The sanctuary was filling with people dressed in bright colors noisily greeting one another. I glance at the clock: three minutes until the service time. I bring my quiet medley of Easter hymns to a close and prepare the organ for my prelude. After the prelude ended, I would give a cue for the video to start as a service opener. I had spent hours working on Holy Week services and I felt great about the service we had planned.
In that moment of silence as I changed the stops, our responsible and proactive service leader had a moment of panic. (Silence! It must be my turn!) She confidently got up and welcomed the people, asking them to stand as we sang together. Oh no. This was not the plan. It wasn't even 10:00 yet! No problem, plan b. I quickly walked over to the piano and whispered instructions to my husband to carry to the video booth about where we would place the video later in the service. He turns to go and I head to the piano to get the songs started. Next thing I know the video starts playing.
I momentarily rested my head on the piano, frustrated and irritated. It was Easter Sunday, the most important day in the church year! It had been a difficult weekend. Our projectors were on the fritz. We were using new projection software that was not at all intuitive for me to use. There were the usual last-minute changes to be made. Changes which had to be made on the brand new Mac in the sanctuary, when I am most comfortable with PCs. The new computer had created several hours of additional work for me the day before since powerpoint was not available for use yet. I had slept a total of about four hours. I was grumpy and stressed. I was worried about the service and though I had just lead a time of prayer, I had not let go of the anxiety that I feel on important Sundays. It felt like everything was going wrong.
Then my frustration melted. I laughed inside at the most well-meant series of events thwarting my best-laid and second-best-laid plans. And I looked out at a full congregation of people about to stand through a three minute video. I walked on the platform and indicated for them to be seated. The video was compelling even after watching it multiple times (at least for me). And the whole thing reminded me, once again, that church is not about me. It is not about creating a perfect event. It is not entertainment. It is about worshiping a risen Lord.
I think that moment was for me. To help me let go of my claim on how great the morning was going to turn out. The words I've said over and over to others repeated back to me: the service is not about us! Minor errors do not destroy other people's experience with God. People generally do not come to church to admire how great and "finished" the service is. And if they do, they shouldn't.
Joy spread over me as I watched the video. I clicked in and became engaged in the celebration of Easter. As the video ended I said "you may stand" and people chuckled as they got to their feet. After all, Easter is a joyful morning! And then I played and sang my heart out and participated fully in the rest of the service. The band was exciting, the congregation sang loudly, the choir sang energetically, and the sermon was powerful.
What a great morning, in spite of me.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
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