The Instruments of Worship



I am a techie… anyone who knows me well will confirm that. I enjoy all things tech-related… computers, video editing, live video, sound, lighting, audio recording, and the list goes on. Some of them I am actually quite proficient in, others I just dabble in. It’s fascinating stuff.

The curse that goes along with this is that fact that if I am at a concert, and there is a buzz in the sound system, it drives me bonkers. It might be MercyMe singing “Word Of God Speak”, but all I hear is that buzz (that actually happened, by the way). I can be at church and the whole congregation is in the middle of a beautiful worship moment, but if the computer operator briefly puts the wrong words on the screen, I notice it (that has happened, too.) Or if the worship leader’s voice through the mic sounds “muddy” to me, all I want to do is run over to the sound board and adjust a couple of knobs for that poor sound tech (yup, also happened… WANTING to do it, that is.)

It happened again this past Sunday. We were entering into a beautiful time of worship at church, the worship leader started singing, and his microphone wasn’t turned on. He sang through the whole first line of the song before the sound tech got it on. I leaned over to my friend and said, “The sound man just messed up.” My friend said, “Why, what happened?” He had never noticed. And I started thinking…
What place do all these things have in worship? The lights, the cameras, the graphics, isn’t all this stuff just distracting me? Wouldn’t it be better if there weren’t so many different elements? I mean, if you don’t have a big screen, you can’t accidentally put up that camera shot of where the worship leader WAS standing five seconds ago, but now there is nothing there but the piano’s music stand.

And then I thought of other services I have been too. Worship times where the only musical instruments used were an organ and a piano. Or others where no instruments were used at all and we sang out of hymnbooks. And I could think of times in those services where I experienced true worship and other times where I sang the whole way through the song and did not think of what I was singing one time.
And so I came to the conclusion that there is more to this… it’s not all the stuff that is distracting me. Hey, if there would be no sound system, I couldn’t hear anything. If there were no words up on the big screen or no hymnbooks, what would keep half of the people in the service from singing the second verse of the song first? How distracting would that be?!

Imagine one of those huge mega-churches… you know the kind where there are thousands of people in the congregation. The ones with a full band leading worship, with big screens and lights everywhere, and of course, a great sound system, and even paid and trained sound techs, not just the church volunteer who is not friendly enough to be an usher. (By the way, I have nothing against volunteer sound techs. They are the backbone of many church services, and have one of the most under appreciated jobs out there. I know… I was one.) Now imagine that in the middle of a Sunday morning service, with seven thousand people in attendance, that sound system crashes.

That is exactly what happened at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado’s largest church, a few weeks ago. Here is part of what Brady Boyd, New Life’s senior pastor wrote on his blog a few days later:
“The sound system crashed Sunday morning at New Life during the 9am service and it did not bother God at all. How do I know? His presence was strong as ever, people worshipped, prayed and the Scriptures were taught. Of course, I like it when the sound system works, but I was reminded that God is not limited by technology and that most churches around the world operate just fine without any at all.”

And he closed the blog post by saying, “I like our big building and great sound system, and I even like all the flashing lights and giant screens… But what I love most is the timeless truth of Scripture, God’s presence, the great people and the revelation that grace is all we need.”

“As the pastor of New Life, I hope we never substitute hype for worship or allow technology to determine our passion for His presence because the church works just fine whether the sound system does or not.”

You see, the sound system, the big screens, the lights… these are merely tools to enhance worship. True worship will continue whether they work or not.

What is true worship to you? I would love to hear back from you. Leave a response to this article with your comments.

 

One Response to “The Instruments of Worship”

1. How I Lost Thirty Pounds in Thirty Days says:

   May 3, 2009 at 6:00 pm

   Hi, good post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for sharing. I’ll certainly be coming back to your blog.

   Reply