A Warning From Jerome Bettis’ Mother!:On the Use of Technology in Worship
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
In yesterday’s Daily Herald, they did a nice story on Jerome Bettis (aka “the Bus”) returning home to Detroit for the Super Bowl. They described his whole journey and how he had bought a home for his parents on a golf course in suburban Detroit in his first year of Pro ball. But he didn’t stop there. I quote:
“When Jerome found out we were going to the laundromat, he said that wasn’t acceptable and told us to go get a new washer and dryer,” Johnnie Bettis said. “But I kind of liked the laundromat because you get to meet so many interesting people.”Mrs. Bettis’ comments reminded me how changes in technology can change the inherent “goods” inherent in basic practices that we may lose when there is no longer any need to go to the laundromat any more. We lose the “good” of meeting and engaging interesting people in our lives. We must therefore discern "whether buying a washer and a dryer is a good idea" with more than just the capitalist normative reasons, “it is more efficient,” “it saves time,” or “it just looks and feels so good.”
The same of course is true of worship. Not every technological enhanced “improvement” is necessarily an improvement of our worship. The flashing of the Lord’s Prayer on the screen with a powerful graphic may disable us from all bowing as a community and saying it from our soul’s memory - in submission together as a Body of Christ.
The brilliant Albert Borgmann in his book Power Failure narrates for us how technology can change a reality that was once a “commanding reality” and turn it into a “disposable” reality” (p.28). The music symphony that took so much time, effort, tuning up of instruments, the staging of a concert hall … is now as handy as a CD player that we can play at our convenience and command. He talks about how that changes us. Borgmann describes how technology can make certain wonderful “goods” in our lives disappear without us even knowing it. Example: how the central fireplace is replaced by the invisible central air furnace. In the process the family no longer gathers round the fireplace to get warm before heading off to bed. The family no longer talks about the day, tells stories or prays together. We lose what Borgman calls a “focal practice” (p.22). We lose a concrete formative simple practice that changed our lives without ever noticing.
The question is obvious. Have we lost worship as a focal practice? By turning it into a “worship experience” have we made it a disposable reality whereas once it was a commanding reality? Last night at the worship/spiritual life meeting we talked a long time about the use of technology, the graphics arts and its use in our worship service this past Sunday. We want to retain the concrete nature of the formative practice of art in our church, as it once was prevalent in earlier times and in Eastern Orthodoxy. Any art that shocks or produces a disposable experience we try to avoid. Art is really important in our church, but we must not produce disposable experiences. We must retain the focal practice of worship.
These are things we lose if we are not careful when we buy a washer and a dryer. These are things we lose when we turn worship into a Disney show for the masses. And so we must be careful with the application of technology in worship, the internet chat rooms. I am not saying don't use them! I am saying let us be discerning. I believe we need the candles, the wonder and mystery of the concrete embodiment of Christ’s work at the Lord’s Table, we need to kneel (if our knees will hold out) on our hands and knees before God with all our brokenness on Sunday. And we need to use the marvelous technologies of our day in worship and life, in ways that resist making God, community and worship “disposable.”
Posted by David Fitch | 8:09 AM
COMMENTS:
But how can/do we use the marvelous technologies of our day without contributing to the damage that our disposable thinking has caused? So strange that I just laid down Wendell Berry's book "What Are People For" and in particular the essay "Why I Am Not Going to Buy A Computer". It raised questions and answers that aren't new for me but that I've never found voiced so well.
I often feel rather torn about how the way I live affects others. Berry's writings are usually very challenging in the area of human relations and responsibilites to one another and creation. Then think of the irony that I put a book down having just read that article about not buying a computer and I go and open up my own to check my email and look up the blogs I follow! (Two in total to give some perspective)! I don't really know where I am going with this except to voice the question why must we use technology in our worship? Perhaps all the time spent readying the slide shows/special effects, and information notices that play on the screen during coffee break, etc. are just another distraction and device that does keep us from focusing on what is real and important when we gather; that God is present when we praise Him and we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Mother Bettis' comments are wiser than she might have thought and we of the younger generation would do well to take account of whether or not we really feel the same about encountering other people. I know that I haven't - often prefering the company of book characters and ideas to the company of a real live person who may disagree with me but lives and breathes. Sorry this is such a blurry comment but the whole area of what to do with technology and modern conveniences can feel pretty blurry for me. Thanks for this posting. Jenny
6:34 AM
Jenny ...
I can think of no better writer to dialogue with on this one than the great one, Wendell Berry.
Borgmann is good too: he has no hope undoing technology or escaping it. Instead, he offers hope that we can see what it is doing to us and our walk with God and become more discerning about its use in our lives.
Blessings
1:38 PM
Very thoughtworthy David. Somehow that communion with God and community with his people can be so easily subverted by what we do, and don't do.
Makes me want to be thoughtful about this issue so as to help us connect with God and our mission. Thanks.
5:25 AM
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10:36 AM
OK ... MM ...
I don't see where this post blames technology for our inability or unwillingness to engage God. So let me ask another question that maybe gets at what the post was about: Do you think we need discernment in the use of technology as Christians in worship and in every day life? This post was offering some ideas that could be used in answering this question, i.e. Borgmann's"disposable reality." As the last line said, "... we need to use the marvelous technologies of our day in worship and life, in ways that resist making God, community and worship “disposable.”"
No offense ... and I have no problem with MM's post, but it would help me respond if posters try to engage the point of the post?
Thanks for putting in this effort MM ..
and peace...
4:59 PM
Correct. I was ranting.
More discerning about our use of technology? By all means.
6:00 AM
cool ...
9:46 PM
I'm loving this stuff so much, it's ridiculous. Just ordered your book today.
6:53 PM
The architect here...an example from my field. You spoke of how it's great but destructive fun to display the edifying Word on a screen for all to see and read...and forget. It also makes reciting the Word "easier".
In the Renaissance "Ornament" was actually considered to be the mechanical apparatuses used to RAISE (edify, build up) the building. In the end, however, what raises the building was left hidden. What appeared to humans was the work of human hands. Now, however, we live IN the (displayed) "deus ex machina"...that was once assumed to be hidden.
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/20thc/pompidou07.jpg
Much of WHY this is done is effeciency. Machines now do much of the WORK that was once done by humans...or at least animals. Just as REMEMBERING the Word to recite it actually takes work...boo hoo.
The Eucharist is an action, not an operation. We acutally have to do something.
:)
11:19 AM
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