set up for the view - january 5, 2005

last night at the view we did another "chair worship service". the "chair worship service" is based on the often quoted description of worship from soren kierkegaard, his description of worship is that it is like a theater and that the danes of his age misunderstood the places of everyone within the theater of worship. soren kierkegaard said the places within the theater of worship at that time were:

• the congregation was in the seats watching the performance
  
• the ministers were on the side of the stage directing the performance
  
• GOD was on the stage giving the performance
  

kierkegaard said that worship was actually like a theater but that the above positions were wrong. the correct positions were:

• the congregation is on the stage doing the performance
  
• the ministers were on the side of the stage directing the performance
  
• GOD is the AUDIENCE WHO the performance is for
  

so when we do our "chair worship" we clear the stage and make it the area of the AUDIENCE. we move our praise band to the side or the back and reverse everything else. we change the pa speakers and monitors. we then place a single chair on the stage as a physical reminder that we are signing to GOD.

i explain the whole process through a powerpoint presentation that describes what is going to happen. the service begins with this and then goes into worship through singing. we've done this three times over the past two years. it's been a great way to remind the teens and adults why we do what we do.

here are pictures from our set up.