Congregational Life Centre
Our mission is to assist congregations to be more
effective in their ministry
Beyond the Hymn Sandwich
Good Advice from Linnea Good - story by Centre Staff
Linnea Good led much of the music and several worships at Epiphany Explorations. She has the ability to truly involve an audience. She is also very talented and shared with us the insights her concert experience provides for the whole process of leading worship.
Linnea suggested it is time to replace ineffective models for worship. Too much of main-line worship is what she called Compartmentalized. It moves from one unconnected phase to another taking the participant on an emotional roller coaster ride. It is more commonly known as the "hymn-sandwich."
High-hype worship has an emotional tone that goes up and then flattens out because the leadership can't get the hype any higher. The most deadly of all church experiences is Palliative worship where the energy level does nothing but drop.
What Linnea advocates is an energy flow in worship that emulates what she knows works well in musical concerts. As we come into worship there is usually a sense of excitement and anticipation. We greet one another and feel connected to the community. Linnea suggests music is a good way to sustain this energy.
Worship needs to start and end on a high, but the substance of effective worship is to make a connection and have an experience of the holy.
We need to take into consideration, for instance, what we do while the children are at worship. Linnea challenges us to be very creative in how we present scripture. Some of her ideas include a scripture story, finding ways to read the scripture dramatically, sing the scripture, or create a drama. One of the things she had us do was all recite a familiar passage from memory. (We were surprised at how well we remembered the Christmas story.)
Linnea
is gifted at matching the music to the theme and mood. She used music as
background for scripture reading and dramatic presentations. Even a simple
drum being played quietly adds another dimension to a prayer or the message.
As I listened, my theological history kicked into full swing.
Friedrich Schleiermacher teaching in Berlin in the mid 1800s talked about the state of ultimate dependence as the core of religious experience. When we worship, we rehearse that God is the one on whom we ultimately depend, and that dependence is the foundation of a faith that will sustain us no matter what. A century later Paul Tillich picked up that idea in his theology, defining faith as the state of ultimate concern.
In the 1970s Bruce Reed developed a theory known as the Grubb Theory of Oscillation. His most readable explanation was published by the Alban Institute. According to this theory, human beings have needs both for work and for rest, for productivity and for nurture, and that we humans need to oscillate between the two. Bruce Reed's finding was that the deeper you oscillate into a state of extra-dependence (dependent on that which is outside yourself), the more energized you are for the remainder of your intra-dependent life - where you have to make the decisions about what you do, what you wear, what you say, and who you relate to. Worship and meditation are two places where we can go most deeply into a state of extra-dependence, dependence on God - because God is the one who is ultimately dependable. Good worship can release the energy that makes life truly worth living.
Linnea's
diagram for effective worship connects to what past theologians felt is
important. The core of the service needs to provide an opportunity for as
many as possible to move into a deeper sense of connection with God and
with one another. Rituals help this process, but we must make sure that
they are relevant for today. The worship needs to end on a high so people
can take that with them as they move back into everyday life. That means
the final hymn and words are energizing and uplifting.
Here's to the death of the "hymn-sandwich" and to creating worship where we experience our connection with God.
* * * * *
Linnea Good is a song & hymn-writer from Summerland BC. With a
Master of Religious Education degree, she is a leader in the field of music
and worship for all ages and tours much of the year, giving concerts and
leading workshops and in worship throughout North America. Her latest CDs,
Swimmin' Like a Bird and Momentary Saints were nominated for
top Children's and Christian/Gospel albums of the year by a number of Canadian
music associations. Linnea is co-author with Dr Nancy Reeves of the Adventures
of the God Detectives. Linnea, David and Nancy will tour in Alberta in Feb/March
2010. Find out where: www.LinneaGood.com