Yesterday I had the honor of worshipping in two different
churches. Both of them are focused on reaching young adults. The two services
were quite similar in nature. Both happened on college campuses. Students made
up the majority of both congregations. Both churches had young pastors.
One of the services featured a portion of the service that
was done by candlelight, since it had a Christmas emphasis. I noticed something
remarkable when the lights were turned off in preparation for the candlelit
portion of the service. The volume of the voices singing suddenly increased
significantly.
Though students in both churches sang during the worship
portion of the services, when the lights went off, they sang much more
robustly. Perhaps the students felt more self-conscious when the lights were
on, not wanting anyone to see them singing? If so, then clearly the darkness
allowed them to express their musical passion more fully than they did when the
lights were on. Perhaps all the other distractions in the room went away when
the lights were out and they were simply able to focus more? Clearly something
happened that allowed the students to focus more clearly in a dark room.
Though I do not want to read too much into one experience,
perhaps this is something that we should think about in our churches. If a
darker room with fewer distractions allows congregants to worship better, then
we should consider lowering the lights and raising our voices to the King of
Light.
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