Worship Essential #4: Interaction—Participating in a Relationship with God and Others

(Let me apologize for taking so long to finish this section. It’s been a bit busy around here.)

It would be ridiculous to think we could love our children just by thinking loving thoughts. True parental love is expressed in daily interactions: cleaning up spills, helping with homework, steadying wobbly bikes, pushing swings, participating in umpteen “knock-knock” jokes, reading stories, giving hugs, bandaging knees, and yes, saying “I love you.” Yet, more and more, we are satisfied with a lazy, armchair worship that only thinks loving thoughts.

In this last part of the chapter, Morgenthaler points out the importance of interacting both vertically with God and horizontally with each other. In scripture, worship is always described as a verb—an action. Yet, in our culture, much of what passes for worship is extremely passive. But not only do our actions show the depth of our feelings (as in the above example of a parent) but our actions also open us up to God and to others.

So Morgenthaler suggests worship planners ask themselves these six questions every time they plan worship:
1. What is the one thing people can do for themselves this week that we as a worship staff typically do for them?
2. In what small way can we encourage people to externalize what they feel internally?
3. What can we do to begin redistributing the “active worship space” so that worship becomes more of a “whole room” versus a “platform” activity?
4. As a worship staff, what is the one thing we can do this week to become more “invisible”?
5. What combination of the arts can we try that will involve as many of the senses as possible?
6. What kind of interactive “twist” can we put on a standard worship activity (Scripture reading, prayer, etc.)?

So—where in your particular worship service, do you see the opportunity for more interaction of the congregation with God and with others?