Pastor Jim Clarke Pastor Paula McCutcheon

Worship is the Work of the People

Pastor Paula

The word liturgy comes from the Greek leitourgia, which simply means the service or work of the people. "Worship is the work of all the faithful who gather to praise, honor and glorify God.” ---Marjorie J. Thompson  Soul Feast

How often do we think of worship as work?  I know I do every week.  It is work that I truly enjoy, however, it is not only my work.  As pastors we are called to begin the process of weekly worship.  We decide on a theme for the day based on one or more of the lectionary scriptures. There are times when we may diverge from the lectionary. This decision is based on our observations of the daily life of the congregation.

We ask these questions:
What is happening in the lives of those who will attend worship both personally and corporately?  What is happening in the world and how might this particular faith community respond to the needs of the world?  What is God calling us to reflect and act upon in the scriptures? 

We then spend time speaking with our music staff.  What kind of songs will bring to life the elements of faith we are bringing to being in worship? Then Joletta, our business administrator, works to put this all together finding a visual image that brings to life what we have been working on. Meanwhile we craft a sermon based on all of this work.

It is always amazing to me what will arise in terms of ideas between Monday and Thursday when the bulletin goes to print…just ask Joletta; the creative spirit often finds us changing things at the last minute.

Sunday morning arrives and we are not finished working.  We await your arrival.
The liturgy which is in print comes to life as it is read, prayed, sung, heard and embodied.
We watch your faces and listen to your voices and worship comes alive. 
It is the interaction of all gathered in the sanctuary that creates worship.

Because worship is the work of the people, our state of being truly impacts how worship is done.  Sometimes we will come filled with joy and gratitude.  We come ready to celebrate the wonderful week we have had and look forward to what will happen the coming week.  Sometimes we will come with heavy hearts, worried about the world, friends and/or family.  Sometimes we will come broken and hurting because of something we have done or which we feel has been done to us.  This is why we offer different ways of work in the liturgy.  Written or verbal prayers with the themes of confession, gratitude, and healing. Times of Silence for reflection and reconnection with God.  Songs of Thanksgiving.  Songs to heal or bring hope. Songs of justice to challenge how we live as followers of Christ.  All are offered for our work together.

Because we all come from different places, worship will work or not work for us each week.  This is where it is often difficult because worship is not just about what works for me. We worship together as community. We are called because worship is the work of the people to work for one another.  To know in our hearts that when parts of worship are not working for me that they may be working for others and vice versa.  Our hope is that our time of worship will inspire, empower, nurture, challenge and help us to live as faithful people. 

My hope is that we remember that while worship is to bring many gifts to our lives we too are called to bring our gifts to worship. When we live out this working relationship with compassion and understanding, we help each other to grow our connection to God and all of God’s creation. As this connection grows we then actively live out the teachings of Jesus, faithfully bringing peace and justice to the world.

We want to hear from you.  Please let us know how worship is working for you and how you are working for worship!

Blessings,
Pastor Paula