the stage view site can be shared with others who might have visually impairments. As a bonus, the reverse contrast is less distracting in a crowd of people. Today, both my father-in-law and I used the feature in worship – it worked great.

The system isn’t perfect, however, there are a couple of minor problems.

First, churches have to have publicly accessible wifi to be allow people to access the service. Routers, however, are cheap – there is no reason why a church can’t set up a wifi network for locally accessible data like stage view and make worshipers aware of it’s presence (letting them know it can only access local data so people won’t be overly frustrated). This is actually the route I’m planning on taking for central to avoid the need to give people a wifi password.

Second, and more troublesome, is that the control portion of OpenLP’s remote plugin isn’t password protected. Any device connected to the wifi network can connect to the local web-server and take control of the service! It’s not something that makes me very comfortable, and I hope there is both a password and ssl added to the plugin soon (remember, this is a beta, there is still work to be done).

All in all, OpenLP 2.0 is a capable lyrics projection system with an active support community, great features, and a wonderful hidden gem. It’s well worth your time to check out!

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Geek, Reviews, worship

Tagged , ,