Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims
E (Experiential) – P-I-C
Experiential Worship
Something is missing.
We’ve lost something in the grand scheme of corporate worship. Symptoms include: young church widows, disproportionate presence of older generations, sleeping teenagers, lack of non-Christian attenders. Worship is supposed to be a time to gather with other people to encounter our Triune God in the mystery of his sacramental presence, in the retelling of Jesus’ story complete with his gracious promises to us, and in the encouragement and love of the community. Is this what everyone experiences? Or are people content with just showing up and ‘going through the motions’?
As I reflected on the church I pastor and on my past church experiences, I realized that the two times I have felt most uncomfortable in church were when worship was too touchy-feely and when
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worship was too dry. That’s why I resonate with Sweet’s comment:
Worship must make people furiously feel and think!
One or the other isn’t good enough. Simply repeating the Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, the kyrie, et. al. aren’t enough for this generation. Do people know about the communal nature of these things throughout history? Do they feel a connection with the people sitting in the pews next to them as they speak together?
And it’s not just about the experience of the liturgy – what about the total experience of attending worship? Sweet also reminds us,
The encounter, the experience is the message!
Have you ever been to a church service where you don’t remember what the pastor said in the sermon, but you sure remember how some people were really unfriendly (or friendly) to you when you walked in the building? More than the propositional truths explained in worship, our total experience of ‘church’ is what we remember.
If our message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how are we making sure that the experience of worship for visitors & members alike matches the boundless servant love of our message?
Tags: Christ, community, EPIC, Experience, jesus, Leonard Sweet, paradigm, Worship