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

[leslie gilbert]

Thanks for taking the time to do this, David. 
 
Leslie


From: davidgil at comcast.netTo: access at uueugene.org; slandale at yahoo.comDate: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:50:57 -0700Subject: [Access] 26 Suggested Do's and Don't in Crafting and Leading WorshipHere'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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