Turn Down for What?

Sometimes, you get an idea, and it simmers, flowing round the stranger parts of your brain even as you try and work out how and why and what and who it is for.

There has been a phrase nagging me about worship for a number of years. I thought it was personal, and it may be, but I wonder if there is a wider application.

So I submit to you my latest grand idea. Not particularly thought through, not focused on anything, and not even necessarily that clever.

Turn down the lights.

Without pointing fingers - indeed, I've been part of movements and churches as guilty of this as any - I wonder whether some of us in churches need to take long, hard looks at the way we curate/perform/lead/shape/light our worship. At what point does 'relevance' become an excuse for something excluding and distracting? At what point does our desire for 'excellence' transcend a worshipful heart and move towards, bluntly, showing off? Why do we need such complexity in our 'worship sets'?

Don't get me wrong. I love musical worship. I'm a convinced charismatic, married to a worship leader, and learning to worship has been one of the sweetest gifts of my marriage and my journey over the last years. I've learnt a bit about remembering how to worship, about the value of lament in worship, and the way the Bible links Justice with worship. None of which, it seems to me, has much to do with spending vast amounts on snazzy lights.

But then I thought, well, lets be honest, I tend to act and live like a 50-year-old-man-trapped-in-a-25-year-old-body. At least (and bear with me here!) I watched the brilliant animated film 'Monsters University'. Everyone should watch this film, and its prequel, 'Monsters Inc'. But the bit that jumped out at me, that lurched into my thought process, was this clip:

Chuckles, comparisons with my dress sense, and general snooty comments about film and culture aside, the question hidden in this video is the question I think needs to be asked, about worship in general and about the (in my opinion excessive) usage of lights in particular:

Turn Down for What?

I've gradually been learning that there is fundamentally an important place for emotions in Christian life/worship. I'm not against that. But they need to be directed in the right way - towards Jesus, lover of my soul, rather than stirred up and focused on a band, a sensory experience, or a set of feelings. What charismatic Christians describe as the presence of God is vital - I've explored the biblical basis of that before - but the presence of God is not found in an experience we create.

In fact, the opposite is true.

So, to answer the question 'turn down for what?', I am reminded of a post I wrote a while ago. I'll let you read it for yourself, but the pastor I quoted then wrote something that rings true now:

"During the time of prayer for healing I encourage people to "dial down", that is, to relax and resist becoming worked up emotionally. Stirred up emotions rarely aid in the healing process and usually impeded learning about how to pray for the sick. So I try and create an atmosphere that is clinical and rational while at the same time powerful and spiritually sensitive. Of course, emotional expression is a natural by-product of divine healing and not a bad response. Artificially creating an emotionally charged atmosphere militates against divine healing and undermines training others to pray for the sick."

Lights do that. They also exclude people with visual impairments, epilepsy, and a host of other things. But more than that. We should turn things down, strip back our worship, for the simple reason that we want God to show up, rather than just us feel good. Turn down the lights. Believe that we don't need a show to see what God can do. If the Holy Spirit can show up in the dreams of a lonely man in a Muslim country, or in a care home, or in a burning bush, why do we sometimes feel the need to set the stage?

I think I've said what I wanted to say. I hope its clear.

Thank you for reading.

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