The article below appeared in the Huntsville Times on Friday, September 16, 2011. (Link “Huntsville Times Article” on right)
Church Hopping
As a child I was bored stiff with church. I loved the Sundays when my parents decided we weren’t going to church.
Then something happened. Christ got hold of me and I realized that, for me, there is no message in the world more important than his. But that meant dealing with this (boring) thing called the church.
In college I visited every kind of church I could on weekends. It was an eye-opener and turned me back to my Lutheran faith and worship experience. In seminary, the course on worship was, to me, the most challenging class.
When I was ordained and suddenly became responsible for this Treasure in earthen jars–this thing called worship of that which is of utmost importance–then I began to quake. Now if it was boring, I primarily had myself to blame.
At one point in my ministry, our congregation decided to introduce “contemporary” worship. I felt I needed a primer on worship in general and Lutheran worship in particular (since I hadn’t paid much attention to my worship class in seminary). So I began a twelve-week sermon series on Lutheran worship. This resulted in a little book entitled Exploring Our Lutheran Liturgy: How and Why We Worship published in 1994.
Fast forward to 2011. I was about to take my first Sabbatical. Three months of rest, prayer, Bible study, learning. My focus would be worship. Worship is something I believe we do very well at St. Mark’s and, if I could improve upon what we do best, then this Sabbatical would be a win for the kingdom of God and it would help satisfy my questions about worship.
I had several objectives:
1) Worship (Pastors who lead worship often feel they do not get to worship)
2) Seek to understand what worship is, why people worship, and what worship accomplishes.
3) Attend as many worshiping communities as possible.
4) Evaluate my worship experiences considering the questions in #2 above.
5) Read about worship from known scholars in the field.
6) Rewrite my book on worship in an attempt to be helpful to others who are passionate about seeking to connect people to the God we worship.
To help my congregation stay in touch with my activities and me stay accountable to the Sabbatical I was granted, I began a blog of my experiences. http://www.lutheranworship.wordpress.com.
I (re)discovered that the world of worship (Christian as well as non-Christian) is fascinating territory.
The results of this human impulse to worship is what archeologists find most often in their digs–whether it be the Native American burial mounds, the pyramids of Central America and Egypt, the temples of ancient Greece and Rome or the cathedrals of Europe. Human beings have a deep seated drive to connect with God. History speaks quite loudly about this human need.
I found in my visits to worshiping communities many positives but also a noticeable lack of what, I believe, is the essence of worship: connecting people to God. Some churches are quite contemporary, but lack little historical thread to what God has done in past times. Others perhaps preserve the thread, but are so dated, they do not connect to people today.
Many worshiping communities reinforced a bias those who do not worship have about institutional religion (perhaps especially “non-denominational” churches). They are anti-science, pro-right politically, antigay and patriarchal. Some reinforce my personal bias of being boring. Some struck me as personality cults. There are some worshiping communities, however, that sincerely seek to connect with the divine. I must say I especially enjoyed my visits to traditionally black congregations and small churches.
My personal takeaway is that I can do a better job in leading worship. I can be more prayerful. I can plan much better. I can work more intentionally with other worship leaders. I have rediscovered the joy and spiritual blessing of authentic worship.
lutheranworship 