Funny you should mention this today. It was in a round about way the topic of Sunday's lesson at First Colony. It was all about preparing ourselves for worship. It is a personal process by which we get our thoughts focused and it is also the act of planning and rehearsing what will go on in the public worship service. Its not rehearsed to the point of losing its spontaneity, but just a matter of knowing what comes next, who's doing what etc... and preparing those individuals who take part to be ready for thier part of the worship service.

Kevin - you made a very important point and I've said this before. I can become so "detail-oriented" in planning the services, (which I think is good,) that I may inadvertently plan the Spirit right out of the assembly (so to speak.)

This past Sunday was such a well-planned "Sermon In Song." Jim Dillinger did an outstanding job of planning the messages with the songs, prayers, communion, readings, etc. It was very detailed and very well planned and such a blessing. Yet, during the service, one of the elders spontaneously called all the elders to come to the front, circle me and pray for this worship ministry. I'm so thankful for this Spirit-led act, that was not necessarily in the "worship plan." (What a wonderful congregation the Green Valley church is)

Silence can be dull, or it can be golden. One thing for sure, sometimes we learn more from silence than we do from some sermons. There are appropriate times for silent meditation, but waiting for someone to walk from the back of the auditorium to lead a prayer at the podium is not the time. It shouts lack of preparedness, lack of co-operation or absence of focus.

Yes, I've experienced the dead (white) space. People look around, uncomfortably, wondering who it is that is supposed to be at the pulpit to lead prayer (or whatever the case may be), and finally the man stands up and walks slowly down the aisle and up to the pulpit. It would have been so much nicer had he either been sitting near the front (if his prayer is early in the service) OR if he walked up to the front during the prior song and sat on the front pew. Hardly any white space with those scenarios. :-)

The human mind tends to wander and be distracted anyway. Looking at ones fingernails... wondering whre you're going for lunch... thinking about the big game that afternoon... The more that our worship leaders can do to eliminate that white space, the fewer times we will be distracted. I, personally, enjoy a faster paced service.

Robin

For us the word flow is a potent image... the church gathering at the bank of a river and entering the waters, wading out beyond our own preparation, allowing God to sweep us along on our journey with Him during our worship as a body. Sometimes the current is swift with white water and sometimes meditatively calm.... you get the pictire.

Keeping that image in mind, we set one direction for each assembly and prayerfully craft our readings, songs, prayer themes, sermon, communiion thoughts, etc. all to help us yield to the flow. Often times a sermon series will help shape direction. Each person who participates publicly gets a detailed handout at least three days ahead of time that gives instructions pertinent to his/her role (reader, prayer leader, praise team, comunion, etc.) to minimize that unplanned "white space" mentioned above. Sometimes silence is part of the morning's journey, but on those mornings it usually feels part of the flow, whether it is planned our just part of God's current in the river.

A few participants just don't seem to get the idea, but they are becoming fewer in number, and, hey, there are alway rocks on any good float trip anyway, right?!?

BEAUTIFUL Rick! Well said. Thanks for sharing this - I love the imagery.

James, you are so right. There is a time when "silence is golden." And yes, we should add meditation time into our worship. Robin, it doesn't take much to do it right, but for some reason, there seems to be a strong, natural resistance to the necessary preparation for volunteers to improve the flow. I don't know why it seems to be a difficult concept to teach? (I say volunteers, I see this problem with ministers and leaders just as often.)

I'm of two minds - on one hand I appreciate a well-planned and well-executed experience (almost used performance instead of experience... but it goes for anything that I'm a part of or in the midst of - from work seminars to singing rehearsals to Sunday mornings).

On the other hand, I'm extremely turned off by things that don't show humanity... flashy newscasts, slick production values, MTV mentality... and a lot of very spiritual folks don't have 'presentation skills' or 'showmanship' -- and when they speak they don't capture, let alone hold an audience. As it has been mentioned, quiet moments with a spiritual intent, or with the intent to meditate or silently pray or in the Lord's Supper -- those are indeed different. Yet, when things are going too smoothly I tend to react negatively and think "Fake". I visited a church once that used heating and cooling of the auditorium to manufacture emotional and spiritual experience. I have a fear of that. And there is no one I know in the c of C congregations I have gone to that would do that, I just know that stuff like that happens.

I think we have a responsibility to ourselves to focus - use some self-discipline (and God is just laughing at me using self-discipline in this sentence... cuz He knows I lack a lot of it -- not trying to cast stones or show anyone else's logs here... no no no) when we are all together for one purpose to worship. Bits of life when there is nothing happening don't happen all that often, 30 seconds in church where my mind may wander... is that so bad? [And that thought leads me to another topic: how so many people get bored so fast... but that isn't the main topic, just an offshoot.]

I guess I believe the bottom line is intent.

And I'm not sure why I have a double standard for church -- maybe it is tied up with 'professional' vs 'volunteer' -- going to a small community theatre play is sometimes painful to watch, but you love the community, you're probably there because you support the arts or know someone in the cast and are there for them. Volunteers are sincerely invested in the production, but maybe they can't act (or sing or dance...). But they love performing.

We love God. Not a lot of professional ministers can be afforded by churches, and so we use volunteers a lot.

To start down this path makes me think that at some point we'll have to decide between two guys to do the opening prayer or scripture reading and we choose the one who has the best stage presence. Every time. Is that wrong or bad? I don't know, but people who don't have stage presence still have a valuable contribution to our worship and our worship experience.

Just my 2 cents.

Carrie, you have shared some challenging thoughts. Reminds me of a "mega-church" where only one dominant personality handles everything, pretty much from start to finish to ensure the smoothest flow. This is some people's solution to flow problems - remove the "volunteers."

Your comments also remind me of the dilemma I deal with in my advice for worship leaders. Often I will see an individual who has SO MUCH charisma and energy, and who is funny and expressive outside of the assembly. Yet, when he gets to the podium to lead worship, he clams up into a stiff, emotionless paradigm of a song leader. A few minutes earlier (before the service started), he was laughing, smiling and expressive. Suddenly, it's as if he's at a solemn funeral, even during the "happy" songs. (I believe our worship should be about celebration, not a sad funeral.)

Yet, when I ask him to bring out his personality in worship leading (thereby, making it easy for others to connect in the worship emotionally), I am sometimes accused of making it about entertainment - probably because of our fear of emotional extremes.

So the bottom line for me is this - we should do all we can to plan and provide an atmosphere that is conducive for worship - realizing that people are easily distracted. (Yes, that raises the issue of our lack of spiritual depth when small things derail our focus.) As leaders, we have the privilege of thinking through these things and helping people encounter God -

Through the proclamation of the Word
Through the breaking of bread and prayer
Through the joyful songs of praise
Through tears of penitence and confession
Through mediation
Through the testimonies of the redeemed
Through the fellowship of the royal priesthood
Through offering ourselves as living sacrifices

Let's use methods that will encourage the highest participation levels. Good flow is very helpful, as long as it does not feel "fake." Let's be genuine - let's express our emotions - let's honor the Word with the highest respect. Let's plan our assemblies very well but leave room for the Spirit to lead it where He wills.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for this blog and giving those who are huge fans of you and your contribution to the music ministry an insight into your life :-).

And yes, I have seen exactly what you mean when we transition from our 'outside church' selves to our 'inside church' selves which seem to restrict showing joy, enthusiasm and humor.

Sincerity and being genuine are the foundation of creating a comfortable enough environment for us to share our joy with each other... and speaking for myself - examining my heart and motives if I'm upset with something... for I'm ashamed to admit I might be envious and jealous, rather than gracious, kind and loving.

Thank you for your gracious reply :-) !!

Maybe we should teach the importance of silence and how to harvest it more and benefit from it.

Our worship assembly is a conversation with God and each other.

Currently in my interviewing and counseling classes we're learning the importance of silence in conversation with clients. It is HUGE. Highly important and most people feel the need to leave it out.

We don't need to do that, give us time to be silent. Even if it's in an awkward place, maybe God's begging for moment in His church when we can stop, shut up and listen to Him. Maybe he's trying to push in where we don't want Him and we continue to push Him out.

I recall discussing this point with a handful of other assembly leaders and First Corinthians 14 was brought up especially the 40th verse "Let all things be done decently and in order. (NKJV)". I wasn't completely sold that this "dead air" time falls into this category but the arguement can be made. Along these same lines, what about the guys that lead prayer from their seats. I know this is not as common as it once was but I remember it bothering a lot when I was young and an older gentleman would be up in the front of the auditorium and the people in back couldn't even hear him.

Here is my 1 and 1/2 cents:

Keith,

When I was working in West Virginia one of the song leaders there would begin the chorus of the song and then make his way slowly from the pulpit and the man leading the prayer would slowly make his way to the pulpit. By the time the song was over, the man was ready to lead the prayer.

We did the same thing when I got up to preach. I was already in the pulpit before the song finished. Not only did it make for a good transition, but it allowed for more prayer and teaching during our services.

It took about 6 months for some to get used to the idea, but the whole service was prepared. The man reading scripture would already have his Bible turned to the scriptures and ready to read instead of the awkward page turning as he stumbled to the passage.

I do believe we need silence, but reflective silence. One of the men where I currently minister, will get up to lead the congregation in prayer by saying, "I know we all have particulars which to pray for; so let's take a moment and prayer silently, then I will lead us in a united prayer." That reflective silence is a good thing for everyone to seek God privately while we prepare for the unified effort.

just my thoughts

This is what we do as well, Gallagher. It does make for a better flow. Rather than have someone come up front for a prayer or scripture reading, we have him do this from his seat with a hand-held, wireless microphone. This is very good for cutting out dead-time.

Also, I prefer to lead worship among the congregation, not from behind the pulpit. Now all of our worship leaders (in our contemporary service) lead that way. Instead of walking away from the pulpit so someone else can get there, we aren't up there in the first place. In addition, I like to walk around the entire front portion of the auditorium and at least halfway down the aisles when I'm leading worship, especially during the upbeat songs. This serves two purposes: It encourages participants to worship (and smile!), making a personal connection with people. Secondly, it allows me to make sure I'm out of the way of the person who is heading to the pulpit or somewhere up front. I can strategically place myself out of his path. (This also requires good memorization of the lyrics because we don't have a screen that faces the songleader and we don't use songbooks!)

Like you, Keith, I try to plan the best worship flow possible. I love to create moods. For example, if there is a set of energetic songs with a prayer following, I will typically ask someone who tends to pray with a little more "zest", if you will, to offer a prayer of praise / thanksgiving. It's a prayer but it keeps the upbeat mood intact. Of course, no matter how well I think I've planned a service, God can definitely change things up for His purposes - and it's always awesome!

I agree that there is certainly a proper place for silence. Personal prayer time, meditation, reflection. After a powerful song or video of Christ's death. I feel it really needs to be planned / explained, though. Otherwise, as some have already mentioned, it leaves participants wondering what's wrong, or what's next - especially visitors - drawing them away from where there minds just were in worship. Unplanned silence can cause a greater distraction than loud feedback from your audio system.

Just giving my opinions based on my personal experiences.

Tim

Andrew, I need to add "silence" and meditation as a discussion topic on the blog in the future. I agree with that concept. However, as some call me "Mr. Flow," I would argue that dead space in the wrong place can be distracting. But your point is very important - since we usually opt to have absolutely NO quiet time, except for communion (which, incidentally we are learning is too narrowly defined as only a quiet, somber introspection.)

Jamie, yes it is important that everyone hear what is being said in the assembly. I wonder where we got the idea that "decently and in order" equates to "lifeless and dead?" (Forgive me for exaggerating the point.)

Christopher, I lead songs that way during some transitions. I try to do everything possible to make it easy for others to make smooth transitions like you described. I noticed at a very large church I visited how their transitions drug the entire service down.

Great idea on encouraging silent prayer in the congregation. Helps introduce some people to the concept of "quiet time" who are not used to it. I love to hear the use of creativity to enhance and encourage our worship experiences.

We had a worship assembly focused on being in the presence of God a few weeks ago. As we moved through different facets of that, we journeyed toward something that we don't do a lot of, which is being still. We ended the service with 2 minutes of silence (which seemed like an eternity for some), then the praise team sang a very quiet "Be Still and Know". And that's where we left people - no announcements, no rousing closing song. I knew it would be uncomfortable for many, but we had an overwhelming amount of positive response. I even had people commenting that going to lunch was even quieter that day.