As a member of a small church, I quite enjoy attending 'big' Christian events. It is helpful to be reminded that the church is much larger, and more diverse, than my week-to-week experience of it. However, I do sometimes wonder quite what is going on in them and where the line between 'large scale worship' and 'Christian entertainment' should be drawn.
Last night I went with a few of my folk to the second night of a local, annual two-nighter. It was an interesting experience but left me wondering just how 'awesome' is the God some of those 'up front' believe in. What follows is based on what I understood to have been said - apologies to the speakers if I misheard/misquoted them.
Right at the start there were some technical difficulties with the PA system. The worship leader, strutting around the platform announced something to the effect that 'we're not going to let the devil stop us worshipping God.' Is our worship really dependent on functional PA? Is it really a satanic attack if, as I suspect, there is is a bad connection somewhere or a flat battery in a radio mike? Is God really so weak that, depsite the prayers of the organisers, and their best efforts on the day, satan can sneak in and plant gremlins in the PA? Actually, as the evening wore on, I began to wonder if it could insetad be divine intervention, but that's another story!
Later there was an appeal for people to seek prayer for healing. Individuals were asked, as I heard it, to lift their hands 'nice and high so God can see.' Poor God, so myopic that it is impossible to see quite who the hand belongs to unless it is held high and probably waved too. Heaven forbid that the wrong person be healed! Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with prayer for healing but I would like to think I pray to a God whose is quite capable of seeing who it is who requires this. What a tiny God it seems we were calling upon.
I am sure that both speakers would be horrified by my understandings of what they'd said, I am sure they do believe in the omni-everything God but I was left wondering about the relationship of the size of the event/church and the perception of God we express. Maybe it is just that in my little congregation we don't need to worry about God's eyesight or the potential for satan to sabotage the hi-tech equipment we don't have? I like to think not.