This past Day of Prayer (DOP), our community gathered to pray and worship on the scenic overlook of Rock City. As we walked the dark trails toward the overlook, readings of scripture by students were interspersed with flashes of camera light. During the singing and group prayer, cameras weaved in and out continually.
Photo from hegloryplace.org
I’m going to be honest here: I don’t love the mid-worship snapshots. Particularly this past DOP, the photography was distracting and a bit stressful (what if an unflattering photo finds its way online!). I hesitate to characterize sunrise service photography as completely unhelpful — but I do think it creates a media focus which can intrude on the event's spiritual elements. Personally, I think the culture of social media content creation during worship is not a culture Covenant should adopt.
I want to distinguish that I am not referring to the post-event pictures many students enjoy, which capture sweet memories in a beautiful place and community.
But for mid-service photography: I think it could stand to be altered, perhaps limiting the time spent taking photos or avoiding intrusion into the groups of students as they sing and pray. Consider the words of Matthew 6:5: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”
I recognize that this verse is strongly worded, and I wouldn’t say that students or marketing staff are embodying the described hypocrisy. However, this verse points out a temptation that many Christians face in worship: losing focus on the Lord in favor of worldly things. The images captured at the sunrise service are posted to social media and added to magazines and flyers promoting the College and illustrating aspects of the community. I think there is a place for such illustrations, but danger lurks.
First, the process of obtaining these photos can be distracting, as described above. Second, the consistent use of these photos to advertise for the college could overshadow the intention of DOP, which is to spend time with the Lord individually and as a community. As seen in Matthew Six, our approach to worship should be reverent and without regard or favor toward an audience.
While certainly not a primary issue of spirituality, I do think the tradition of our sunrise services could benefit from more thought concerning how photography engages. Photography has many practical and helpful applications. But in the case of group worship, we as a community should think through how such moments could be better protected from the distractions media can bring. In short, we need to discern the heart of DOP, and seek to understand how photography/social media could support or detract from that meaning.
Thumbnail photo from hegloryplace.org