Contemporary

Christian worship is a hard thing to understand, and an even harder thing to lead. It's amazing, really. Think about another time in your life when you regularly gather with people you rarely see, listen to stories, sing songs, snack on a wheat cracker and grape juice, and attempt to communicate with a deity that you can't see or hear. It's a construct that is unlike any other aspect of our life...and over 1 billion people do this every week all around the world.

Strange.

This past weekend our old-ALC, German Lutheran congregation tried something new – contemporary worship. The term “contemporary” is a bit pejorative in the sense that every time people gather for worship it is, in essence, contemporary. Worship is a unique expression that relies on God's Spirit to move through those who have gathered at a specific time and place. Even if a few friends and I sing some plainchant Kyrie from the 9^th century, it’s still contemporary. Henceforth, if I refer to contemporary worship I am using it merely as a brand name…like “praise service” or “seeker worship” are similar (but distinctly different) brand names of worship.

But I digress.

After a few intense months of a mini “worship war”, our church agreed to try our hand at contemporary worship at all three weekend worship services once a month this summer. Basically, this was the way our worship committee could balance the polarities of “we need to offer a more contemporary service to reach the unchurched in our community” and those on the other side proclaiming “if you change the way we do worship, I'm leaving and taking my checkbook with me.”

It was quite a risk.

* * *

I’m not a big contemporary worship guy. Unlike most of my colleagues, when I want to listen to Christian music, I rely on Mozart or Bach…not Third Day or David Crowder. Some people hum tunes from Christian radio…I tap my toes to the liturgy or chorales from the 16^th century. The short wispy hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention whenever a church does communion before the creed or a pastor preaches on something other than the gospel text from the Revised Common Lectionary. So when I was asked to sing and play guitar at our church’s first contemporary worship service, I panicked. I literally broke out in a sweat and paced around the room for a few minutes.

I’ve never been more conflicted.

In the past five years, our congregation has doubled it’s programming for youth and families, and subsequently seen over 50% of our young families leave the church. The reasons for this trend are the subject of another blog post (or maybe not). The emergence of a contemporary worship movement at our stoic congregation might be the thing we need to make an impact on the community and bring young families to the church. It could also lead to our own version of the Great Schism. Furthermore, from a church politics standpoint, I felt I was in a no-win situation. I would be a fool to reject a passionate group of people who were using worship as a vehicle to bring young families to our congregation. At the same time, worship leadership is not in my job description. I don’t personally tend to connect with churches that offer that particular style of worship.

So I took the plunge.

And lived to tell about it.

I overheard a wide spectrum of opinions shared by people after the services. None were surprising. I tended to resonate with folks who said, "I don't know that I'd attend a service like that again, but I think we need to offer it every week." If a change in worship format is linked to outreach, I'm all in. I am the anomaly in the sense that most people my age see traditional, liturgical worship and are reminded of the forced boredom they endured as a child...and they want no part of it. This is more than a fad; it's a trend. I don't think that offering contemporary worship at our church will make most of our current members happier, but it might be an entry point for people in the community who are unaffiliated with a church. As one of my friends said, "If I want that kind of worship, I'll go to a different church."

Duly noted.

*** Epilogue ***

Nearly 36 hours after our contemporary worship weekend, I am haunted by an image that just might change my perspective on this whole topic. For the first time, I saw my six-year old daughter fully participating in a worship service. She didn't have to know how to read music, juggle a bulletin and a hymnal, or understand the convoluted numbering system in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book. The only thing young Anna had to do was look up toward the cross and see the words to the songs, prayers, scripture, and statements of faith. She was engaged. She made connections. She was participating in corporate worship. She was a part of the body of Christ in a new and special way. It wasn't because her parents were telling her what to do....it wasn't because her dad works for a church...it was because, for the first time, she was in a worship service that stripped away the barriers to her participation. What more could a parent want for their child?

Knowing what this weekend's worship did for Anna doesn't eliminate some of my misgivings about contemporary worship...but it does give me a different lens through which I view the conversation.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Worship Reflections

My friend Sonja posted some reflections on worship at her Facebook blog. I thought they were worthy of a re-post...

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Sonja's Blog: Crossroads

April 27 at 5:21pm

You will have to forgive my recent tendency toward the religious. However, I find myself once again compelled to post on the topic. Humor me.

We are finding ourselves at a crossroads at our church. The traditions that have served us well for years are being challenged, and there is a ever-growing call for renewal of our worship practices (otherwise known as “adding a contemporary service”).

Those who feel strongly have weathered the tide of transition after a long-tenured pastor’s retirement and the upheaval of losing our next lead pastor after a few short years. Being in a constant state of transition, this multitude has been encouraged to be patient, not to push for change during such tumultuous times.

And so the din is rising. Will we ever not be in transition?

My thoughts on the subject of transforming our church go beyond the worship experience to the entirety of how we do or do not look to understand the needs of the “ordinary” people in our immediate community (i.e. not necessarily homeless/jobless, etc) who have needs (parenting/marriage/general life challenges) and how we become a safe, welcoming, nurturing place for to find guidance that then reveals the far-reaching effect God’s grace and a life of faith have in transforming our ordinary lives to the extraordinary that we crave (and expect!) but cannot achieve on our own.

In my opinion, we need to first formalize the process of getting to know new individuals by offering a variety of more intimate gatherings through which they can get to know others in the church (often known as small groups – Bible studies, discussion groups, child-rearing, mothering, marriage … etc.) When a new member joined the church an invitation would be extended to join a group that may be of interest to him/her.

When we welcome new members and then leave them afloat in a sea of new people to somehow find their way, we set ourselves up for failure. Only those who are bound and determined to make this particular church their home will have the fortitude to keep attending events, volunteering and being present until people quit asking “Are you new here?”

That’s not how Jesus did it, and it’s not how we should be doing it either. Jesus went to the people … Jesus turned the conventions of the day on their head and challenged us to a live a life of love by extending ourselves to others.

Second, just like schools have to rethink many of the ways they conduct outreach to parents (i.e. going beyond open houses and parent-teaching conferences) who may have never finished school or have terribly negative associations with “traditional” school outreach, we need to figure out how we become less scary to the individual who has only ever seen church as a place of negativism, hypocrisy, obligation and hurt. Whether those in established religion want to believe it or not, these are some of the reasons young families don’t just NOT go to church but AVOID anything with a religious connotation.

Those same traditions that bring us comfort and peace are representative of a time and place where a hurting soul came to be loved, nurtured and transformed and instead found judgment. By being willing to shed these traditions in favor of a worship experience that is still liturgical, worshipful and gospel-centered but is also in tune with the needs and styles of these individuals, we acknowledge that we are truly a “Christ-Centered Community of Hope and Belonging for ALL.”

By being willing to put words on the screen and sing with guitars and piano, we remove the stigma that only musically-inclined people who appreciate pipe organ and three part harmony attend church. By incorporating dramatic elements that provide real-life examples to make otherwise foreign and difficult concepts relevant and real, we acknowledge that the purpose of a sermon is the message (the GOSPEL centered message) not how it gets to you. By providing moments of intimacy during the worship service (communion in the round, sharing of the peace at the beginning, opportunities for personal connection) we acknowledge that we are a community that cares for and responds to the needs of our members and the world while focusing on God’s message as we worship Him.

The most important thing to understand is this is not an “us” versus “them” discussion, and it can never be. We are called to serve.

To SERVE.

To serve.

Young families not attending church are raising the next generation … do you want to have a say in introducing those children to Christ and shaping their values, or not? Will you turn your backs on them and hold fast to tradition while they drown in a sea of anger and self-doubt or will you “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2 New International Version).

The Right Question

Haven't written anything in a week. Lots going on...and I just haven't had anything interesting to impart.

Just put something up over at Center for Renewal blog. The site is in its infancy, but there are some good things being shared over there. Happy reading...