September 2009 Message from the Pastor

Worship Experiences

For now at least, I plan to start calling them worship experiences instead of worship services. I’ve read that this has become more popular, perhaps trendy but also a more dynamic expression of what happens. “Service” has a nice meaning, according to Webster, of “contributions to the welfare of others” but in the context of worship it sounds like a routine or repeated set of actions and, dare I say, rather boring.

To be sure, this is a long-standing tradition. The word service was first used in 1614 when a liturgy was developed by reformers who, it seems, wanted to distinguish their rituals from the mass of the Roman Catholic Church. I suppose we could go back to using “mass” in an effort to be more ecumenical but mass doesn’t have meaning for many of our folks.

Now there might be problems with saying worship experience rather than worship service. We’re not trying to entertain or “wow” people with our performances. If there’s too much “show” involved, it may not feel like worship in our most pious sense. But I think worship is always about coming alive, feeling something, being moved. Thomas Carlyle, the Irish writer once said, “The essence of worship is wonder.” I’ve often quoted him and think he’s right.

There is usually something about worship that is wonder-ful. It may be a hymn, a prayer, a piece or more of a sermon or the community gathered around the altar for “supper.” We do experience significant things in these moments and being able to repeat them in powerful and fresh ways is important. While we come to church as a serious act of service to God, we also experience God’s grace, peace and creative, life-giving gospel.

If nothing else, calling it a worship experience may remind us that we need to approach this time together as sacred. We enter God’s house and for this brief time we are drawn to another realm. The Spirit of God is at work around and in us and, if we are quiet and prayerful, we will know it. Maybe we should take off our shoes, bow our heads and, like Moses, give thanks that we have experienced God and have lived to talk about it.

I want you to feel that if you miss a worship experience here, you have really missed something significant. We work hard to plan for Sunday and other special times. I can’t promise you that God will touch you when you come, but we’ll try to keep you hoping that it just might happen. Hallelujah!


Pastor Jim Friedrich