Show Me The Words!

If you attend a church that uses projectors to display song lyrics and most everything else, let me ask you something...do you have every song you sing on Sunday memorized?

I didn't think so. I know I don't and I can't be the only one. Even songs I have been singing for years can be easily forgotten within this mind as it grows older. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one who has this issue, so I have a plea to worship pastors and church media directors everywhere.

Please, please, spend time with those who serve stressing how important what they do is to the worship time, both music and preaching.

How about a word picture? You're in church, somewhere in the middle of music worship. Worship pastors work hard to put together a set of songs, in a set order, intended to help draw you in to a place of worship, a place of intimacy with God. You're in a good place, mind ready to worship; the music has its hold on you; you're feeling that closeness, that moment where you let down your guard and the walls seem easy to scale...AND THEN IT HAPPENS.

The person responsible for displaying the lyrics doesn't pay attention and now you're on to the next verse but you have no idea what to sing. Or they don't follow the worship leader when he/she switches things up a little. Perhaps they hit a blank slide and you are now LOST.

OK...where did your moment go? Are you still in that sweet spot of worship or are you now distracted, even if just a little bit? Unless you have that song memorized and had your eyes closed, you're now distracted. It's human nature. Whether you intended it or not, the moment is gone because something, in this case visual, stole it from you.

Worship teams have such an important role to play, but is the focus, especially of those running sound or video, on HOW it serves others? I think most who serve have their hearts in the right place, but too often it's accepted that the quality of their work can be subpar. Why is this allowed? Are we afraid to confront because we're just so happy people are serving? Let me turn this around a bit. If you were serving, wouldn't you want to do your best?

I'm tired of losing the moment because someone isn't paying attention. I'm tired of not getting there because something controllable distracts me because I have eyes that work. For the sake of worship, and with full recognition that your role is important and should receive nothing but your best, I implore you to understand how something so small is really something so great.