Screen Free Worship

Jesus cleansing the Temple elicited a more modern interpretation from me. John’s Gospel says, [Jesus] “making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’” Uncomfortable words for churches fixated on marketing.

Perhaps Amos comes to mind:

I hate, I despise your festivals,
   and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
   I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
   I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
   I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Last week I read an account of a mother who has made sure her children are screen-free: no television, laptop, smart phone, or I pad tablet. In the digital age, where screens dominate our lives, it’s essential to consider the impact of technology on our children.

Even more, perhaps we need to consider the impact of technology on our worship. Is the medium becoming the message? Has the screen become the god?

Makes sense for me when it comes to worship in the house of prayer. At funerals and weddings, where I increasingly face audiences (not congregations) who are liturgically illiterate, I make the following announcement at the opening: “Please put away all phones after making sure they are on silent or I will be forced to confiscate them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I resorted to this comical announcement after 2 weddings and one funereal was disrupted bed by ringing cell phones that were answered and the person carrying on a loud conversation during the service.

Screen free worship works for me. My prejudice shows here because I find PowerPoint presentations to be “powerpointless.” I would be happy to remove all the multi-purpose, mega-screens from the sanctuary along with the American flag.

Congregants treat the screen as a television and therefore will be less likely to hear the sermon, especially if the preacher is a gifted user of video clips. Like a three-year-old with eyes glued to the plug-in drug, otherwise known as a Smart TV, church members will soon be addicted to the screen. I’m sure it’s entertaining, but I am not convinced it is edifying.

I have become such a curmudgeon about screens, I am ready to take the Wyatt Earp approach. Marshal Earp confiscated the guns of all the cowboys and trail herders when they entered Dodge City. I’m ready to have all worshipers drop phones and I-Pads into a large basket. The technological marvels will be returned after the benediction as people exit the sanctuary.

Screen-free and Spirit filled. No ringing phones during the prayer of confession. No phones answered during the sermon and the affirmation of faith in the Nicene Creed. No disruption during the prayers of the people. And certainly, no tech outbursts during the choir chanting the lectionary Psalm of the day.

What a moment when the preacher announces, “Put down your phones and step away from them. The ushers will take your phones and return them after worship.”

I will be happy to accept the mantra of Wyatt Earp. I imagine a young person coming home and being asked, “How was church?” and the response, “Dr. Kennedy went ‘Wyatt Earp’ on the congregation.”

I’m all in for screen-free worship!