[Access] 26 Suggested Do's and Don't in Crafting and Leading Worship

[David Gilmartin]

Here's a digital version of this excellent list. I also have it  
available as a Word document, and could also convert it to a .pdf  
file, if anyone wants it in those formats.

David G.



Twenty-Six Suggested Do’s and Don’ts

In Crafting and Leading Worship



DON’T begin: “As I was pondering what to say . . .” Just say it.  
Exception: where the pondering is an integral part of your story.

DON’T run to the dictionary for a definition. It’s become a cliché.  
Etymologies are fine. But “Webster’s tells us . . .” is a bore.

DON’T apologize. You’re a child of God, or the universe. There is  
nothing to apologize for.

DO take care of your congregation. They are really yours; they have  
placed themselves in your care for an hour. Some are hurting. Some are  
angry. Some need sympathy, others to be challenged, others just to  
laugh, or cry. Try to make worship a safe place for them all.

DO run your creations by others, a few days in advance. Listen. Probe  
(softly) for reactions. Accept. With joy in your heart, steal!

DO over-practice. DON’T try to wing it until you’ve been doing this  
every week for, say, ten years. Maybe not even then.

DON’T draw attention to yourself. The message counts, not the messenger.

DO, however, share something of yourself in worship. If you can, try  
to say something that costs you something to say.

DO take risks, provided you can do so worshipfully. Dare. Have faith  
that things will work out. If you don’t have faith during worship, why  
are you up there?

DO be brief. Each time you open your mouth to speak, 100 or 200 others  
must keep theirs shut. (They are not, however, required to listen.)  
Leave them asking for more, not wishing for less.

DO pray or meditate beforehand, if that is your inclination. You need  
all the help you can get.

DO remember what you are there for, and what you are doing in the  
chancel. The call to worship, for example, first and foremost calls  
the faithful to worship. For a reality check on your brevity, clarity,  
and eloquence of your call to worship, compare it with that of the  
bell in the belfry.

DON’T feel it’s necessary to reinvent the wheel. Originality in  
worship is no special virtue. Familiar language, like an old shoe,  
soothes and reassures.

DON’T assume everyone knows what you are talking about. Practice the  
art of tactful introductions: “Some of you may know . . .” Invite the  
whole congregation under the tent.

DON’T put anybody down, including yourself. The God, if there is a  
God, who loves you, if He loves you, if He is a he, might be offended.

DO respond to whatever truly unusual happens during worship. If a  
person in a wheelchair enters through the side entrance in mid- 
service, there is no need to pay special attention. If the goat with  
that person wanders into the chancel and starts eating the flowers,  
you have no choice but to pay attention. Appropriately acknowledge the  
intrusion, and move on. (DON’T try to improvise a ritual sacrifice. It  
might be OK to make a joke about the goat. Just don’t ignore it.  
Worship is not about pretending the world is other than the way it is.  
Good worship faces facts.)

DO relate all past and future, all anecdotes and tales and schemes and  
visions to the present, right here, right now. Let worship make a  
practical difference among your congregants: let it influence some  
choice they make, some real part of their lives. Otherwise, why bother?

DON’T overexplain or reflect on the service: avoid excessive “What  
we’ll do now is . . .” Worship is creation, not commentary, it’s  
action rather than criticism. Just do it!

DON’T reintroduce that which the order of service has already fully  
introduced. The order of service is carefully put together, and exists  
for a reason. Let it do its job.

DO know why you are doing each thing in the service that you are doing.

DO NOT, however, always yield to the urge to explain why you are doing  
it, unless explaining strengthens the point. And DO NOT yield to the  
temptation to explain why you chose to do it in this way rather than  
some other way. The world doesn’t care about the birth pains, all it  
wants to see is the baby.

DO accept that in most worship services many small things are bound to  
go wrong, and yet at the same time, mysteriously, nothing whatsoever  
will go wrong. Whatever you do with a worshipful attitude will work  
out fine.

DO invite, encourage, suggest ways in which the congregation can  
participate in worship. Example: suggesting a particular way to sing a  
hymn. “Suppose we try the first verse softly and the last verse with  
gusto.” A useful word: “Let’s”.]

DON’T, however, compel or require one exclusive way of participating.  
Respect the tenderness and privacy of each congregant’s individual way  
of worshipping. Gently coach, but try not to cheerlead.

DO consider multiple invitations. The center can be approached from  
the North, East, South, and West, not to mention outer space and the  
core of the earth. For example: “This hymn is new for us and may be  
hard. If you like, just savor the words to yourself, or listen along  
for a verse or two before you join in with us.” Second example:  
following the embracing meditation, “For the names which have been  
spoken, and for those that remain in the silent sanctuary of our  
heart . . .” Third example: the Water Communion service where some are  
fishes in the stream of life, some are frogs, others reeds, still  
others currents – “and if you don’t care to stand up, feel free to be  
a rock [relieved laughter].” All may be worthy, but all still need to  
be made to feel welcome. In the service, as you worship, gather your  
flock.

DO take pains. Attention to details equals love.
















Assembled by Rick Koyle, from many sources including:
Mark Belletini
Janne Eller-Isaacs
Rob Eller-Isaacs
Judith Hunt
Heather MacLeod
Rebecca Parker
Maud Steyaert
The class in Worship at Starr King, Spring ’93, and
Worship Associates and Summer Worship Participants past and present

Prepared for distribution at
The Worship Retreat
First Unitarian Church of Oakland (Unitarian Universalist),
June 10-11, 1994
  
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