Now, please know that I can hear the pre-complaining about this all the way from my sofa.
"But TV is evil!"
"We need to be IN our world but not OF it."
"I want to hear some MEAT from the Word!"
I know those arguments really well, and I'm pretty sure I've invented some of them. However, after really studying the teachings of Jesus, I no longer agree with my own well-crafted complaints about using media for messages in church. "We need to be IN our world but not OF it."
"I want to hear some MEAT from the Word!"
Jesus - the most amazing communicator who ever lived - was brilliant at pointing to an everyday, ordinary object that everyone understood and using it to testify to truth. Rarely do we find Him, scroll in hand, reading a text and then explaining it point by point with Hebrew definitions thrown in for those who might wonder if He really does have an Mdiv. Really, He walked and talked a lot. He looked at field and a farmer and held up a sack lunch. He took His listeners on mental field trips to pig pens where they could watch a runaway eat the slop and then to the stormy shoreline where they could examine the wreckage of a house built on the wrong foundation. In the teaching of Jesus, the whole world was His white board.
If He were here today, I can't imagine that He would spend much time watching tv, but I also can't imagine that He would refuse to use it to testify to truth.
So, let's crack open this can of worms: what do you think about sermons that use modern media, movies, tv, music,, etc. as a launch point? Is there a line where the message is too shallow or too worldly or ineffective? (I really don't have answers to many of these questions...my thoughts are currently in development.)
Bring on the worms!
Bo
i like to hear a preacher/speaker do what they are supposed to be doing; communicating a message that (hopefully) changes my life, perspective or at least makes me laugh. I DID NOT come to church to watch 20 clips of movies or silly youtube videos. I don't mind 1 or 2, but i have seen it be so excessive that i didn't actually know what the message was about, only what movies i watched at church.
ReplyDeleteYes, we live in a media driven world and i think the church needs to stay with the times and be professional and classy, but there can be too much... it's finding the balance that is tricky, kind of like finding the proper volume for worship...
I do think a message can be "too shallow". The Gospel and the LOVE of Christ is compelling... we do a really good job of watering it down or dumbing it down... but then this opens the "seeker friendly" can of worms...and i am not about to touch that one!!!! :) :) :)
i am loving the discussion on this here blog!!!