A good many of you have expressed desire for more than just music as a form of corporate/creative worship. It is something I desire as well; 99% is musical, and we’re clearly bored with the status quo. I also realize that an hour a month cannot be all things–nor should it strive to be. We could pack a stage full of the most brilliant painters, sculptors, glass-blowers, seamstresses, chefs, thespians, dancers, etc., but it wouldn’t necessarily be more worshipful. So what is a good criteria to abide by?
A great portion of the Old Testament is poetry/music, so I am led to believe that it is important. More important than visual artistic worship? Probably not. This is apples and oranges though. (Of course, visual art is much more difficult to pass down in the context of an oral tradition. We do have icons, stained glass, calligraphy, statues, etc.). When we sing together our bodies become instruments and we speak, in unison, words that contain meaning to our God and one another. We are caught within something that is bigger than us, as the cliché goes, which is really why we go to concerts in the first place. I don’t imagine I’d much enjoy Ben Harper all by my lonesome, but how wonderful it is to express gratitude with a group of other Ben Harper lovers–to know the songs, to sing together, to share meaningful moments. So, when I paint/sculpt/sew/dance I am creating intimacy and meaning between myself and God; very real to the moment, expressive, significant. This is awesome. This is worship. It is probably musically akin to jazz, which is spontaneous and spiritual by nature. These forms are also more difficult to follow and engage as a group. I’ll submit here, that much of the music I hope to be a part of will be original material that many will not know, and still more will be instrumental. So perhaps I believe that we are able to connect more easily through music because it is a common language that reaches the depths of our spirit, a place unreached by the other senses. Yes, I believe that.
Something I appreciate about Compline–and let’s include U2’s “Elevation Tour”–is the simplicity of the setup. The attention to the aural experience and unity. You are not asked to engage too many mediums, but to simply listen or sing, close your eyes, create colors, remember, wonder about what is heard. It is the opposite of the “ZooTV Tour”–which I absolutely adored mind you–that jammed full every possible sense of your being. Now as I’ve mentioned previously I am a fledgling aesthete who wants to see and experience God in all things and appreciate visual beauty for beauty’s sake, and when I attend worship services that put the band in the back and strip the slides/visuals to the bone, I wonder about their intent. Are they doing this because they value the purity of the musical connection to God or because beauty is a wordly, hedonistic distraction. Do they also dress in brown, read passionless non-fiction, and have sex in the same position–once per child?
I am fast approaching the edge of my understanding with regard to visual art as corporate worship, so I will submit to you, the experts, for more thoughts.
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