Over the last few weeks I have been remembering how important a visual culture of worship used to be for me. My long time readers will remember the various strains of visual worship and creativity in worship that used to be really important to me. Last week while I was in NYC I bought a magazine that I haven't for years and remembered how I use to seriously eat art up.
I don't think I ever quit thinking this was important, but since I was no longer connected to a worshipping community that had a serious commitment to it, it fell by the wayside. As I think about next steps as well as designing worship in new and different ways I have come back to some of my older thoughts.
My bud Drew Causey has turned me onto Scott Erickson, and his blog on creating a visual culture. Scott is the artist in residence at Ecclesia Houston, a church I have visited before and really enjoyed. His blog is a great place to spend some time reading on how visual elements act in worship.
Years ago (2005-2006), when I first started thinking about worship seriously, I was responsible for designing a communion service at the college ministry I worked at. While I would do things very different now (mainly theologically), it was a good example of how visual elements were used to create a non traditional space for worship. I had to plump the bottom of the depths of the internet to find the video, but here it is....
How do you think your worship communities would respond to a more intentional visual element? This community was very visual and very artistic, so this service was not a great stretch. When doing (and especially introducing) things like this, it is important to remember the contextual place of the element and community. That is probably the most important issue of all. It isn't our job to be creative just because we can, but because it leads people to the Triune God in greater ways.
How are visuals used currently in your services, and how would you like them to be used?
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