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The Care and Keeping of a Parish Worship Committee
By Susan Briehl
1. Begin
a worship committee
Even though a pastor and a musician are capable of planning worship,
it is more fun to include others in the work. The worship that ensues
might be richer, but more importantly the people will have a greater
ownership of this their "work." Pastors and musicians
have an important role - they are the ones most likely to have training
in the area of worship - but others bring important gifts as well,
including the experience of sitting in the pews.
Who might serve?
An artist who thinks in pictures and can help with the worship environment.
Someone who loves and understands children and can help introduce
them to and incorporate them into the ritual action and work of the
liturgy. A person who is fairly new to your church or the Christian
faith and another who has been steeped like strong tea in the tradition
for many years. Someone who has an eye and a heart for the wider mission
of the church and either sees or is willing to see the connection
between what we do on Sunday morning and our work of peace-0making,
mercy-bearing, and justice-seeking in the world.
What gifts are needed?
A passion or longing for God. A desire to learn. A commitment to
the worship life of the parish. A love of the tradition and an openness
to the future. A willingness to dare and do, fail and try again. An
ability to invite others to share the tasks, for the committee will
need the participation of many others if liturgy is to be the work
of the whole people.
2. One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one worship committee
Even if your parish needs two different musical styles on a given
Sunday, the worship of your church is one. The differences between
the two liturgies are small compared to what they hold in common:
lectionary readings, the basic shape of the rite, the liturgical calendar,
and most often the physical space for worship.
3. Take
off together.
Begin the year with an annual day-long or two-day retreat.
- Pray and sing, play, cook, eat, and do the dishes together. Nurturing
community within the committee contributes to its sense of identity
and builds good working relationships among the members.
- Teach. Do more than tell people how things "should be done." Share
the biblical sources of our liturgy, the history of practice,
the meaning of what we do on Saturday morning. The more people know
about worship, the more they enjoy planning.
- Introduce worship planning resources.
- Review the seasons and the festival and feral days of the liturgical
calendar.
- Include an overview of the major scriptural themes for the coming
year.
4. Plan
seasonally
Consider using one setting of the liturgy all through Advent, another
during Christmas and Epiphany tide, another during Lent, and so forth,
rather than using one setting on the first and third Sundays and another
on the 2nd and 4th. This helps worshippers experience the particular
texture and meaning of each liturgical season. Choose a setting befitting
the lectionary texts, themes, images of that season.
5. Look
behind as well as ahead.
Good planning includes thoughtful critique of worship. At the close
of a season, ask one another: What went well? Why? (here's another
opportunity to teach!) What is worth repeating another year? What
needs to be improved, changed, not repeated? Make good notes on these
comments. You will be delighted to find them when planning that season
rolls around again.
6. Share
the Meal
Move the parish toward weekly Eucharist at each Sunday liturgy. This
has been the basic shape of Christian worship for 2000 years. This
is the source and center of our life together in Christ Jesus.
7. Love
one another
Open the meetings with scripture and prayer. Pray for one another.
Eat together; you need to be companions on this journey. Sing new
songs and old, cherishing the gifts of the past and receiving the
gifts of the future.
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