Last Sunday, during the morning worship service, I had a brilliant idea for next year’s Good Friday program. There, in the dim sanctuary, I typed up notes so I could later update the half-finished script.
The next morning, driving two hours away, I mentally added more detail to the vision and it felt…right.
Then the next evening I opened up Drive, found the doc, and began editing, and it felt…
Wrong.
Applying that brilliant idea meant changing aspects I still really liked, and had spent time working on. It would also change the production style, stretching my church’s cultural comfort zone.
Already I could hear the whispers that my insecurities tell me will be spoken behind my back:
“Hmmm, that was a bit showy”
“A bit of an attention seeker, I think?”
“Huh, so she writes the script then casts herself in that role?”
Services like Good Friday and Christmas Eve are so special, and should be handled so carefully, that I hesitate to risk certain artistic techniques. I never want the “show” to be the forefront; I want it to be a detailed, powerful channel so that the message can shine.
However….
Sometimes we need to move away from what is safe to what is powerful.
Away from what is easy to what is most effective.
Away from what is normal to what is magnificent.