Dearest darlings,
Pacing is EVERYTHING in worship.
Remember to think, pray, feel and rehearse your way through your liturgy before you get up there, and I don’t mean just to the pulpit. I mean beginning with your entrance into the sanctuary. I mean the way you take the space before the prayers of the people. I mean your stance, your posture, your groundedness as you BEGIN to speak, not just as you speak.
Content is important, yes, but PRESENCE is more so in these times.
What you are saying about pain, brokenness, violence, grace, loss, sin, gun control, death, destruction, toxic masculinity, the seemingly pointless desire for carnage — yea, it’s helpful. The gesture of one human being who is (supposedly, hopefully) grounded in faith and spiritual practice speaking to the agony of the world is powerful, and your people appreciate it. They wouldn’t want to be the ones having to do what you (we) do week after week.
So yes, definitely craft your sermons and prayers with great care.
But don’t kid yourself that the words are what matter most.
They might.
But if you deliver them with no breath support, no attention to the way you embody what you are saying the message will be lost, or at least greatly diminished.
LEAVE SPACE FOR SILENCE.
Silence in the liturgy is NOT just what happens when you shut your pie hole. It is a space that you actually hold for the worshiping community just as a musician holds an attentive space between the notes that are called “rests.” Watch a symphony orchestra conductor sometime. She does not chill out between notes or movements of the piece. Her body is intensely engaged, her baton aloft even and perhaps especially in the rests.
And you must be that way, too. Do not ever drop the energy during the worship service.
Never.
Even if you are seated through an anthem or holding a long silence for prayer, you are the High Priest, you are the Hierophant who conducts the flow of energy between the people and the holy in that hour. Never forget that. If people are lighting candles, you are holding your body and attention in such a way as to support their intentions. You are not chilling in your chair and sitting with casually crossed legs or chatting with the organist.
Be present for all of it, even when you’re not the center of attention. From the moment you step out to begin the service until the moment you pronounce the final benediction, you are intensely, beautifully present with full energy engaged.
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