Talking Together in Worship

Note to the reader:  I realize I have not blogged in a while.  With my last blog, October 18, 2011, I completed my studies on the Millennial Generation.  I have since moved on to a study of Contemporary Preaching.  My new study involves reading a book that offers a new take on preaching.  I then try out some of my insights in a sermon for my congregation.  This is proving quite interesting and may be helpful to those wanting to engage the next generation in meaningful worship.  I have decided to use this blog to share my thoughts.  Here we go…

Doug Pagitt in Preaching Re-imagined, suggests that contemporary preaching is greatly enjoyed by many Christian people but is largely ineffective.  Pagitt says “Christians continue to struggle with what it means to live in the way of Jesus” (p.19) and this is evidence of the insufficiency of preaching.  Pagitt believes the basic problem is presenting the Pastor as the single expert on matters of faith and Biblical interpretation.  The sermon, Pagitt says, has evolved into a Sunday morning speech  supposed to impart the wisdom of the scriptures and bolster the faithful enabling them to live well their Christian lives.  Pagitt calls the practice, “Speeching.”  The problem with speeching, Pagitt maintains, is the lack of communication between the preacher and members of the congregation.  Pagitt believes pastors don’t really know what’s happening in parishioner’s lives and so can’t speak to the very specific concerns of those in the pew.  Additionally, Pagitt maintains that if we fully subscribe to the doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers” then it is time pastors engage other believers in the discussion about what the Bible means and how we are to apply it to Christian faith.

The cover of his book says it all.  A very enthusiastic preacher sits on a couch with a megaphone to his mouth.  He is turned to the woman at the other end of the sofa speeching hopefully to her.  She is turned away looking irritated and bored.  On the back cover the image is transformed.  The preacher has lost his megaphone.  He and the woman sit facing each other, engaged in animated conversation.

As an alternative to speeching Pagitt advocates what he calls progressive dialogue.  Pagitt wants preachers to find creative ways to engage the thoughts of those who attend a worship service and to allow the sermon to develop out of conversation.  Although Pagitt never sets out to suggest “how to” make all this happen, he gives hints as to how progressive dialogue is worked out in his Minneapolis congregation, Solomon’s Porch.  The process for creating the sermon actually begins on Tuesday night at Bible Study.  All in the congregation are invited to join the pastor in a study of the next Sunday’s topic and related scriptures.  Out of the conversation an approach to the coming Sunday’s dialogue is developed.  

Worship at Solomon’s Porch is set in the round.  The congregation sits in couches around the edges.  Although it is unclear how Solomon’s Porch enables participants to be physically heard in their space, Pagitt makes an impassioned plea for group microphones to be available for those who wish to speak during the gathering.  Pagitt says he usually begins the sermon, shares some initial thoughts about the scripture and gives context to aid its interpretation.  Then the sermon is thrown open to the congregation for a sharing of ideas and dialogue.  Sometimes Pagitt will wrap it up and sometimes not.

I struggled reading Preaching Re-imagined.  I disagree preaching is largely ineffective and that pastors are not involved with their people and so unable to speak to them.  Perhaps this is problematic in larger congregations.  I also, admittedly, was put off by the term, “speeching.”  I suppose that was Pagitt’s intention.  My own preaching style (without notes, and out in front of the chancel) is much more conversational than Pagitt envisions as typical.  Although I struggled with his critique, I was taken with Pagitt’s assertion that saints in the pews have valuable wisdom to offer one another and this is a largely untapped resource for the encouragement of faith.  In my experience the good people of my church often are thoughtful and faithful in many ways.  

With this in mind I approached my worship planning team about encouraging conversation and sharing in an upcoming sermon.  My team immediately rejected offering an open microphone and community discussion.  However, they were open to the idea of small group sharing within the context of worship.  My only concern was that the impact of the wisdom shared would be limited to the handful of people involved in any given conversation.

On the day of my “new sermon” I was met with a good crowd.  Having told my congregation in advance a little of my plans, they were in attendance and ready to experiment.  They are such a fun group!  I had announced through Facebook and our Web site that the topic was “faith and doubt” and offered a couple questions for them to think about in advance.  I am well aware that introverts often need time to consider a problem before they are comfortable speaking.  I set up the conversation, introduced them to the disciple Thomas and asked my questions: “What causes you to doubt God?  and… “What helps you have faith in God?”.  My people turned to their neighbors in the pews, shifted a few seats and began what looked like animated discussion.  Seeing I now had nothing to do, I went and joined a group.  I listened a bit, asked questions, and moved on to another group.  At this point I fell upon how I might enlarge the conversation.  When I pulled everyone back together, having listened to some of their conversations,  I was now in a position to share what I was hearing around the room and did so.  I admit I had planned the ending of the sermon.   It did not entirely progress from the small group conversations.  However people related my planned remarks and their conversations expanded what I had to say in the remaining moments.

I was pleasantly surprised at the end of both worship services by the positive reactions to group conversation within the sermon.  I did not do a formal evaluation, but people came to me with comments over coffee hour.  They said how much they enjoyed talking with others in their small groups.  They spoke of stories told and faith shared.  There had been unexpected testimony and encouragement to the community.

Doug Pagitt says every congregation has to work out for themselves how best to involve their people in dialogue about their faith.  I suspect I would never be comfortable with the laissez-faire style of Solomon’s Porch, but Pagitt has stretched my imagination as to what’s possible.  We will “talk together” in worship again.