Internationally published award-winning author Kris Tualla (see "We're Following" at the right) wants to contribute these timeless gems to "Things Worship Leaders should never say." I hope her wit brings a smile to your face.
“…go past the room where the Library used to be ….” and stop before you get to where the new nursery is going to be.
"Thank you for choosing to worship with us today" because we know our service doesn't conflict with Game Time.
"Please fill out your communication card so we can know you are here" - and if you aren't here, could you please indicate that on the back?
"If you’re here today (SEE PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS) and you want to know more..." then I guess I'll keep talking. If not, wave your hands and we'll adjourn to watch the game.
"Let’s do some more worship" because we have a measurable quota to get through and we can't measure silence.
"As we begin this morning….” What are all you people doing in my bedroom???
The musings of Peter and Christine Kyhn
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Blog #011 Things not to say as a public worship leader
Do not say the following phrases in public worship – ever.
Use room/facility names by their old appellations
One church’s “Red Room” has nothing red in it - the carpet is blue-green, the walls are natural wood paneling. The carpet hasn't been red for fifteen years. Newcomers will never find it. In another congregation, leaders often said, “…go past the room where the Library used to be ….”
This makes no sense to anyone who started attending since the library quit being the library.
Seems obvious, but old habits (and names) die hard.
Thank you for choosing to worship with us today
Say this only if you intend to promote “spiritual consumerism.” It communicates “we’re here to deliver the spiritual goods and services you are looking for in the way that you want them. You have lots of good choices in this town; you chose us this morning. Thanks.” Or it might communicate, “we’re experiencing a slump in our offering income, so we’re glad you’re here to help us pump up the offering total.”
Please fill out your communication card so we can know you are here
This sounds so impersonal to my ear. It communicates, “we recognize your existence in our presence if you fill out a card.” I believe that a congregation’s leadership needs to have blunt discussions in their committee and board meetings about the reasons for having attendees register their attendance. Most newcomers don’t fill out the cards until their third or fourth visit anyway. They know they’re going to get marketed, their names put into a database - that they will be digitized.
If you’re here today ….
This is usually combined with “…and you want to know more…” or “…and you need Jesus….” Think about it. When you speak face to face with a friend, you don’t say, “If I’m talking to you right now and you’re hungry, would you like to get some lunch?” No! You say, “Are you hungry? Let’s get some lunch.” At church, you’re talking to people sitting in front of you. They’re here.
Let’s do some more worship
Argh! What’s usually meant is, “let’s sing another song.” Music doesn’t equal worship.
As we begin this morning….”
The preacher gets up to deliver his sermon 30 minutes into the worship gathering and says, “As we begin this morning….” Begin what? The sermon, yes. Praise, adoration, confession, singing, prayer are already full steam ahead.
Observe the old adage – Think before you speak. Your first-time visitors are listening … and so are we.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Blog #010 Rock AND Bach
God-centered worshipers yearn for authenticity in their leaders’ expressions of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and calls to submission in our gatherings for worship. When our hearts are broken, our faith shaken, our spirit despairing we need a word from God and the touch of His Spirit.
Over the years, advocates of the “McChurch franchise” have come up with various “secrets” to assure the attraction of significant numbers of visitors and growing facilities and budgets. They often filibuster for furloughing the orchestra and firing the choir. They take a “cookie-cutter” approach to achieve “what works.” Import the right talent, they advise, and hang on for the ride. Authentic versus pragmatic. Where’s the truth in all this?
Mark Hayes’ 2002 address to a worship congress(1) in Washington D.C. gives the following marvelous response to such thinking:
“Frank Burch Brown in his book, “Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste(2) ,” has some assumptions that may guide our discussion of this matter. Let me quote just a few.
1. There are many kinds of good taste, and many kinds of good religious art and music. In view of cultural diversity, it would be extremely odd if that were not true.
2. Not all kinds of good art and music are equally good for worship, let alone for every tradition and faith community. In terms of worship, therefore, it is not enough that a work or style of art be likeable; it must also be appropriate.
3. Every era and cultural context tends to develop new forms of sacred music and art, which to begin with often seem secular to many people.
4. It is an act of Christian love to learn to appreciate or at least respect what others value in a particular style or work that they cherish in worship or in the rest of life. That is different, however, from personally liking every form of commendable art, which is impossible and unnecessary.
I believe our job as worship planners and leaders is to create and hold a sacred container in which the Spirit can work and move. “Container” may seem like an odd choice of words, but it’s merely a metaphor for the word “environment.” All the elements of worship, from the size and design of the sanctuary, to the liturgical vestments or lack thereof, to the type and quality of music and every word that is prayed or spoken contributes to the worship environment. As creative people we want to make this invisible container a safe, nurturing and glorious place to meet God and experience the presence of [his] Spirit. We can’t make God “show up” on Sunday any more than we can make people worship or respond to the Divine. Our only role is to hold or maintain that sacred space through the use of our gifts so God can do what God will do.”
I agree with Hayes and Brown one hundred percent. It’s not Rock vs. Bach but Rock and Bach (item #4). Let’s commit to respecting and appreciating each generation’s worship vocabulary and not turn against one another as the “enemy.”
Notes:
1. Accessed from www.markhayes.com
2. Frank Burch Brown, Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste: Aesthetics in
Religious Life (New York, Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 250-251.
Over the years, advocates of the “McChurch franchise” have come up with various “secrets” to assure the attraction of significant numbers of visitors and growing facilities and budgets. They often filibuster for furloughing the orchestra and firing the choir. They take a “cookie-cutter” approach to achieve “what works.” Import the right talent, they advise, and hang on for the ride. Authentic versus pragmatic. Where’s the truth in all this?
Mark Hayes’ 2002 address to a worship congress(1) in Washington D.C. gives the following marvelous response to such thinking:
“Frank Burch Brown in his book, “Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste(2) ,” has some assumptions that may guide our discussion of this matter. Let me quote just a few.
1. There are many kinds of good taste, and many kinds of good religious art and music. In view of cultural diversity, it would be extremely odd if that were not true.
2. Not all kinds of good art and music are equally good for worship, let alone for every tradition and faith community. In terms of worship, therefore, it is not enough that a work or style of art be likeable; it must also be appropriate.
3. Every era and cultural context tends to develop new forms of sacred music and art, which to begin with often seem secular to many people.
4. It is an act of Christian love to learn to appreciate or at least respect what others value in a particular style or work that they cherish in worship or in the rest of life. That is different, however, from personally liking every form of commendable art, which is impossible and unnecessary.
I believe our job as worship planners and leaders is to create and hold a sacred container in which the Spirit can work and move. “Container” may seem like an odd choice of words, but it’s merely a metaphor for the word “environment.” All the elements of worship, from the size and design of the sanctuary, to the liturgical vestments or lack thereof, to the type and quality of music and every word that is prayed or spoken contributes to the worship environment. As creative people we want to make this invisible container a safe, nurturing and glorious place to meet God and experience the presence of [his] Spirit. We can’t make God “show up” on Sunday any more than we can make people worship or respond to the Divine. Our only role is to hold or maintain that sacred space through the use of our gifts so God can do what God will do.”
I agree with Hayes and Brown one hundred percent. It’s not Rock vs. Bach but Rock and Bach (item #4). Let’s commit to respecting and appreciating each generation’s worship vocabulary and not turn against one another as the “enemy.”
Notes:
1. Accessed from www.markhayes.com
2. Frank Burch Brown, Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste: Aesthetics in
Religious Life (New York, Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 250-251.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Blog #009 - On Being Creative
Created in the image of the creative God, humankind also creates. This creativity oozes through life in many ways, sometimes finding its expression through the arts. There are some who are especially gifted in this realm of artistic expression and have an amazing ability to create art that powerfully touches deep emotions.
What is the value of artistic expression? Art enlightens and deepens our understanding of life. This artistic expression can also soften our hearts, enabling us to understand and embrace truth about God through image, sound, or movement.
Both of us have a passion to encourage artistically gifted individuals. We want to nurture the creative expression placed within them by God, that through them a wider ministry might take place within the hearts and minds of those who gather to worship the triune God of the Bible.
To say it again, our passion is to pastor and offer support to artistically gifted believers, nurturing them to express their understanding of God and truth in ways that encourage and strengthen the Body of Christ.
There is a difference between embracing God’s giftedness and using spiritual sounding words to attribute divine importance to one’s artistic expression.
Take, for example the phrase, “God gave me this song.” Did he really? Maybe in his sovereign running of the universe he let you view a beautiful sunset that became the subject of your latest poem. Maybe he opened your eyes to see it in a fresh way, but you wrote the words, you chose the notes that made the melody.
Creating is a powerful, emotional, and vulnerable experience. It is tempting to elevate the importance of what you have created by saying, “God gave this to me.” It’s a kind of false humility.
Let’s celebrate the artistic expression within our faith community. But, please, be honest and humbly take the credit for what you have created. Don’t attribute more to it than this.
God will do the work He needs to in the hearts of those who hear and see it.
What is the value of artistic expression? Art enlightens and deepens our understanding of life. This artistic expression can also soften our hearts, enabling us to understand and embrace truth about God through image, sound, or movement.
Both of us have a passion to encourage artistically gifted individuals. We want to nurture the creative expression placed within them by God, that through them a wider ministry might take place within the hearts and minds of those who gather to worship the triune God of the Bible.
To say it again, our passion is to pastor and offer support to artistically gifted believers, nurturing them to express their understanding of God and truth in ways that encourage and strengthen the Body of Christ.
There is a difference between embracing God’s giftedness and using spiritual sounding words to attribute divine importance to one’s artistic expression.
Take, for example the phrase, “God gave me this song.” Did he really? Maybe in his sovereign running of the universe he let you view a beautiful sunset that became the subject of your latest poem. Maybe he opened your eyes to see it in a fresh way, but you wrote the words, you chose the notes that made the melody.
Creating is a powerful, emotional, and vulnerable experience. It is tempting to elevate the importance of what you have created by saying, “God gave this to me.” It’s a kind of false humility.
Let’s celebrate the artistic expression within our faith community. But, please, be honest and humbly take the credit for what you have created. Don’t attribute more to it than this.
God will do the work He needs to in the hearts of those who hear and see it.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Blog #008 Image
“We live in a culture where image is everything and substance nothing.” This quote from Eugene Peterson’s book, “Run With The Horses”(page 67) got us thinking.
Surely no one would admit to actually valuing image over substance.
Or would they?
The message we hear often is, “If our church could just look cool, talk cool, dim the lights, dismiss the choir and put guitars and drums on the stage, then our ‘worship’ will attract those coveted 20 and 30 year olds who are conspicuously absent.” What happens, then, when we do all this and they still don’t come? Are we just not cool enough? Maybe the music should be louder (or softer?), less happy, less churchy, less “eternity,” more “here and now.” Or maybe we need a worship leader who sports a soul patch.
Or maybe the unchurched stay away because the church’s public face looks too much like a business enterprise. Yes, there are buildings to maintain, workers to pay, programs to manage. Marketing strategies are needed to publicize all the wonderful things the church offers.
The problem seems to be this: we think that if we can just get them to come to church, then they will see how “cool” God is.
How did our thinking become so undiscerning?
The church (the body of which Christ is the head [Ephesians 1:22-23]) is an organic, relational, living entity, empowered by the very presence of God, Himself. Instead of focusing on attracting people to the congregation’s property at a particular time on a given day, maybe we should be trying to work out a life of love and justice among our families and friends, our neighbors and co-workers. Rather than developing a business we call church, maybe we should be developing a life of daily prayer and scripture meditation that nurtures our faith in God and provokes a Christ-like response to poverty, injustice, hunger, and war (to paraphrase Peterson).
If enough believers lived like this, don’t you think our gatherings for worship would display a wonderful sense of excitement, joy, and gratitude? The music and the praying and the sharing would be rich; the stories would be amazing. We could simply be ourselves (stop looking over our shoulder to see if we are impressing the visitors) and, through it, discover what God has in mind for our congregation in our community.
Are we holding to the form of religion, but denying its power (II Timothy 3:5)?
Surely no one would admit to actually valuing image over substance.
Or would they?
The message we hear often is, “If our church could just look cool, talk cool, dim the lights, dismiss the choir and put guitars and drums on the stage, then our ‘worship’ will attract those coveted 20 and 30 year olds who are conspicuously absent.” What happens, then, when we do all this and they still don’t come? Are we just not cool enough? Maybe the music should be louder (or softer?), less happy, less churchy, less “eternity,” more “here and now.” Or maybe we need a worship leader who sports a soul patch.
Or maybe the unchurched stay away because the church’s public face looks too much like a business enterprise. Yes, there are buildings to maintain, workers to pay, programs to manage. Marketing strategies are needed to publicize all the wonderful things the church offers.
The problem seems to be this: we think that if we can just get them to come to church, then they will see how “cool” God is.
How did our thinking become so undiscerning?
The church (the body of which Christ is the head [Ephesians 1:22-23]) is an organic, relational, living entity, empowered by the very presence of God, Himself. Instead of focusing on attracting people to the congregation’s property at a particular time on a given day, maybe we should be trying to work out a life of love and justice among our families and friends, our neighbors and co-workers. Rather than developing a business we call church, maybe we should be developing a life of daily prayer and scripture meditation that nurtures our faith in God and provokes a Christ-like response to poverty, injustice, hunger, and war (to paraphrase Peterson).
If enough believers lived like this, don’t you think our gatherings for worship would display a wonderful sense of excitement, joy, and gratitude? The music and the praying and the sharing would be rich; the stories would be amazing. We could simply be ourselves (stop looking over our shoulder to see if we are impressing the visitors) and, through it, discover what God has in mind for our congregation in our community.
Are we holding to the form of religion, but denying its power (II Timothy 3:5)?
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