Monday, October 08, 2007
Don't Be Hasty
When a pastor rushes through the liturgy, speaking rapidly and maybe even deleting parts of the Service, what message is given to the people? That this is something to "get through." Something that takes second place to whatever comes next. If the words we hear in church actually are the most important thing in the universe -- the way we know God -- why are we in such a hurry to get done with it? Would it be too time-consuming if we had a little time to meditate on the words we pray as we say them or hear them?
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Rushing through is bad.
ReplyDeleteEven worse is skipping parts because the Sund. school kids are singing and the praise band has extra songs to play.
We were visiting relatives out of state this weekend, and away from our home church.
And this is why I don't like my congregation's new Sunday morning service schedule. There's a sense in both the planning and the execution that we have to keep things moving so that everything fits within the designated time frame. I'm just hoping this little experiment will run its course this year and we'll return to less time-conscious worship at some point in the future.
ReplyDeleteMy pastor will often do it on those midweek services... It's one of the main reason people come on Thursdays rather than Sundays! Less people = shorter communion time, and the occasional dropped part of the liturgy makes for an hour long service (or less!) for certain.
ReplyDeleteI still remember fondly the time he skipped the Gospel reading... and when I asked why- he shrugged and said he wanted to preach on the epistle.
::sighs:: I miss my church...