A thought I have not been able to shake has come from a testimony story that Dan Wilt shares in his video "The Rise of the Worship Artisan". Dan is sharing about his memories of going to church as a boy and talks about the beauty of the stained glass windows, and the story they tell.
I recently attended a worship conference called Noise, which was held in The Holy Trinity Cathedral here in Auckland, New Zealand. I had never been there before, nor had I ever attended this conference. This conference has only just moved to this amazing venue this year, and in past years had been held in a stadium type venue.
I was having a meal with one of the members of my worship team during the conference and asked them what was the main difference between the conference of earlier years and this year's one, and her reply was "The venue is amazing."
I immediately saw what she was saying. It is the peaceful serenity, the beauty of the architecture and art, and the presence of something that can not be found in just an any old stadium. It is only found in a place that has been built, grown, journeyed and moved through time with a goal in mind that I had completely missed until that meal. I knew that building was there to glorify God, but I had missed what that entailed: to lift people's gazes to the heavens, to teach people theology, to show them the story, to paint a bigger picture for them.
"Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!" is how the Psalms sign out. Let me, a human who has had life breathed into me by the Creator, with every breath, with every thing I do while I still have a heartbeat, praise the One who first breathed into me. Whether it be the common default, and sometimes melancholic of singing, or whether it be in the lesser recognised, the more subtle praise, by creating with my hands, or by looking with my eyes, or listening with my ears.
Posts
2 comments:
that's good preaching, Dan!
Good stuff, Dan. In the history of worship, spaces were thought to be "liminal," from the Latin "liminus," which means "threshold."
Venues mean something. Art and architecture have a place - no stone being left upon another in the Temple period (Jesus' words) was about an issue of idolatry and disorientation from the true dwelling place of God.
Buildings should serve, but not become the point. Because of money issues, often in and out, they easily grab the limelight.
Post a Comment