A Word About Worship

I recently read a post suggesting that worship in smaller congregations might be challenging because those who had the task of “planning, presiding and preaching” were probably older and thus would have less energy and capacity for connecting with community. The writer went on to offer a perfectly viable option for such groups.

I’d like to tell you what our group did when we faced this dilemma. We took another look at worship.

More than two years ago now we realized that the leadership in our congregation really had got to a point where the dwindling numbers of “preachers, presiders and planners” were indeed running low on energy. And that our building and worship responsibilities got in the way of our concern for our neighbours. We were out of synch with our mission and had little time or capacity for the enduring principles we claimed.

So we came up with a new Worship Template.

We don’t have any quarrel with the traditional service, usually centred around a sermon by one of our priesthood leaders. But that model wasn’t working for us anymore and was burning out the very ones we looked to for leadership.

We put together a new “recipe” for our gathering times. From a new list we choose the bits that fit the theme or suit our needs or current projects. Usually there are enough elements that the planner really wants to do that we end up with pretty well-rounded worship experiences. And because we’re all committed to “noticing” we find many opportunities to encounter the Divine in our times together.

Here's our list: (select one or more; never all)

Welcome, Greet the Community
Peace prayer, or peace lesson
Music (vocal, instrumental or recorded)
Mission lesson (some lesson or sermon consistent with a mission initiative or scripture theme)
Enduring principles Lesson (illustrate via story, video or scripture)
Disciples Generous Response (may incorporate stories/ prayer)
Prayer or Spiritual Practice (from the whole range available)

Our worship experiences have been more varied and interesting as each planner has the whole range of things to choose from. We’ve gone for spirit-filled walks thinking about the “sacredness or creation” or dwelt on the words of a challenging hymn. We’ve heard members tell of their passion for elephants or honey bees. Our ESL teacher shared about their work in a richly diverse group of international students. It was evident to us all that she/they truly are building a community of joy, hope, love and peace together.

We do table church too, and enjoy the “work” of worship while we talk about the needs of our neighbours and plan next how to serve them. This kind of worship energizes and nurtures us for our mission.

(Send a message if you’d like to hear more about our New Worship Template and some examples.) It's a long one this week. Hopefully folks will stick around to read it all

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