Meaing what we say or saying what we mean

One of the participants in the Gospel According to Starbuck's small groups I am running brought up an interesting challenge to me. She shared that it is hard for her to always say the call to worship because it does not always feel like something she is in the right frame of mind to say. For example, on a day when she is feeling down, to say that she is rejoicing in the Lord may not be true. Rather than reflecting her feelings, the prayers and call to worship seem to speak the mind of someone else. Her challenge and one that has really got me thinking is, how do we find authentic ways for people to participate in worship in way that is both real to them and yet fits with the theme and mood of worship. In more ritualized services, the words work well to create the mood and to pull people into a sense of worship. Is it better to try and have the prayer and everything create that right frame of mind. If the focus of the service is peace and justice, certainly having prayers centered around that can help create the mood for people, but is there a good way to let people acknowledge that they are not in that place. For me corporate prayers allow the congregation to participate in worship, but maybe they fail to actually let people say where they are at, and instead merely become a reflection of my mood when I am writing the prayers.

As I think about the structure of worship at Light of the Lakes UMC, it seems to me that maybe I am going about things the wrong way. There are two opportunities for people to express and/or let go of the things they are struggling with at the moment. We have a time of centering prayer and we have a time of joys, concerns, and "God sightings" (where people share how they have seen God in their lives in the last week). Both of these fall more to the middle of the service, the centering prayer comes after the call to worship and three songs; joys and concerns follow the sermon. Maybe what is really need is to move on of these to the very front of worship, so that people have a moment to shift their focus, lift up those things they are struggling with, and allow themselves to move into an attitude of worship.

I think what I continue to struggle with is the challenge of merging both the needs of the individual and the needs and feelings of the community. Finding a way to make corporate worship authentica and meaningful to the whole church and the church as a whole.