God, Authority, Leadership, Church, the Future.... simple thoughts

My mind wanders as I listen to the News... let's face it, sometimes it has to protect itself.

    (fear not, I'm not about to start singing "My Inner Ninja"... although you probably are, now)

In Toronto right now, we apparently have a Mayor who is a Crack Head, a Gun Runner, a Bully, an Imbecile, a Liar, OR a Victim of nasty politics and media, a Diabetic, a Man in over his head and the Unluckiest son of a gun in the world. 

Might be any one of the above, a combination… or none of the above and it’s all been done with mirrors.  Ta-DA!!!  (Worst magic trick ever!)  

Regardless of what delights you put on your Rob Ford Buffet Plate… (ooh, a nice big helping of nasty media, a little bit of un-lucky…. And.... Hey, how did that crack get on the plate??)… most of us have lost faith in our Mayor.

Provincially, I hear a great many people opine that our Premier is a fantastic, intelligent leader with great integrity… but they also say quickly, that she’s burdened by a government with too many scandals, missteps and errors in judgment.  The alternatives for Premier are also suspect as we are invited to go forward to the 1700s or build our future homes in Cloud Cuckoo Land  (not necessarily what I’m saying, just what I’m hearing… and also a chance to once again use my vast Classical Studies background for an arcane Aristophanes allusion).   In short, we have lost faith in our Provincial leaders…

AND you do not want me to start on our Federal leaders.  Petty, small minded, corrupt, obfuscating, arrogant, entitled, dismissive and claiming to live in PEI.  (To be fair, most of the descriptors apply to most of our leaders… not all and all).  We have lost faith in our Federal leaders.

We have lost faith in our business leaders… as they reap profits while cutting jobs and imagining that a vibrant economy is one in which investors make money while workers become a fixed cost of doing business… not a part or partner in success.  

We don’t trust ‘em.

AND hardly any of us gather around the TV to listen to Coach’s Corner any more…

We don’t trust leaders.

We are suspect of authority….  Actually, we don’t recognize it any more.

Tough time to be a church. 
An institution that talks about authority all the time:  Authority of Scripture:  We read from a big book together on Sundays; Authority of professional leadership:  We sit (often quietly) while somebody in a big dress lectures us for 20 minutes (your experience may vary); Authority of values:  Thou SHALT not kill; and Authority of God:  We are not alone, we live in God’s world...

Some would say that Authority is a tough sell today that it might be best for us to stop talking about authority.  After all, we are in a time of the democratization of everything.  No longer does the Encyclopedia have pride of place in the house as an Authority for everything from Argentinian Agriculture to the Zambian Zither... Now, we have Wikipedia, an an authority that changes constantly and can be edited and altered by the user (if enough of us think that the Dodo bird is no longer extinct, we can make it so on Wikipedia).  Hard to sell a Wikipedia used an old set of Encyclopedia Britannica (partly because they are no longer published); even harder to sell them a Bible that they cannot edit and a God who is Immortal, Invisible and Unchanging (see all sorts of hymns... esp. "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise").

So, do we pack it in?

Accept that we are selling a stock in which nobody has faith?  (wanna trade for some Enron?)

OR

   … might we imagine that in this time when we have lost faith in our leaders and have come to question the very nature of authority, that it might be time to show what real leadership and authority can look like?

What if we are not fed up with, but actually hungry for leadership and authority… and have only rejected the existing supply because they are not deserving of our respect and engagement?  Look how many people are anxious to respond when Justin Beiber recommends a video on YouTube or Fashionistas tell us that Orange is the new Black, 50 the new 40 and Foolishness the new Wisdom?

What if we talked about God, not as Celestial Concierge; Divine Doge or Eternal Evaluator, but rather as that which has Authority in our lives…. That which creates and continues to create within our lives, that which gives us identity, that which partners with us in our struggles and hopes, that which inspires us to be whole… you know, like leaders use to do. 

What if we, as church leaders, imagined that our authority came from the people we serve and the God who calls us… that we didn’t imagine that it endowed us with privilege and power, but invited us into relationship?   What if we spoke with integrity, admitted when we made mistakes without trying to win sympathy or be excused because our dogs were mean to us when we were younger?  What if we confidently, yet fearfully, went forward engaging with people, daring to be weak AND strong… not hiding our gifts, but also not imagining them to be the only gifts at the party?  You know, like leaders are supposed to do.

 

I don’t really think that people are done with leaders or authority – I think that they are just fed up with the current stock and are hungry for something better.  Perhaps it is time for the church to set itself apart and show ‘em something else… 

         If not now, when?

Big Screen - Small Return

The Festival of Homilects was held in Nashville last month.  About 2,000 preachers – and nothing says “Festival” like Homiletics!!  (Homiletics is a world of Latin origin, essentially meaning “Preaching”… and by Latin, I mean the language of the Popes, not the music of Ricky Martin)

I attended.  

I drank American Beer (I think... it's kinda hard to tell that it's beer)

I went to the Johnny Cash Museum; the Country Music Hall of Fame.

I went to Hooters for the first time.  (but, all the other ministers were going...)

I went to Church. A lot.  (probably trying to make up for Hooters.)

I was overwhelmed by some remarkable preachers and speakers… but I was also overwhelmed by irritation.  I’m not talking about a rash (my rashes are none of your business) – but by the use of the Big Screen in worship.

So, consider this a rant:  I’m not partial to Big Screens in church!!!

Or, a more Canadian rant:  

   I’m sorry, but I’m not partial to Big Screens in Church… if you don’t mind, eh?

Please understand that I’m not anti-technology.  I have a digital thermometer and a Netflix account!   Actually, I do use Powerpoint and (the vastly better) Prezi for lectures and events; I have never stopped anyone from tweeting during a service – I have set up Hashtags and encouraged tweeting at funerals for young people – I’m not afraid of tech and make an effort to engage where I can. 

BUT you are not likely to find me the church of Big Screen, and I feel the need to tell you why.

(can we let the Hooters thing go now?)

The first reason is that we often do it badly.

I have been witness as the preacher projected a joke on the overhead screen that was funny and had nothing to do with his actual sermon  - I was so taken by the joke that I completely lost track of his words.  At the Festival of Homiletics, I was witness to an expert in the field project yellow words to a hymn on an orange background… none of us could read the words, there wasn't enough contrast.  I have also been witness  to song lyrics projected without any sense of poetry, presentation or ease of understanding.  For example:

Don’t be afraid,

my love is stronger

My love is stronger than your fear.

Don’t be afraid,

my love is stronger

and I have promised,

promised to be always near.

Is preferable to

Don’t be afraid, my love

Is stronger than your

fear

Don’t be afraid, my love

Is stronger and I have

Promised, promised

To be always near.

You kind of think that I’m joking… but you also know that I’m not… my bad experiences number in the hundreds.  We've all see it and it’s terribly distracting.   So are images/slides out of order.

When you think about it, most Big Screen presentations done in church a little more than the Slide Shows of 1970s or the Flannel Graphs of the 1950s.  (oooooohhhhhh.... a slide carousel!!)

Okay, so enough of my being bitchy about it. 

Even when it is done well… I still am not a big fan. 

People’s lives are inundated with screens today.  In elevators, on transit, in cars and vans, on smartphones and tablets.  Maybe, every now and again, it would be nice to have a time and space free of the ubiquitous projection of ideas and content.  One could argue that our contemporary language is one of video screens… and if I had something important to tell people who spoke Gaelic as a first language, I would learn Gaelic  (An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?)   However, I also think the we call our worship room a “Sanctuary” for a variety of reasons… one of which should be a place where we get a break from the world and tyranny and onslaught of images being pushed into our brains).  Seriously, most of what I choose to look at in the real world, are not aglow with inner light, but the more calming reflected light.  (with the exception of pregnant women and the Dalai Lama... who do seem to glow with inner light).  Give my eyes and brain a rest!

Projected images are also at least one step removed from reality.  I would rather have live music than recorded music; I would rather have a potter throw a pot in a service, than see a picture of a potter… images on the screen tend to make me lazy as a preacher/liturgist and not ask a potter to come and share her art with us, because I can get a picture or Youtube video; it tends to encourage me to play pop music instead of supporting and honouring musicians within my community.  Granted my laziness maybe to blame, but I'm not alone..

 

Further,  and it might be just me… but television makes me drowsy and encourages me to turn my mind off.  The opposite of my worship goals.  Somebody’s images projected up on a screen to not tend to spark my imagination or tweak my sense of wonder and awe.  A good story does…  

I come home at night, get comfy and fall asleep in front of the TV.  Do we really want a congregation filled with people, hand in their pants, nodding off…? 

Television is passive and images projected on a screen tend to put me in passive mindset.  (but that might be just me… show me a picture and you might be able to talk me out of it)

Finally – and perhaps most importantly.  Projected images are in control of the worship master.  When I lead worship, I usually provide a bulletin with poems, prayers and images.  It’s in your hand and it’s your property.  You can refer to it during worship as you choose and you can take it away with you when the service is over.  You might read a prayer or consider a picture that I've included in the service… you might share some words or images with another person.  Whatever you decide to do, you have the power.  A prayer projected on a screen doesn't leave with you… it doesn't invite later contemplation. If you want

to share it with another person, you need to go and ask somebody to make you a copy.  It’s not yours – you need someone’s permission to look at it later or share it.  I don’t think that the power dynamic is particularly helpful – but instead is a turn back to a time when the leader/priest/minister/teacher had all the knowledge and would dole it out as he/she felt was appropriate.

So, that’s my rant…

That’s why we don’t have screens at my church.

It might change tomorrow… it might not.

But whatever happens next, it won’t simply be because it’s available… 

                                                                                              (it’ll be because it’s cheap).