Earlier in the week a friend of mine posed a
question on a group page that I follow called, "Balcony 20/20. He posted “The church has left the building. Good? Bad? Both?" I think my
answer is: yes, all of the above.
What we didn’t know last year at
this time was that we would all be going through a worldwide pandemic. But God
knew. What we didn’t know last year was that churches would be emptied around
the world. But God knew. I’m sure we’ve all been asking the question, why? Let
me start by saying I am not, absolutely not, one of those people who think God “did
this” to punish us. I do believe he has allowed it to happen to us. So what is
he trying to tell us? How do we respond? Maybe something needs to change. But
what? Maybe we should do church differently. I do think it is a question worth honest
and prayerful consideration.
I can only answer based on the way
I think; the way God has molded me, and according to Myers-Briggs that is of a
person with an INFP personality type. An
INFP is someone who possesses the Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and
Prospecting personality traits. Making up only 4% of the population, these rare
personality types tend to be quiet, open-minded, imaginative, and apply a
caring and creative approach to everything they do. In other words, odd.
Back in the 70s there was a song we
sang at church called “Give Me That Old Time Religion.” We would sing, “It’s
good enough for me.” Good enough. The little church where I accepted Christ had
two instruments. The piano was on the left and an organ on the right, which had
a broken B-flat key. Then slowly, and
very cautiously a guitar was added to the mix. When the drums entered the
picture we had to kind of hide them behind the piano. The drums were a lot for
some people to take in. In fact, the drums were almost a little too much. I’m sure some of the older members
were thinking “Give me that old time religion” with the broken B-flat key.
From that time until now we have been
layering different elements of music and other arts which are just tremendous.
The sound of a full orchestra can really lift you to a place where you’ve never
been able to reach before. On top of the music we have now added a layers and
layers of technology. We now have state-of-the-art lighting, top-of-the-line
audio, high definition broadcast capabilities, oh yeah, fog machines. Those are
important.
So why do we need all this? I have
heard others try to explain it as follows. We’re in a competition to get people’s
attention and draw them to the church. So what we do on Sunday needs to be as
good as any Disney production. We need to use all of the available technology
to help us create an atmosphere where a person could feel the presence of God.
Okay. So, pretty much give the Holy Spirit the day off.
I spent a large portion of my
Christian life involved in music ministry. At one time I thought I was a concert artist, traveling around North
America singing at churches, revivals, youth camps and conferences. As it turns
out I was a worship leader, traveling
around North America singing at churches, revivals, youth camps and
conferences. Then finally settling in as the worship leader of a local church
that had just started in my town. All of
this is to say that I could probably write the order of worship/service for
just about any church on any given Sunday in the country. They’re all going to be the same. They may
have different lighting. They may use different songs. But essentially they’re
going to open up with a welcome song, have some announcements, do some more
songs, take up an offering, listen to a sermon and close with a song.
I must admit; I have been bored
with church for many years. I go, but for me when a song is reaching the point
where you really start to feel the moving of the Holy Spirit, being hit with
60,000 lumens of light is a little distracting. But that may just be me. I am
an advocate for using everything we have available to reach people for Christ.
My concern is that we work so hard trying to utilize these technologies that we
forget that it is the Holy Spirit who draws us to Christ. Technology seems to
be at the center of our services; the place where only Christ should be.
I like the verse that says, “We
know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love
God and are called according to his purpose.”
During this time of the Covid-19 virus, churches are just opening up a camera
and live streaming their services so that their members could watch from home.
That’s great. That’s a really good thing. Although, I’ve noticed that they are streaming
the exact same service they would be presenting if there were people in the
room. Personally, I would have liked to have seen it done a little more
creatively.
On January 22, just as the world
was beginning to shut down I noticed that an old friend of mine had started a
group page on Facebook called “Balcony 20/20”.
On a Sunday evening I got an alert (click bait) saying that my friend,
Glenn Sharp has started a live broadcast. I took the bait and started watching.
I saw Glenn sitting at the piano singing and upbeat song welcoming me to be a
part of the family. It felt as though I was right there in the room with him
seated on his the other side of the piano singing along. He segued into other
songs of worship and praise, mixing the standard hymns along with contemporary worship
songs. Several minutes in he began to talk about the power of faith over fear
from 2 Timothy 1:7. Then he sang a beautiful song of the faith and closed out
with the blessing which says, “May the good Lord bless and keep you…" I haven’t experienced the Holy Spirit that
strongly in a long time.
It was such a simple setting. It
was such a solid premise. It was such a strong presentation of how God inhabits
the praises of his people. I pray churches
will be more like that when we return. Simple. Solid. Strong.
Join us on the Balcony for, “WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY” at
7:30 PM and for, “SUNDAY NIGHT LIFE” at 7:30 PM on Sunday.
