Worship must emphasize God, not entertainment, leaders say
7/19/2001
NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.
By Joretta Purdue*
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Coming soon to a church near you: more movement and music used in ways that promote congregational participation in worship.
That seems to be a key direction in which worship is going, according to United Methodists participating in a biennial worship arts convocation.
Convocation leaders stressed that increased music and movement are not gimmicks to be inserted at random in services, nor are they intended as entertainment. Rather, every part of the worship service should be about God, said speakers at the "2001/DC" gathering of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music & Worship Arts, July 12-17.
"Arts will be integrated in worship" so that the liturgy tutors worshippers about being in right relationship with God, said Marcia McFee, a worship consultant who is pursuing a doctorate in liturgical studies and ethics.
"Liturgy that embodies right relationship is inclusive," she commented. "It needs everybody." To be inclusive, she urged worship planners to use diverse imagery in describing the ways God loves, and to use diverse forms and styles because people learn differently.
Liturgy that embodies right relationship is participatory, McFee said. "Worship is not being done for us or to us." She suggested using many people in a service so that several voices are heard.
"Liturgy that embodies right relationship will be spiritual," she said. It "will honor God's presence in the gathered body." Because people are made in the image of God, they are already spiritual beings, she remarked. Leaders need to trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in the service, but they also must be in tune with the congregation to sense when a hymn should be slowed down or sped up or a refrain repeated an extra time, she said.
Liturgy should be imaginative and never boring, she emphasized. "To visit the kingdom requires imagination." All styles of worship can be boring if they are unimaginative, she said. "We must use vivid imagery."
McFee also advised worship leaders to nurture their spiritual lives and to take a few moments, or whatever time is needed, to get in touch with their spirituality before they begin to lead a service.
In the opening service, the Rev. Philip Wogaman, senior pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church, said worship should be "as beautiful as it can be" and "as sensitive to all as it can be." If one of these needs must be subordinate to the other, let it be the beauty that is subordinate to the inclusiveness of all, he said.
"Christ issues the invitation, but who are the mail carriers?" he asked the fellowship members. "It is you and I."
The Rev. Terry MacArthur, a United Methodist missionary with three ministries in Geneva, Switzerland, urged an inclusiveness and sensitivity that incorporate global awareness. For 12 years, he worked as a worship consultant with the World Council of Churches, an organization of 350 churches from around the world.
"Something from a different culture may illumine something from your own," he observed.
But, he cautioned, "we need to be aware of the source and the context" of any hymn, symbol or tradition from another culture. He also warned that expressions or symbols might have different meanings in different areas of the world and that some of these might be offensive or inappropriate to worship to part of the congregation.
"There are all kinds of ways to pray," MacArthur said. Members of some faiths prostrate themselves to pray, he noted. For some, unchanging ritual is important because it gives them space to pray, he said. Others have different needs, but it is important that an effort is made to meet everyone's needs and to respect different expressions and styles, he said.
It is better, he said, to use one new symbol or action at a time and "to fill it with meaning" but not limit it to just one meaning. "The principle is to invite people to do, not just to watch."
"The resources for global worship are in your neighborhood if you look for them," he emphasized.
The Rev. Irving Cotto, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Camden, N.J., shared worship concepts from the Latino experience that he said are not limited to Latinos but are universal. They include fiesta or celebration, which "helps nobodies discover that they are somebodies"; "familia" or welcome to the stranger as well as members of the community; "abrazo," which means to embrace or touch; "dignidad," the affirmation of each person's sacred worth as a human being made in the image of God; and "manana," an expression of hope.
Four major worship services were held during the convocation, featuring choirs, dancers and guest preachers. The music included hymns and responses from the new hymnal supplement, The Faith We Sing, and an array of instruments, such as organ, drums and handbells.
The preachers included the Rev. Kyung-Lim Shin-Lee, a faculty member at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, who urged following Jesus in worship and in life. "Following Jesus is not a one-time event," she said. Living for Jesus is harder than dying for Jesus, she said.
"In Jesus' book, we are supposed to identify with those who are considered less," declared the Rev. Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz, a staff executive with the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race. She preached that Christians should be as children: playful, trusting and friendly.
The Rev. William McClain noted that in 2000, the Catholics, Baptists and United Methodists all confessed publicly the sin of racism, but he suggested the churches ought to be confessing the sin of having privilege also. McClain, who teaches preaching and worship at Wesley Theological Seminary, chaired the committee that produced the Songs of Zion hymnal.
"Part of doing justice is that we have to practice what he preach," he said. "We cannot be in community with each other ... unless we are open to people who are different than we are."
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*Purdue is news director of United Methodist News Service's Washington bureau.
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