Worship Media Arts

Someone described to me the other day their disappointment with ‘Christian’ movies. They said, “I know it’s a Christian movie when I can see the end coming 5 minutes into the film.” Story isn’t nearly as important as Message. If worship were a movie, the church would feel the need to come down to the front of the theater while the end credits roll and explain what just happened. We just don’t trust story and image. Why is it that so many in the church are uncomfortable with the power of narrative?

Believe it or not, it may have something to do with our theology of the Bible. A good theology of the Bible can help inform one’s approach to worship, media, creativity, and communicating visually, as it is itself a form of communication. What does a theology of Bible have to do with story?

Part of the radical nature of the reformation was based on the desire to shed an intermediary relationship to God – the priesthood and papal authority – in favor of a priesthood of all believers. The final authority in matters of faith was not an office or a person, but a book. Sola Scriptura.

Of course as Protestants we still believe in scripture as the highest authority for faith – over the episcopacy or tradition or reason or experience. The problem we can face is the same problem the pre-reformation church faced, when we forgot the object of faith – Jesus – and instead began focusing on the medium. Instead of an office, we sometimes put our focus on the Bible. It is easy to confuse the Word of God – Jesus – with the words of God – the Bible, and in so doing make the printed word holy, or worship the book instead of the One to whom the book points. This is known as creating a “paper pope”. The distinction is subtle but important.

We cannot say that all scripture is equal out of context. Jesus himself provides scriptural context in the Sermon on the Mount by contrasting law with grace… to paraphrase, “It is said, an eye for an eye, but I say, turn the other cheek.” In other words, as people of the Way, we no longer follow the law, we follow Christ. We understand the Old Testament through the experience of Christ, not by itself. So the Bible must be theologically contextual, and that context is the person of Christ – as understood by scripture and our exposition of it. This doesn’t mean the Bible isn’t the final authority. The Bible is our means of understanding the full story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. We don’t worship the Book, we worship the Lordship of Christ as told by the book.

Unfortunately we have seen this distinction confused in certain settings. We sometimes call this confusing Jesus and the horse he rode in on. In the church we do it all the time, and not just in the Bible. As individuals and as communities, we experience God in some distinct cultural context – in a camp setting, with a certain hymn or song, through a certain piece of art, in a certain text, etc. Like the disciples on the mountaintop, we want to set up a shrine to the moment. Instead, Jesus calls us back down to the valley, away from the sacred moment and into the secular world to minister.

Differences between the person of Christ and the sayings of Christ were already beginning by the late first century. The earlier Synoptic texts give us a theology rooted in the story of Christ. Many of the later letters and books, most of which didn’t make the Bible cut, were more “sayings” oriented, like the Gospel of John.

The differences between the two approaches – story versus expository – can be seen in contemporary approaches as well. Story sees the Bible as the story of God’s love for humanity as seen in Jesus. Expository sees the Bible as “instruction manual” for how to be a good Christ follower. Story puts an emphasis on kerygma, or proclamation of the person of Christ. Expository puts an emphasis on information and data, explaining what happened, who Jesus is, and why we need to follow him. Kerygma is the expression that the message of Christ is the medium itself – Jesus. The message of Christ isn’t theoretical reason about Christ, or a didactic approach to Scripture that seeks to understand in light of what is being taught. It is the crucifixion and resurrection itself. It is that Jesus is God. Story sees Christ; Expository can sometimes see the Bible foremost – thus, the “paper pope”.

I am not saying one is right and another is wrong. I am asking you to think about your own theology of the Bible. My theology of the Bible is that Christ is higher than the scriptures that point to Christ. We need both the story of Christ and we need some context for understanding the story of Christ. The danger is when we focus so much on the written word that we lose the Word to which the word points. This reduces our faith to a series of rules to follow when in fact we, like the disciples, are to follow Jesus.

My goal here is to help you think about your communication of the Gospel. When we see scripture as the means of understanding Jesus, and not the object of our faith, then we are free to see other mediums as worthy of communicating the power of Christ and the fellowship of his suffering and even the very nature of God. Look to scripture for example of different means of communication – oral, written and even visual. In Genesis orality was normative – “I AM”. God spoke it, so it was true. At the end of John’s Gospel, print was normative – “These things are written so that you may believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God”. Throughout, God is represented as, and uses, a variety of images – a pillar of fire, a cloud, a still silent voice, rushing wind, and more.

What does this have to do with worship, art, media and creativity? Everything. If we have Story understanding of scripture, then we know of the power of story and image to communicate Christ. We trust the work of narrative to draw people to God through the Holy Spirit. If we have an Expository understanding of scripture, we’re much more comfortable with the data than the story itself. We’d rather have the explanation than the movie.

 Email This |  Print This |