Published January, 2015

I am pleased to announce the publication of my newest book, Feeding Imaginations: Worship That Engages. Print and Kindle versions are available here at Amazon.com.

The book shows preachers and congregational leaders how to bring more visual arts into worship, not only through the use of projected imagery, but through developing awareness of the architecture of the holy space in which they gather.

On January 30 I am leading a workshop at the 2015 Earl Lectures and Conference Series at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, "Preaching With Your Sanctuary Architecture."

Promoting Media Worship In a Newsletter Article

Pastor Bill Teng of the Heritage Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, Virginia wrote a fine newsletter article last February reporting his worship committee’s interest in developing five worship experiences using multimedia.  

His newsletter introduction to the topic is a fine example of how to explain a worship “experiment” to a congregation. I’m glad he used Silver Screen, Sacred Story for guidance and inspiration!

You can find his article here.

Steadfast Love

Sunday's lectionary readings included a familiar verse from Psalm 107:1, God's "steadfast love endures forever."  How do you communicate the meaning of "steadfast love" in a children's message?  I thought it'd be a good idea to find three pictures that might represent "steadfast love" and then put them into a PowerPoint to project on the screen during the message. 

My three thoughts: 1)a mother goose at a nest of eggs 2) a bird tending to its injured mate and 3) a grandparent with a grandchild.  I went to Google images and searched for each of these, and quickly found appropriate pictures.  I uploaded them into a PowerPoint, and had a three-slide children's message all set up.

On Sunday morning I had the children gather in the first pew so they could see the pictures, as could the congregation.  I noted the "steadfast love" passage in the Psalm, and then showed the pictures one at a time to ask if they showed "steadfast love" and why.  The answers were obvious and the children knew it.  I added a few more sentences of how these examples are like God's steadfast love for us, and the message was complete.

The next day, one of our active worship attenders commented on how effective the children's message was, and how meaningful----and memorable---it was to her.

Three simple pictures, showing a complex concept, accomplished quickly.  This is the power of visuals in worship, linked to a biblical message, tastefully presented, and memorable!

Using Flat Screens in the Sanctuary

Recently I visited the Cocoa Beach (FL) Community Church (UCC) and was treated to their use of five flat-screen monitors. Two monitors were in the front of the sanctuary, another two were towards the middle of the sanctuary, and a fifth monitor was above the rafters in the front facing towards the choir/liturgist/preacher.

You can see how the flat screens and their imagery blend right in with the stained glass windows at the front of the sanctuary.

The screens were used for posting church announcements, as well as for the congregational prayers, scripture readings, and lyrics to songs and hymns.

One member told me that their equipment wasn't working one week, and members of this predominantly older/retired congregation expressed concern and missed the use of the screens.

Summer Course Offered in Berkeley

This summer I'll be offering a week-long (five mornings) course titled, "Visual Arts in Worship: Taking It To The Next Level" at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Dates and Times: One week: August 1-5, 9:00am-1:00pm.

Description: Many congregations are already using, or considering the use of a screen in worship. The challenges are many: how to make it even more interesting, where to find good resources, how to preach effectively with visual material, how to find affordable equipment, how to prioritize your time, and how to evaluate whether “to screen or not to screen.” This course will cover those issues and focus on how to find and present more visuals--art, photographs, video, and movie clips--to add interest and depth to worship and preaching themes in ways that are appropriate for any congregation. Class sessions will include participants sharing their own congregation’s experience with media, practicing new skills together, and using educational theory and theological reflection to examine the why, what, who, when, how and how much of multimedia/multimodal worship.

For more information, go directly to the course information listed by the seminary at:

http://www.psr.edu/summer-session-2011-courses#august1

Court Upholds YouTube's Model

Using YouTube video clips in teaching and preaching has been easy and legal for several years. The world is available to the teacher and preacher in short clips with great visuals and excellent audio.

For the past several years I have contended that YouTube, and its owner, Google, provide content for us to use, and that they have been taking responsibility for the legal (copyright) matters. Viacom tested the model with a lawsuit against Google some 3-4 years ago, and until it was settled by the court, my view was that we could legally use the material Google/YouTube presented.

Today a judgment was rendered in favor of YouTube:

"U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in New York sided with Google Wednesday as he rebuffed Viacom's attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for YouTube's alleged copyright infringement during its first two years of existence.

The 30-page opinion embraces Google's interpretation of a 12-year-old law that shields Internet services from claims of copyright infringement as long as they promptly remove illegal content when notified of a violation." (source: Associated Press report as reported here.

This ruling provides us with a continuous source of legally-obtained video material, placing the copyright-verification onus upon YouTube and Google. It is indeed a victory for participatory sharing along guidelines set by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and the Fair Use Guidelines For Educational Multimedia.

Pop Culture, Religious Art, and the Young

I'm just back from guiding a group in Rome, Florence, and Venice. On these trips I highlight the history, art, architecture, and sacred spaces along the way. What continues to amaze me is how young adults love the arts, particularly the visual arts. The major museums of Rome, Florence, and Venice are full of young people of all ages looking intently at the visual treats arrayed in front of them. Many have stood in line for nearly an hour just to get into the museums.

Perhaps more striking is the way popular culture, particularly in novel and film, continues to stimulate this interest. A case in point is the Dan Brown novel, and film of the same name, Angels and Demons. On a previous trip to Rome I saw Tom Hanks sizing up the obelisk in Rome's Piazza Navonna, as they contemplated a scene for that film.

Because of this film, a small, lesser known church like Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, once virtually unknown to tourists, can now be quite full of them at any given time. They have come to see this church featured in the film, and also to notice the two Caravaggio paintings, "The Crucifixion of St. Peter" (1600-1601) and "The Conversion of St. Paul" (1600-1601) in a small chapel near the central altar.

As these particular works of art continue to capture the interest of the young, we in the church might do well to find ways to engage that interest further by preaching with these works of art. Using a copy of these works of art as a starting point, one can use various pieces of the artwork to highlight certain aspects of the stories as presented in scripture, and through the artistic imagination. A final step would be to encourage the congregation's personal engagement with both the art work and the scripture, as they encounter a fresh approach to familiar scriptural subjects.