El Jefe and I missed Palm Sunday services for the first time I can remember. We were traveling home that morning after attending an out-of-town wedding.Yesterday I discovered that our church posts podcasts of all the sermons on its website! I'm going to listen to it when I drive into town this morning to attend some meetings at presbytery. I wish the whole service was available, because the music we rehearsed in choir practice was amazing.
Then it occurred to me that listening to a podcast is similar to listening to a sermon from the choir loft. For years I've watched the back of the preacher's head as he/she delivered the sermon. The first time I sang in worship at our new church I saw there was a worship screen mounted in the rear of the sanctuary in a loft area that faced the choir. All the words to the hymns, prayers, responses etc were projected on it. I was so excited because I assumed that it would also project the pastor giving the sermon.
WRONG! A GIANT old-fashioned clock complete with a second hand fills the screen during the sermon. No doubt the purpose is to keep the pastor from getting so Spirit-filled that the service runs overtime and the congregation is late for lunch.
13 comments:
That's just kinda wierd...
Yeah. Weird.
Late for lunch ... That reminds me of a true story my wife told me about her congregation in 'Sleepy Southern Town', Florida.
Each Sunday the local Holiday Inn had (still has AFAIK)a Sunday Brunch starting at 11 am, so everyone would leave services, and head over to the Holiday Inn for Sunday dinner.
Turns out the one of the larger Baptist churches in town and the First Presbyterian Church (there is no 2nd - figures) let out at the same time, so there was a rush to the buffet line.
So, FPC changed their Worship time so that they would have an extra 15 minutes head start !!
Gotta love it !!
For years the choir at my church never heard the sermon or any of the service because they didn't have speakers or a monitor. After more than a decade they now have speakers and a monitor. Better late than never.
But that clock business is definitely odd. Time to buy the pastors watches with alarms.
laughing :)
what was the sermon like???
QG--the clock is interesting. I don't think much about what the choir sees during sermons. I'm usually (half the time) in the narthex listening on the speakers since I usher. At the church of my childhood, Westminster Presbyterian in Baytown (now merged), the choir was in the loft, so they got to see the sermon.
Not being able to hear the music on a podcast is a shame, but as I understand it, this is due to copyright infringement concerns.
I watched a sermon online a few weeks ago that you would like, via Guy Kawasaki's (used to be a Mac evangelist) blog:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/03/the_gift_of_wor.html
It concerns the gift of work, presented by Nancy Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.
God Bless,
Dustin
When I was in Texas we had people who left during the last home so as to not miss the Noon kickoff for Dallas. The clock doesn't surprise me as it saddens me that we're that so time aware.
Check out the first few minutes of the movie "the Gods must be crazy" for a great illustration on time and control.
Peace
Alan
If the service is broadcast on radio or tv then that might explain the clock.
Odd, to have a clock on a screen. Our sanctuary clock is straight ahead of me and only I can see it. Well, I suppose the organist sees it, too.
Blessings to you this Holy Week.
OK.....I was in a contemporary church space for our Prebytery meeting a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time I have ever encountered screens in the sanctuary. (Imagine my horror when in the process of making a presentation I glanced upward and discovered the one in the back! Needless to say, the display was of moi, not of a clock.)
I love Powerpoint and I love using it for classroom purposes, at chool and at church, and I know you love your new church QG, but I have to say, as your liberal/progressive friend from up north, it seems to be that that kind of technology destroys the sense of sacred in a worship place. I would find it utterly invasive, and the clock would simply finish me off.
I guess this is just another example of the more conservatively theological among us embracing the latest in technology and worship style, and the more progressively theological holding fast to the traditional in space and style?
So interesting, isn't it?
Gannet Girl, who is on vacation and not outside because it is pouring, and is way too lazy to sign in
ceemac--
The church doesn't broadcast its services. It does have 3 services each Sunday, so the clock is probably also intended to make sure the first two don't run overtime.
GG--
Great point--I hadn't thought about how distracting it would be for the preacher to watch him/herself preaching. ARG! I would hate seeing myself on a screen while I made a presentation. Ok, now I'll adjust to the clock!
Screens in worship is a post for another day or days. We had a screen at my previous church which was installed right over the choir members' heads and covers the stained glass window that is the focal point of the sanctuary--but is rolled up during the sermon and then down again. Very distracting.
Here there are also two screens installed in the corners of the sanctuary which is preferable because they are less intrusive.
But in my view from the choir loft I have come to appreciate seeing the congregation sing and do responsive readings with their heads up and not buried in the hymnbook or the printed order of worship. They seem more like the body of Christ united.
I was passing through Iowa a couple years ago and stopped to visit a friend who is pastor of Presbyterian church. He showed be around the church. As entered the back of the sanctuary he paused and said, "Look at the front. Notice anything odd?" It take a second but then I realized there was a clock on the wall facing the congregation just above and to the left of the pulpit. Now that is what I call being obsessed with time.
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