Minilogue - October 2006

Worship Is Not a Spectator Sport!

By the Rev. Bruce Johnso

One of my goals for the coming year -- a goal that is shared by the Sunday Services Committee -- is to involve more members of the congregation in the planning, production, and presentation of Sunday morning worship services. It may seem strange to speak of worship as a “production,” but that is precisely what it is, according to Aidan Kavanaugh, a professor of liturgy at Yale Divinity School. The word, “liturgy,” after all, derives from two Greek words which mean, literally, “the people’s energy,” or more loosely, “public work.” Like the ancient Greeks, the early church understood the weekly act of assembling for liturgical worship as deeply participatory and public process. Kavanaugh describes the transformational power of these liturgies as productive processes, noting that “what they produce, among other things, is ourselves.” In other words, we come away from each experience of worship changed in some way, even if only subtly. The experience of worship becomes meaningful to the degree that one engages with the process in a participatory and creative way. As one of my congregants in Indianapolis put it, “worship is not a spectator sport!”

There are many ways of getting more involved in the Sunday morning experience. One of my favorite processes is an exercise that some folks call a “sermon roundtable.” The idea is really quite simple: people who are interested in a particular announced topic meet with the minister well in advance of the Sunday when the sermon on that topic is scheduled in order to brainstorm ideas, share stories, suggest readings, and music, etc. My experience with this kind of process in other congregations has been very positive, even when “only two or three are gathered.” Usually, though, about a half dozen or more people will show up for any given session of the “pulpit roundtable.”

In thinking about how this practice might best be introduced at UUCUV, I’ve decided to schedule regular meetings on Tuesdays, between 5-6 p.m. at the Meeting House, beginning on October 10th. I can’t promise a literal roundtable, but I can promise an open, participatory, creative, and fun experience.

The topics we will be considering are: October 10th - Friendship; October 17th - Aging; October 24th - Money & Religion; October 31st - Mental Illness, November 7th - Racism; November 14th - Fatherhood; November 21st - Health Care & Healing; and November 28th - Silence (don’t worry, we’ll think of something to say about this topic!). None of these topics has been definitely assigned to a specific Sunday yet, but the insights from our sessions will “keep” indefinitely and will enrich the worship experience in many ways. If you have interest in a particular topic but can’t make the roundtable date, give me a call and we’ll arrange to meet another time. At the end of this eightweek trial, we will evaluate the experiment and see where we might want to go with it.

I love collaborating with others in a creative effort to produce liturgies that are true to the life of our community, even as they work to transform that very life. I hope that many of you will want to participate throughout the year on “the production end of things” even as you continue to gather each week “to seek, to celebrate, and to share” your own experience of worship.

In growing faith,
Bruce