This article first appeared in Reformed Worship
When I was a corporate video producer, an accountant once proposed we shoot a video about tax law. He envisioned several hours of video in which he would be on screen explaining new regulations, maybe with images of the new government tax forms. He was assuming, as many of my clients did, that since video was high-tech, doing a video would naturally make his material dynamic and relevant to the audience. All we needed to do was to put something moderately related on the screen and we would have a compelling video. Usually I would backtrack with such clients, saying, “Let’s talk about your communication problem first, and then let’s see how video can help solve the problem.” We needed to first understand our audience and how they needed to change as a result of watching the video. Even if we produced an expensive 3-D animation of flying tax forms and dancing dollar bills, it would be useless if it didn’t help his audience understand tax law. We needed to ground our business video in our business purpose.
Ironically, what works well in corporate video is also what’s needed in worship video. Video imagery in worship needs to be grounded in the purpose of worship.
Consider the prelude, for example. While people are coming in and taking their seats, what should be on the screen? Announcements? Seating instructions? Nothing? The key question is not so much the screen as the purpose of the prelude. What should congregants be doing in this time? What is their liturgical task? Where should their attention be focused?
If we define the prelude, for instance, as a time to prepare our hearts to encounter God within a community of faith, our video media should build on that task of preparation. Maybe the theme and passage for the day would help people focus. Or, maybe a psalm of ascent, some classic artwork of a divine encounter, or a series of poignant questions would help people prepare their hearts. Maybe even a count-down clock could express the anticipation to a divine encounter. Alternately, occasional emphasis could be put on the gathering or community aspects, possibly with images of the church in all times and places, or of harvesting.
Less appropriate for the prelude would be images that do not focus on the task of preparing and gathering. Announcements about the Wednesday night chili supper or a slide show of the youth group service trip, for instance, have little to do with preparation for worship, though they may be appropriate for other points in the service.
The fundamental concept is that media should grow out of liturgy. Visual media is not used in worship just to reinforce ideas and make the service more exciting, but to further the devotional goals of each point in the service. Images developed for worship should be designed to help accomplish the goal of each liturgical act.
Let’s try the offertory as another example. The offering is not simply a method of collecting money to pay church bills, but rather a worshipful act of the congregation. In it, we actively respond in gratitude by offering our lives of service. This self-offering is symbolized in the donations given. The task that worship media should reinforce is the task of response. The screen should encourage congregants to offer themselves in service. This then might be an opportune time for announcements regarding mission trips, nursery volunteers, prayer groups, and other forms of discipleship. Another approach might use scripture texts that call us to produce fruit. Yet another approach could use the screen in tandem with the other elements of the offertory. If the organ is playing a well-chosen piece of instrumental music, the screen could display matching scripture. If a particular charity is to receive the offering, images or information about how that group is building the kingdom of God could be appropriate. In any case, the starting point for the screen is the task given by the liturgy.
An assumption inherent in this approach is that liturgy is purposeful. Each element in the worship service is included not just because it is traditional, but because it leads the congregation in some intentional act of worship. Understanding the task is a prerequisite to designing media to support the task. Thus, even as a media developer, understanding worship is more important than knowing media techniques.
To develop media without a specific focus leads to images that are pretty but pointless. Our flying tax forms and dancing dollar bills might be a work of art, but it’s not useful in a business video useless it helps my audience understand tax law. It is better to create simple but appropriate media rather than a sophisticated work that misses the mark. A fast-paced Christian music video may be a sensory extravaganza and completely biblical, but if it fails to connect with liturgy it becomes a distraction. Our goal is not to generate excitement, but to enhance the drama that is already in worship. Unconnected media sadly justifies the criticism of video as a flashy but empty form of worship.
Understanding the task in worship also provides criteria for evaluating ideas for media. For example, a psalm of lament combined with a period of silence might be much simpler than a delicate piece of classical worship music timed with beautiful impressionist paintings. Yet when considering either one for use in, say, the Confession, the issue is which piece leads the congregation into the deepest sense of brokenness, not which one is more exquisite.
In short, unless media grow out of the specific worship task at hand, it is merely religious entertainment and a distraction to authentic worship.
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