Worship can challenge us to reach deeper

Every report I read lately is pessimistic about the dismal state of worship in the U.S. today:

http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/sites/faithcommunitiestoday.org/files/Decade%20of%20Change%20Final_0.pdf
But if we are fortunate enough to discover worship that challenges us to reach deeper to plumb our innermost spiritual yearnings, to establish spiritual practice, and to embrace sharing the journey, then I believe that pews would fill up. We are all struggling with complicated lives and overflowing to-do lists. Taking time to re-center through worship can give me the emotional charge I need to carry me through the week. It also reminds me to open myself up to belonging to the world...and the responsibilities that go along with that. To be completely honest, I am afraid to dig deep, to go there, but the surface I've scratched at over the past few years encourages me to go on.

That worship has to be based on intention and reality, though.


In my opinion, some of the problems I see in worship today happen when we lose our focus. We cling to old ways. We feed our minds but not our souls. We mingle our candles of Joys and Sorrows and the person with a struggle is left feeling unheard because we're all cooing over a child's first lost tooth. Although I've never met her, I find myself inspired time and again by the words of the Rev. Victoria Safford, minister of White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi, Minnesota:

Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope--not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges (people cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through); nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of "Everything Is Gonna Be All Right." But a different, sometimes lonely place, of truth-telling about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it will be; the place from which you glimpse not only struggle but joy in the struggle. And we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we're seeing, asking them what they see.

As a Unitarian Universalist, words like this give me hope for the future of worship that can truly "nurture the spirit and heal the world."

Creating Sacred Time

Sometimes when we are creating worship, we get caught up in the important details of the elements, the flow, whether or not everyone knows what is coming next. These things are important in building  a worshipful space and they bring meaning and value to those participating, but the most important element seems to me to be to create sacred time. Pacing that allows for a shifting of our inner clocks to a contemplative time frame is crucial in developing life-affirming worship. How do we do that?

• Rehearsing is important. Knowing that everyone is on the same page means we can focus our worship energy on building that sacred time for ourselves and others. 
• Taking a moment before worship to pray together as worship-givers can give us the perspective we need.
• Allowing empty space to co-exist with filled space can heighten the value of what is said and felt. It gives us the room we need to connect with our inner spirit, hear our soul's voice, and makes the possibility of change more real.