Being Honest About My Lies

One of the side effects of putting my sermons online is that of lying more than I usually do. I lie about what the room I’m recording in looks like. I lie about how well I know the material I’m presenting. I lie about how loud the street outside is. I lie about how much I forget. I lie about where I am. I lie through omission. To present something in a frame for a screen is to construct a small and artificial picture rather than to represent what is actually there. I’m conscious of this.

When we worship in person we are more honest with one another. When there is a second take, such as when the preacher accidentally skips over the next hymn, everyone knows it. Second takes are generally left out of my YouTube videos. In person the congregation knows the humanity of those conducting worship and, on a good day, integrates that humanity into its theology of worship and offers praise that:

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NRSV)

⁷ But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

Video obscures this truth. So I offer this video as my confession. I offer this video as a reminder that video is more constructed than it is truth. I look forward to being human in person again.