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OK, so I'm gonna just say what has been dwelling inside for some time and fighting to come out.
All to often in many 'worship services' that I have been a part of over the course of my life have been what I call vertically challenged. You ask, what do you mean? No I'm not referring to all the short people that I've witnessed worshiping, though I could recount several that do come to mind...
I digress, how often have you been there amidst a worship service and you get that odd feeling that people are worshiping themselves, or their own 'brand' (horizontal) rather than the Creator of the universe? Oh, you have - GREAT, I'm not alone, I really do feel relieved...
Now I must say that I'm not calling out anyone or group here - its been across a variety of churches that this has been observed. Just recently I have been reminded of how much this practice eats me up and irritates me. So to discuss where I feel the focus needs to be directed here a couple of definitions that go hand in hand:
Vertical: at right angles to a horizontal plane; in a direction, or having an alignment, such that the top is directly above the bottom. *
Worship: reverent honor paid to God, adoring reverence or regard. *
Put the two together and I come up with:
Vertical Worship: the act of an adoring reverence or regard in an alignment towards God who is directly above.
You ask what this looks like? Well in contrast to the above mentioned atrocities when the songs sung reflect Jesus, and not your pride in yourself(brand). Usually you can easily tell the difference between a congregation that is vertically aligned and the horizontal ilk by where their collective gaze is; is it an upward focus, or more on each other or the worship leaders, band, or choir.
Now seriously I'm not trying to pick here, but if the focus seems to be on the people 'preforming' and not on the Lord, I feel that we have broken away from what scripture tells us "make a joyful noise unto the Lord..." NOT, "make a joyful noise about yourselves to the Lord..."
And to stop the pitchforks from flying in my direction and to make clear my meaning - this isn't necessarily the fault of the aforementioned leaders, band, choir solely, often the congregation is at fault as well. All to often even when the leaders etc are giving their all, the congregation, or a majority are way to distracted by life or the game coming on in a few hours... I'll stop there before I have to start dodging more than just pitchforks...
Now to pull it all in, all this is good stuff, but what does it have to do with the Production side of things? Well, in a couple of ways; first is the fact that all worship is a personal thing from you towards God, so that involves the production team. Secondly, is the production team on board with doing everything in their power to help provide a minimally distracting environment that people can feel open to worship. This of course being done by being on the same page as the leaders etc so to help them do their job, not to mention not having a battle right before services every time can free everyone to worship a little more freely! And remember that everyone brings something to a service, so what are you bringing to the plate? Is it time spent with the Lord during the week so that you are prepared for service, or it all of your own distractions that prohibit you from doing your part?
Make a point to be mindful to keep your worship vertical, so leaders - pick out songs are about/to the Lord, production teams - do everything in your power to make sure the front team can do their job without worrying about gear etc, and congregation - set your distractions aside! Keep the focus on Him who is worthy of the worship.
*Definitions modified from dictionary.com
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