{"id":630,"date":"2007-04-10T07:04:21","date_gmt":"2007-04-10T12:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/?p=630"},"modified":"2022-01-02T07:38:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T12:38:24","slug":"powerpointless-in-huntsville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/?p=630","title":{"rendered":"PowerPointless in Huntsville"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PowerPoint also conditions worshipers to act and react in visceral ways, so that the character of their bodily actions and emotional responses are at times downright Pavlovian. The screen, not the altar or cross, becomes the all-consuming center of attention, an object of intense fixation which triggers predictable reflexes and behaviors. When PowerPoint malfunctions, for instance, people become nervous and lost; they become conditioned to worry that it will<\/em> malfunction. They find themselves thinking more about the screen and the technician at the soundboard than about the God whom they’ve come to worship and the larger worshiping body of which they are a part.<\/span><\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

To use PowerPoint in worship is to unwittingly set up a competition between what’s projected on the screen and the human voice doing the preaching, praying or singing. And it’s a contest that PowerPoint always wins because, as Richard Lischer has observed, when the brain is asked to listen and watch at the same time, it always quits listening. What PowerPoint enthusiasts see as enhancing the worship experience\u2014projecting pictures of water during a baptism or images of fire and wind on Pentecost\u2014is instead a form of sensory overload that manipulates emotions and stifles imagination. It is difficult to cultivate an awareness and appreciation of ambiguity and mystery in worship when images are projected at strategically timed moments in the liturgy for the purpose of instructing worshipers what to think and feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

——-<\/p>\n

<\/span>And so questions beg to be asked. In regard to the increasing use of PowerPoint in churches of all shapes and sizes it is worth pondering: What understanding of the purpose of worship does it assume? What are the personal and communal tendencies it encourages? What sort of culture does it create? What kind of people does it produce? If Christians believe that the church and the worship it offers to God ought in some ways to counter the norms and practices of the surrounding culture, then what does it mean that after spending so much of our time each week in front of computer monitors, cell phones, and sports bar TVs, we come to church on Sunday and happily position ourselves in front of the biggest screen of all?”<\/span><\/p>\n

–Deborah Dean Murphy in The Christian Century<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Much has been written on modern-day “worship wars,” JumboTrons<\/a> in the sanctuary (er, I mean “worship center”) and seeker-friendly, coffee-soaked song services. For instance, there is this<\/a>, this<\/a> and this<\/a>. I really don’t have much to add. But I do have the following to offer:<\/p>\n

When the PowerPoint animations started cranking up during the song service on Sunday, I averted my gaze per usual. I’m not a fan, and it just makes me mad if I watch them. So rather than have my attitude totally tank, I look away and try to think about something else.<\/p>\n

As a result, I missed the rose. The one that appeared on the JumboTron at precisely the right moment (as if on cue), just when the congregation sang the words “like a rose, trampled on the ground,” at the height of the praise song “Above All.”<\/a> The one that wilted, “like a rose, soaked with Roundup<\/a>,” in slow motion, just to make sure that everyone got the point. The PowerPoint, that is.<\/p>\n

I am not a Luddite<\/a> (I blog for Pete’s sake). But I like old churches–churches that look like churches (with lots of stained glass), not Amway convention centers. Low light and a few candles are nice too. I like a real altar–front and center–not little coffee tables with hidden caches of expedient, shiny silver trays, the Body and Blood conveniently tucked away–out of sight. A little peace and quiet (since there’s not much of that anywhere else) is nice too. I like to hear scripture read–with passion and conviction. I like to hear it ring out among the people, bearing Good News and speaking the old, but steady truth. It has the power to move and convict–without digital assistance.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I fantasize that I’m the woman in the 1984 Apple computer TV ad<\/a> (the one recently used as the basis for a Barack Obama plug<\/a> that appeared on YouTube). I’m racing into the sanctuary, uh, I mean “worship center,” with a giant sledge hammer, a dozen or so worship ministers in helmets and full riot gear giving chase. The hypnotized congregants, their eyes transfixed to the JumboTron filled with wilting roses and angels descending like aliens from their spaceships, are unaware of my presence until I spin, spin, spin, launching the hammer into the screen, shattering it in a burst of light, a light that illumines and awakens the masses from their dystopian, business model trance.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, I know it is all done with good intentions, a good faith effort to give the people what they want and “need.” I’m sure George Barna<\/a> said somewhere that it’s the statistically correct thing to do. But is there anyone else who has noticed how similar sounding “Barna” is to “Barnum,” as in P.T. Barnum<\/a>, as in “there’s a sucker born every minute?”<\/p>\n

I have a dream. I dream of a day when I will be PowerPointless in Huntsville.<\/p>\n

But, alas, tis only a dream.<\/p>\n

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PowerPoint also conditions worshipers to act and react in visceral ways, so that the character of their bodily actions and emotional responses are at times downright Pavlovian. The screen, not the altar or cross, becomes the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,22,24,20,45,79,51,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-christianity","category-culture","category-huntsville","category-media","category-powerpoint","category-religion","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9635,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/9635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}