Sunday, July 31, 2005

A Little Spirit, Please

I love the local church congregation that I belong to. I love the people there. I love the openness and friendliness that exists. I love that our leaders aren't afraid to talk about grace and the Holy Spirit, two subjects that seemed to be somewhat taboo in the much more conservative churches I grew up in.

That said...I'm a little bored with the church "service" right now. Maybe it's just a phase; I don't know. Maybe I've become so used to having outstanding preachers and praise team and elders that I'm taking them for granted.

But this morning I was thinking about how structured our church service typically is. We even have a name for it, the "Order of Worship." I don't mean to pick on my particular congregation--I know that probably 99% of other churches of all denominations out there tend to have a very structured service--but there are times when I wish we did less planning and more spontaneous worship.

Don't get me wrong and think that I think we should toss out all our preprinted bulletins and cancel the weekly praise team rehearsals and all that. There is definitely something to be said for having orderly worship; that was one of the problems that Paul addressed with the Corinthian church.

However, I think there is a difference between having an orderly worship and having an order to worship. Perhaps I'm splitting hairs here. Or maybe I'm too focused on what we're doing regarding worship rather than on Who we're worshiping. But I must confess that I'm a little tired of the same two songs, "opening" prayer, three more songs, Lord's Supper, song, sermon, invitation song, and closing prayer and maybe a song to round things out. Is it just me?

Just wanted to vent a moment. Thoughts?

2 comments:

Donna G said...

I am with you....It seems like spontaneous testimony or praying for someone, deeply praying for someone, needs to be part of our assembled time. We get so carried away with the "decent and in-order" that we miss the "spur one another on"...sometimes I need spurring!

Anonymous said...

oh goodness, amen, lisa! totally on the same page right now 100%. i'll not get started on that whole thing, besides, that's what i've been blogging about lately.