“You want me to say what?”
I remember clearly the emotion being conveyed, and I remember clearly the words. A middle-aged woman, having lingered toward the back of the receiving line one Sunday morning, wanted me to know that she did not appreciate my liturgy. “You put words in my mouth that I would never say. I loved the sermon, don’t get me wrong, but the congregational prayer used language I would never use, and I didn’t feel like it was me offering that prayer to God.”
That really hit home for me. It wasn’t just an arrow; it was a howitzer that exploded right in the middle of my smug erudite liturgical refinement.
For several years in my early ministry, I was insecure about leading worship. I was a rookie and I needed help from the experts. So, I purchased liturgical resources for the lectionary seasons. Usually these would match up fairly well with my scriptural themes, and I could simply retype them into my order of worship. (Yes, this was before computers.) In those days, we didn’t expect liturgy to sound conversational. It was a lot more high church. We frequently used “thee” and “thou” with an occasional “whither” and “thine”. People were used to it. No one complained. It was easy. Also, it was lazy.
But this woman was new to worship – raised by wolves, or non-worshipers – and she wanted her worship to make sense to her. She didn’t know a doxology from a dachshund. But she knew that she wanted liturgy that she could read with spiritual integrity. That was daunting! It flew in the face of all that was holy in the Book of Common Prayer, or the United Methodist Book of Worship.
Then it hit me. All these prayers, all this liturgy, was really a new thing. Jesus didn’t speak English, didn’t write liturgy, didn’t wear vestments or robes. When he taught people to pray, it was simple and short and covered all the bases. Think of it: Jesus said, “When you pray, say this: “Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name.”
He didn’t say, “Most wonderful gracious and forgiving all-powerful non-gender specific spiritual entity, who resides in the spiritual realm of heaven, we hold your very name in the highest most holy regard.”
In a concise economic format he told us to pray with reverence and contrition, requesting only sustenance, forgiveness, and wisdom. What more is required?
But Jesus also listened to the request of his disciples, “Teach us to pray.” So, he gave them simple words that they could easily say, remember and emulate. What he taught them, and us, was to pray humbly from the heart, to a parent who cared to listen.
Let’s keep that in mind when we write the call to worship, the congregational prayer, the prayer of dedication, affirmation, etc., so that people learn from what we are saying and that some of the words that we write may end up in their hearts and prayers in the future.
There are three significant trends that also speak to this shift toward more familiar prayers:
First, even though we have observed that more formal worship settings are losing attenders at a much faster pace than other churches, we have felt a strong denominational advocacy to move toward “high church” worship forms. Time and again, pastors insist that this is the preferred form for worship, even as the decline in worship attendance accelerates downward. There is a stubborn reluctance to change.
Second, many growing non-denominational churches have moved away from corporate prayers entirely. Prayers are offered by leaders. They intentionally do not put words in other people’s mouths. The prayers that are offered are easy to understand, almost conversational. These churches have also thrown off many of the standard formal trappings of worship: calls, Gloria Patri, Doxology, creeds, affirmations, etc.
Third, people are reading less. Much communication today takes place in tweets, or Facebook comments: short pithy communications that make a single point. Very few people even read books or newspapers anymore. Long, in-depth, written communications are a thing of the past for many.
I am not advocating we remove all liturgy or abandon the classic elements. Every pastor must decide on their own worship style, format, and level of formality. However, recognizing the trends working against you, I do encourage you to consider changing your worship liturgy: Keep it timely, familiar, simple and on-point. Here is one example:
The Call to Worship; traditionally a short responsive reading that invites people to move from the concerns of the week into this special time of worship. Have fun with this! Imagining that July 4th was last week, I might do something like this:
Leader: We gather today having enjoyed wonderful picnics and amazing fireworks.
People: We celebrated our allegiance to our country with fantastic and fun parties.
Leader: Now, on Sunday, we come to celebrate our allegiance to God in Jesus Christ.
People: We recognize the awesome, amazing and wonderful everyday gifts from God; flowers and birdsong, cloud forms and sunsets.
All: This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and give thanks for it.
Pray with words that your people might speak every day. They will feel that they are speaking to God and they will learn how to speak to God in their daily lives.