wfn.org | Worship must emphasize God, not entertainment, leaders say

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July 19, 2001      News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202)
546-8722·Washington    10-71BP{324}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.

By Joretta Purdue*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Coming soon to a church near you: more movement and
music used in ways that promote congregational participation in worship. 

That seems to be a key direction in which worship is going, according to
United Methodists participating in a biennial worship arts convocation. 

Convocation leaders stressed that increased music and movement are not
gimmicks to be inserted at random in services, nor are they intended as
entertainment. Rather, every part of the worship service should be about
God, said speakers at the "2001/DC" gathering of the Fellowship of United
Methodists in Music & Worship Arts, July 12-17.

"Arts will be integrated in worship" so that the liturgy tutors worshippers
about being in right relationship with God, said Marcia McFee, a worship
consultant who is pursuing a doctorate in liturgical studies and ethics.

"Liturgy that embodies right relationship is inclusive," she commented. "It
needs everybody." To be inclusive, she urged worship planners to use diverse
imagery in describing the ways God loves, and to use diverse forms and
styles because people learn differently.

Liturgy that embodies right relationship is participatory, McFee said.
"Worship is not being done for us or to us." She suggested using many people
in a service so that several voices are heard.

"Liturgy that embodies right relationship will be spiritual," she said. It
"will honor God's presence in the gathered body." Because people are made in
the image of God, they are already spiritual beings, she remarked. Leaders
need to trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in the service, but they also
must be in tune with the congregation to sense when a hymn should be slowed
down or sped up or a refrain repeated an extra time, she said.

Liturgy should be imaginative and never boring, she emphasized. "To visit
the kingdom requires imagination." All styles of worship can be boring if
they are unimaginative, she said. "We must use vivid imagery."

McFee also advised worship leaders to nurture their spiritual lives and to
take a few moments, or whatever time is needed, to get in touch with their
spirituality before they begin to lead a service.

In the opening service, the Rev. Philip Wogaman, senior pastor of Foundry
United Methodist Church, said worship should be "as beautiful as it can be"
and "as sensitive to all as it can be." If one of these needs must be
subordinate to the other, let it be the beauty that is subordinate to the
inclusiveness of all, he said.

"Christ issues the invitation, but who are the mail carriers?" he asked the
fellowship members. "It is you and I." 

The Rev. Terry MacArthur, a United Methodist missionary with three
ministries in Geneva, Switzerland, urged an inclusiveness and sensitivity
that incorporate global awareness. For 12 years, he worked as a worship
consultant with the World Council of Churches, an organization of 350
churches from around the world.

"Something from a different culture may illumine something from your own,"
he observed. 

But, he cautioned, "we need to be aware of the source and the context" of
any hymn, symbol or tradition from another culture. He also warned that
expressions or symbols might have different meanings in different areas of
the world and that some of these might be offensive or inappropriate to
worship to part of the congregation.

"There are all kinds of ways to pray," MacArthur said. Members of some
faiths prostrate themselves to pray, he noted. For some, unchanging ritual
is important because it gives them space to pray, he said. Others have
different needs, but it is important that an effort is made to meet
everyone's needs and to respect different expressions and styles, he said. 

It is better, he said, to use one new symbol or action at a time and "to
fill it with meaning" but not limit it to just one meaning. "The principle
is to invite people to do, not just to watch."

"The resources for global worship are in your neighborhood if you look for
them," he emphasized.

The Rev. Irving Cotto, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Camden,
N.J., shared worship concepts from the Latino experience that he said are
not limited to Latinos but are universal. They include fiesta or
celebration, which "helps nobodies discover that they are somebodies";
"familia" or welcome to the stranger as well as members of the community;
"abrazo," which means to embrace or touch; "dignidad," the affirmation of
each person's sacred worth as a human being made in the image of God; and
"manana," an expression of hope.

Four major worship services were held during the convocation, featuring
choirs, dancers and guest preachers. The music included hymns and responses
from the new hymnal supplement, The Faith We Sing, and an array of
instruments, such as organ, drums and handbells.

The preachers included the Rev. Kyung-Lim Shin-Lee, a faculty member at
Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, who urged following Jesus in
worship and in life. "Following Jesus is not a one-time event," she said.
Living for Jesus is harder than dying for Jesus, she said.

"In Jesus' book, we are supposed to identify with those who are considered
less," declared the Rev. Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz, a staff executive with the
United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race. She preached that
Christians should be as children: playful, trusting and friendly.

The Rev. William McClain noted that in 2000, the Catholics, Baptists and
United Methodists all confessed publicly the sin of racism, but he suggested
the churches ought to be confessing the sin of having privilege also.
McClain, who teaches preaching and worship at Wesley Theological Seminary,
chaired the committee that produced the Songs of Zion hymnal.

"Part of doing justice is that we have to practice what he preach," he said.
"We cannot be in community with each other ... unless we are open to people
who are different than we are."

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*Purdue is news director of United Methodist News Service's Washington
bureau.

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United Methodist News Service
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