Epic Mistakes

Yesterday at church we had a Sunday unlike any other we've had to date. It was called "EPIC Sunday" based off of a concept John Eldridge created. The concept deals with the story God is telling and the role we have to play in it. Our primary target, unlike other Sundays, were those who do not have a vertical relationship with God yet.

The Sunday morning was filled with a variety of communication methods that connect with a variety of learners. One of these elements was The Crosswalk Band (from Grace Church's Crosswalk Show). During the service, the band has several moving video clips to play along with. The band plays with "click tracks" that keep the live band in tempo with the video and words on the screen. At several points, things didn't pan out the way we had rehearsed them.

Technical challenges caused us to not have a click track in the drummers in-ear monitors - causing us to fly by the seat of our pants. Though we didn't rehearse this way - we kept going. Most people probably didn't see it as a distraction - however for me, it was a disctraction of epic proporations.

How can I worship vertically when I'm being horizontally challenged by the technical errors we were making? It stole my attention from where my attention was due. At that point in time it didn't matter if we were on with the click or off. We were at the top of our game with our level of excellence (doing the best you can with what you have)...yet I felt as if there was 'something more' that could have been done. Afterward, I thought about where my focus was (or wasn't).

God help me not to be horizontally challenged after we've done all we could do. I want to be vertically focused no matter what human error occurs. You don't expect perfection...we will never be perfect. But You do demand my attention after all the rehearsing is done. You will be my object of worship - not the monitor mix, video images, click tracks, distracting movements, un-cued mics, mis-said words, or whatever may happen the next time we come before Your throne.