3D Worship

I’m not going to pretend that I know what “worship” truly means. There seem to be many definitions out there, but I don’t think any of us ever fully “get it”. However, that doesn’t stop me from learning, exploring & wrestling with what worship looks like…for both my daily, personal life as well as the corporate gathering of the Church. At the end of the day, it’s all about amplifying God with our lives.

3D is all the craze right now; thank you, James Cameron! I’m sure one day 3D technology will be as accessible as an iPod, and it’s inevitable that a church somehow somewhere will implement 3D technology for worship. Maybe it will come via 3D glasses, Hologram, or some other technology invented just yesterday that we have yet to learn about. Who knows.

But as this new technology makes itself attractively accessible to us all, let’s make sure that WE are shaping the Church, instead of letting technology shape it. Let’s also remember that worship is for God…and not for us. So slippery a slope it is to lead worship…if we aren’t careful, we can start to “worship the worship” and even the leading of it. I struggle with this on a regular basis.

So if it’s really for God, what does 3-Dimensional worship look like through God’s Eyes? I stumbled across something that might help us better understand this. There are three dimensions to worship. Check this little graph out. (I’ll try not to go all “math” on ya.)

UP

“Up” is the vertical dimension of our worship. It’s a direct dialogue between God & His Church. It’s amplifying Him by declaring Who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s yet to do. There is revelation, and there is response. Corporate moments like this might include songs about God, prayer, & communion. This is the main dimension most of us think of when we talk about “worship.”

ACROSS

“Across” is the horizontal dimension of our worship. Yes, our worship is directed towards God, but there is an element of community & togetherness involved. These are those “one anothers” we hear about in the Scriptures. “Across” moments bring ourselves into the light, whether it’s through times of encouragement, edification, confession, forgiveness, celebration, healing, baptism or simply sharing someone’s story/testimony.

OUT

“Out” is the action part of our worship. This is where we put it all into motion & BE the Church. These are the moments of compassion, mercy, justice & mission. Sometimes it’s as simple as engaging in someone’s story with no agenda other than loving them or doing something for them and expecting nothing in return. It’s being the hands and feet of Christ. As it says in James, it’s going to the widows & the orphans…this is pleasing & acceptable worship to God. This is what makes our worship 3D! Without the “out” dimension, our worship is 2-dimensional and flat. Sure, we declare regularly Who God is and what He’s done, and we may get “community” like nobody’s business…but if we don’t do anything about it and love the world around us like Christ calls us to love, then we become stale, lukewarm & stagnant…and God will spit us out of His mouth eventually. Worship not in motion is a nasty, foul stench to God. We must be salt & light. Faith without deeds is dead.

Sometimes I wonder if our “out” is actually “in”. To be missional means to step out of your own context and into someone else’s, meeting them at their point of need. I’m not against inviting people to our churches & events, but if that’s the all-end of our efforts to “reach them”, I think we are missing it.

The great tension that I live with is trying to get all this with my own life, when I spend most of my days designing worship events & using new, cutting-edge technology. I see so much need out there…so many injustices…people who have never heard the name of Jesus… and yet I come home to help those of us (who have already heard) use motion backgrounds, triplewide screens & do worship “better”.

But I cannot discount the power of sacred times set aside for the Church to worship together…and I love to create environments where we can gather and meet with God. I see these times as exclamation points to our week of worship…and a launching pad for the next week. So I believe our content should be as 3D as possible! I’m all about leveraging technology & imagery to express in new, creative ways the things that are close to the heart of God.

The content of our gatherings usually falls into one of these dimensions. Even if there’s a moment that contains an aspect of each, there’s still a dimension that’s dominating the moment.  I look at the context I’m leading in, and I do all I can do make sure the visual content I’m choosing aligns with the focus/dimension of the moment.

Think about your worship services…the songs, the visuals, everything. What moments could you categorize as “up”, “across” & “out”?

More to come.

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Here is the continuation.