I like technology and its many benefits. I especially like my cellphone. How many of us can say we imagined a device like this twenty years ago? I love these features:
- Its portability
- Internet access
- Quick and efficient communication via texting.
- GPS for easy navigation.
- Apps that replicate software I like to use on my PC
What’s not to love about cellphones? Plenty: cellphones interfere with our worship experience. Are we so desensitized that we don’t notice how we undermine not only our own worship experience, but the experience of everyone around us?
Photo Courtesy @Shutterstock.com/Blaj Gabriel
I attend an 8:30am worship service in our beautiful chapel, with 100-150 members, more intimate than the gathering of two thousand people who arrive for the 9:45 service. I love music and feel more connected to God when we sing hymns with rich theology. Another bonus of the 8:30 worship service is the presence of Mac Bynum, a gifted musician and recording artist, who also is a masterful pianist. He can take any musical piece, create arrangements filled with beautiful arpeggios, and usher us into God’s presence.
Last Sunday was no exception. Mac had just finished playing a moving offertory piece, creating a worshipful setting. During the moment of silence before our pastor stood up to preach, a cellphone went off, a weather alert that pierced the quiet with a loud, honking noise. While this racket reverberated throughout the chapel, I noticed a gentleman frantically locating his cellphone so he could turn it off. He looked embarrassed. On the one hand, I felt sympathy for him. The last thing he needed was our glaring disapproval. On the other hand, I was irritated.
Why do any of us believe we need a cellphone while worshiping God with our fellow believers?
Is it possible that we’ve fallen in love with gadgets and all the bells and whistles that come with them? Have we become irrational to think we need to see our emails and texts right away? Yes and Yes. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we are growing an addiction to our phones. According to one report, people check their phones 150 times a day.¹ When the Times magazine polled their readership, they learned that 84% out of five thousand surveyed said they couldn’t live without their phone. One in five people check their phones every ten minutes.²
I bet many of you have the same problem in your worship gatherings. I can’t tell you the number of times I have seen people scrolling on their phones while our pastor is preaching. I watch people texting away as if they were sitting on their living room couch. It’s not just the young people who do this!
Why bother coming to worship if our focus isn’t having a special encounter with God?
I’ve noticed new etiquette rules developing around cellphone usage. For example, I discovered online a rule regarding dinner invitations. If someone wants to open her home and create an atmosphere to build relationships, then we should put our cellphones away. Yet the norm is that we Instagram our plate of food before we even eat it! Imagine being the host. Would you consider it rude if your guests were more interested in their cellphones than engaging with you and the other guests?
I wonder if God ever feels like an ignored host. He invites us to meet with Him. He wants us to engage with His Spirit through music, Scripture, and prayers. He wants us to celebrate Him with praise and thanksgiving. Here’s what He’s expecting according to Psalm 95:1-7:
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
When I read this passage, I know in my heart that cellphones and worship don’t mix. When He looks down at us, I wonder if He feels disheartened when He sees how distracted we are with our phones.
Can we honestly say we’re devoted to giving God praise while a cellphone is in hand? Don’t you think we are being rude and disrespectful to our Creator? We have to ask, “Why are we here?” Do we attend worship out of obligation? Or do we go with a strong sense of expectancy and anticipation that He is ready to minister to our souls?
I know there are exceptions—situations and people who need to be accessible: Many Children’s Ministries rely on cellphones to text a parent during a worship service to pick up a sick child. We have doctors who are on call. They get a pass. Some people access an online Bible to follow Scripture readings. If we bring cellphones to worship gatherings, it should only be for reasons such as these. The majority of us don’t need to have our phones with us.
I believe we can enhance the worship experience for all attendees by leaving our cellphones in the car. Otherwise, we become a distraction to those around us. More importantly, we can give the Lord our undivided attention as we worship Him.
Can you imagine how your worship experience would be enhanced if you were not distracted by someone’s phone?
If you were asked to draft a cellphone policy for worship gatherings, what would your rules be?
Blessings,
Lee Ann
¹http://www.kpcb.com/blog/2013-internet-trends
²http://techland.time.com/2012/08/16/your-life-is-fully-mobile/
I do leave mine in the car during church and normally do in my bible studies too. I know incidentally my cell phone glided in with me at my last bible study with you but its “barks” I quickly ignored. My weekly bible study is filled with mostly “kids” that are younger than me and before it starts people are commonly not conversing with each other but instead are all checking out things on their phones. So disappointing to see. We are missing a connection with not only God but the people God places in our lives that are LIVE right there with us to be with. Some are even using their phone basically as their bible for bible readings. I will always keep my hard copy bible. Some things are meant to be left old school!
I agree, Nicki. We are not only missing out on our own connection to God, but the people around us. The irony is that we think that we are “connecting” with people through computer or phone screens, but when a person is standing right next to us, it’s like they are invisible and no connection is happening. What a sad commentary!
Blessings,
Lee Ann
I think we have become so attached to our phones we don’t even realize it. As if it were a limb. I don’t know if I agree about leaving them in the car, but I do think they should be either silenced or turned off. I do see people using them to look up Bible verses. But, I am sure that is not the majority. I too am guilty of always having my cell phone. In fact I was at dinner tonight with many friends from my Sunday school class and I did pull out my cell phone and buy a movie ticket and show people pictures and checked my text messages. I Think we have become so attached we really don’t think about it. I know that’s how I was tonight.
I agree with you, Ro. We are very attached to our phones, and I think many of us are vulnerable to becoming addicted to them. The exception for bringing a phone indoors vs leaving it in the car is extreme weather temperatures. It’s a bad idea to let a phone bake in a car when it’s 100 degrees outside! I also see people in our Sunday School classes who use the phone very appropriately and are reading our Scripture text out loud from their phones. But being in Sunday School in a highly interactive setting where we learn and process and use an iPad or iPhone to retrieve the Bible is a positive use of it. It’s the worship service where phones have no business being there except for the few exceptions that I mentioned in my post. They are very distracting!
By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner with the class. What a fun group of people!
Blessings,
Lee Ann
This is such a hot topic these days, inappropriate use of devices. Glad you chose it, Lee Ann! I somehow left my favorite Bible at my home in Ohio so I’ve been using my Bible app on my phone. The trouble is…I sometimes think “gosh, people probably think I’m just addicted to this thing, that’s why it’s in my hand in Bible study.” Truth is, those thoughts distract me, so I’m going to handle it differently. Your cell phone statistics are pretty alarming (1 in 5 check their phone every 10 min! Oh my). I wish people loved God that much!
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Peggy. Most of us are in these statistics without being challenged on them. I just think we at least need to self-evaluate how dependent we’ve become on our phones. The bottom line is as you well put it, “Do we love God as much?” That’s the real question. When we gather to worship, is out of love for Him and our desire to hear His voice as He speaks to us through prayer, music, and the Word? Something to think about….
Blessings,
Lee Ann
Lee Ann: Oh, how I agree with you and say, “Amen, amen!” The addiction to cell phones is rampant. People feel like they have to be talking or reading continuously. Yet, the same people don’t have time to listen or talk to the Creator God! There is no other name to give this and it is idolatry! I agree that cell phones have their place, but Christians should relegate their phones to the low place on the list they should have. Yes, I have a cell phone (an ancient flip-top one), but it is only for emergencies. My children have my number and of 4 of my closest friends. Other than that, I don’t give the number out. I don’t want to be bothered with its ringing. BTW, it doesn’t even text!! And yet, I have survived!
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Norma! You are absolutely right – it is idolatry! I had not thought of that before, but I think you’ve nailed it. Our Creator and Redeemer has been displaced from His throne by a cellphone during worship. Again, why does anyone bother to come to worship if they don’t intend to give Him their full attention and to hear His voice? I hope that Christians step back and honestly assess how cellphone usage during service is undermining the worship experience for everyone.
I am impressed that you have kept a tight inner circle on who knows your cell number for emergency purposes only! I loved the flip-phone when they first came out. It made the device much smaller and easier to carry around than the iPhone. It is great to hear from you. 🙂
Blessings,
Lee Ann