Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

April 2010

Each Sunday, when you enter the sanctuary for worship, our ushers hand you what is usually a couple of printed sheets of paper, stapled and folded in half. Different churches call this different things – bulletin or order of service. Whatever they call it, its intent is to fill you in on what will be going on in church that Sunday, but it’s more than that, too. It is also a theological document of sorts. For, by the elements it includes and the order of those elements, this document describes what is important to that religious community and what it hopes to achieve in its services. This month I thought I’d share with you some thoughts about why we order our worship services the way we do.

We are a community working toward a common purpose. So, worship at our church follows a rhythm and invites people into experiences to encourage certain habits of mind and heart that we hope will support them here and in their lives beyond and to help them serve the values that we honor and promote.

In our services, you’ll note that what happens on Sunday is organized into four parts: Gathering, Shaping Our Community, Reflecting, and Going Forth Together. First, we gather after arriving from our individual lives. We start with the ringing of the chime, which calls us to end our conversations or private reveries and join as a community. In the Welcome, our church is introduced to visitors and guest speakers are introduced to the congregation. Important announcements or pastoral concerns are shared.
The prelude carries us into our regular worship time and we move into shaping our community. We light our chalice with words composed for the occasion and then join in singing an opening hymn, all intended to remind us why we are here and to introduce us to the theme of the day. What follows is a section that helps weave us together as a community. This is an opportunity for child dedications, stories for all ages, new member welcoming, teacher installations, and so on.

From there we move into the work at the heart of our church: reflecting on issues of concern to our life and faith that are central to the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. A significant piece of music, a period of spoken and silent meditation and a reflective hymn center us and prepare us to receive what the worship leader of the day has prepared. Readings from different sources of wisdom and a musical anthem set the stage for the sermon, which is the central moment of our service. It represents the worship leader’s best effort to name the truth as he or she sees it, words that give us what Ralph Waldo Emerson called “life passed through the fire of thought.” The offering, where we present our financial gifts in support of the congregation and its work, closes this section.

Having been joined as a community, a hymn, closing words, our closing song and postlude prepare us to go forth, affirmed in the values we hold and our commitment to this community.

Our order of worship is not fixed in concrete. It changes as the needs of the community change. And, indeed, I’ve been in conversation with our Worship Associates about making some adjustments, such as possibly separating the lighting of candles of joy and concern from the offering time. I’m always interested in your thoughts about what works and what doesn’t in our worship. So, please feel free to share any thoughts you may have.