At the top of our weekly Sunday bulletin you'll find these words: "We reserve the right to change the order of service as the Spirit leads." I'm going somewhere with this so follow the journey.As with most chuches there are certain elements that make up our Sunday worship time. There are things that we do pretty much every Sunday. We have a time of welcome and greeting where we get to exchange handshakes and hugs with each other. We have a time of singing which will include at different times hymns, choruses and contemporary praise & worship songs. We like to call it "blended worship." We receive tithes and offerings. There is our pastoral prayer time. There's the reading of Scripture. We also take time to go through some announcements.
I have the privilegde of being very involved with the order of service each week, and each week I begin with what I call a "blank page." Even though the elements of the service may not change much from one Sunday to the next, where they actually happen during the service is up for change each time. But because I try to be sensitive to the "flow" of the service there are certain things I don't like to do. For example, I like to put the announcements at the front or the back of the service, before we start singing, or after the message is done. Once we've sung some songs and are in that place where singing to God takes us, I don't like to interject announcements until after the message. That's just me.
This Sunday we had everything in the order we set, and things began to happen. Two members of our praise team were involved with a car problem and were running late.We also had some choir members with issues that put them behind schedule. It was messin' with our plans.
Thanks to a worship leader who wasn't rattled, a pastor who was ready to go with the flow, and a general sense of God's sovereignty among those involved in the worship ministries that day, service went on and God was honored.
This may seem like a small thing, but for me it was a reminder that God can and will work in us and through us regardless of what's happening around us. The next time it may be a bigger thing. No problem. We reserve the right to change anything, even our very lives, as the Spirit leads.
Pastor Sam,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog and I am blessed by your commentary. As far as today's topic...I have always thought that the "as the Spirit leads" was just an excuse to not be prepared... and sometimes it is. How is it in some churches service runs without a blip...people get there when expected and if they don't the congregants aren't aware because the backup plan is seamless. Is the Spirit not leading behind the scenes in those situations? Is it possible that those of us who tend to run a little behind know that "as the Spirit leads" will cover our lack of discipline. I am not saying there aren't valid delays or that God doesn't sometimes supercede our plans but he is also a God of order
At our assembly "as the Spirit leads" is not meant to be an excuse for not giving pre-thought to our worship, nor is it meant to be an excuse for those who meander in any time they choose. It is meant to convey the idea that God can at any time change what we have planned to accomplish what He wants to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that most times changes in the service come about because of some glitch we didn't expect. For example: technical problems with the music that cause us to push something back until we get it working; somebody participating in the service who arrives late, etc.
I have on other occasions had experiences of a different kind. For example: praise and worship was such that the pastor who was scheduled to teach (Dr. Jim Woods of El Shaddai Christian Assembly) felt led to let the praise team continue to minister. We worshiped God through our singing for about an hour. Dr. Woods never did deliver the scheduled message.
Someone else in his position may have done things differently and you can question whether or not he was being "Spirit led" but what you can't question is his commitment to allowing for change and his willingness to deviate from the script. That's why it's important to have worships leaders and pastors who seek a sensitivity to the Spirit and are willing to let those who are ministering do just that: minister. We really don't need an "M.C." on Sunday mornings.
There should be no throw away time on Sunday. Everything should be important because everything is a part of the day's worship experience. Greeting time is important. Singing is important. We should want to be there and on time for everything because it's our offering to God.
You're right. God is into order. Sometimes it's just not our order, but His. Thanks for your input.
Love the post... as a "freestyle" theologian, i think this touches an important area that is often missed or misunderstood. For me, "as the spirit leads" is not about lack of preparation at all. Jesus is the prime example. He is one who obviously knew and had studied scriptures very well, but when he ran into specific people in specific situations and contexts, he contextualized a message that met them where they were at in the moment. He did not have a one size fits all ministry approach. He really allowed the spirit to tailor his message to his particular audience. In Luke 4, He gives credit to the Spirit being upon him in his ministry, as he carried his very personal and intimate message.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Genesis 1 gives us an image of a God of order, in which everything has its place. Yet we also see God through his son Jesus Christ not always have such a classical approach, but somewhat of a jazz approach to his ministry. For me, that means not necessarily finding a "balance" of both but always being prepared and having plans ready and at hand yet allowing God to rearrange those things in the moment, so that He can again and again incarnate into our contexts and lives.
Yeah, I'm lovin' this too.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to consider another aspect of being "Spirit led."
There have been times in my life when I was one hundred percent convinced that I was following the Spirit's lead. You couldn't have told me otherwise. But then something would happen that would make me question. It would go something like, "If that was God, then why did ....." I call it the trap of situational theology. That's where I let my situation dictate whether or not God is in the mix.
Listen up: your situation is not the proper barometer by which to gauge God's movement. If Joseph in a pit used his situation as a test of the Spirit's activity in his life, he would have come to the conclusion that his dreams would never come true. (I'm not sure who that last bit is for, but I felt led to write it.)