Good worship is participatory.
Services are not about me.
They’re about us, and what we’re building together. They’re about what we want to say—to newcomers, to ourselves, and to people who’re thinking about leaving.
Good worship should be inclusive, multisensory, and participatory. That means I want us to laugh, to cry, to sing, to dance, to clap, to call out—however the spirit moves you. I want everyone to be engaged, whether it’s as a worship associate, an usher, or just sitting in the pews giving thanks for another day. And that means EVERYONE, from the littlest ones toddling down the aisle to the elders who remember when the church was a single building in the middle of a field.
Features of my worship services include:
Simple, direct language, so that the service can be accessible to as many people as possible.
Singing and music: sung hymns, special music from the choir and/or special performers, drumming—whatever it is that moves, engages, and evokes emotion in people.
A Time For All Ages—working with the religious educator(s), of course—so that families can spend more time together and we can learn what it means to be part of a multigenerational community.
Space for contemplation, or as Mr. Rogers might say, “the gift of a minute” to pray, meditate, grieve—or simply breathe.
Inclusive language, to bring us closer to that Beloved Community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
Humor; because if you’re laughing, you’re paying attention!
Special rituals to mark special occasions in the life of the congregation and/or the congregation’s history: Water Communion, Fire Communion, Samhain, Child Dedications, Rev. Martin King Luther, Jr. Day, Earth Day…and anything else that we believe, as a community, is worth paying attention to.
Because in worship, we give worth to what matters to us.
(My most recent worship services can be found at the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship’s YouTube Channel. I especially recommend Shifting Baselines, Confucius Says, and A Tower of Spaghetti and Marshmallow.)