About a dozen people met Sunday, September 26, with Rev. Morn as the first step toward organizing a worship committee. In her opening remarks, Rev. Morn said that UNMC is uniquely positioned to do wonderful things that make a difference and reaffirmed the top priority set by the quick start workshop earlier in the month achieving a regular attendance of 100 people at worship. She noted that she has experienced many challenges in planning our worship for which she'd like the assistance of a worship committee and that the congregation needs to work on issues of structure and process related to how our worship evolves. Part of her job as an interim minister, she said, is to help our community figure out what it really wants in worship and how it wants to interact with the minister with regard to worship issues.
Participants shared their individual views on what worship is and why we do it, finding a wide range of meanings in worship: ·
“The one spiritual discipline I can do regularly.”
“Connecting with God and with the holy.”
“Fellowshipping, and a search for inspiration.”
“A time to maintain a sense of centeredness.”
“The central act of our spiritual community.”
“A time to focus on sacred goodness; renew
our awareness of that goodness, and fortify
ourselves with that awareness.”
“An opportunity to explore my faith.”
“Connectedness through time with other people's
presence.”
“Carrying on a lifelong tradition of attending
church.”
“Being challenged by the questions I should be
asking myself.”
The group also listed for Rev. Morn the worship issues that they thought deserve consideration by the worship committee:
“The role of the Declaration of Faith in our
worship and how we explain it.”
“Children's Time worship structure - What are
the essential elements that provide a foundation
for a consistent worship experience while
allowing room for innovation that keeps worship
fresh?”
“Creating an appropriate atmosphere before
worship starts.”
- Pastoral prayer/meditation
- Communion
- Hymn selections
- Inclusive language
“Occasional opportunities for repentance and
confession in worship.”
One task for the committee will be to process feedback on the use of the UUA Singing the Living Tradition hymnal (SLT) as a supplement to our red hymnal. In the past, we have occasionally used SLT hymns as photocopied inserts in the bulletin, but we now have copies of the full hymnal to try out.
Everyone is encouraged to check out a copy to take home to examine and provide feedback to Rev. Morn or the worship committee once it's fully organized.
The one change in worship that Rev. Morn has made since her arrival is to eliminate the singing of Our Fathers God to Thee each week, a worship element introduced in 1976 as part of the American bicentennial observance. She explained to the worship group that this was a theological issue for her and that she felt that singing a nationalistic song every week contradicted the aim of worship to open us up to a wider world, not a narrow one focused on just our nation.
Rev. Morn said she does plan to do things a little differently in worship from time to time and will seek feedback both from the worship committee and in a monthly after-church forum on a single worship topic, such as music, the role of prayer, or service themes. This month, she plans to introduce an opportunity for worshippers to light candles and leave prayer requests on the side altar before the service begins, so that she can include those intentions in her pastoral prayer. At the same time, the candle-lighting during the organ prelude
should contribute to an atmosphere conductive to worship.
About half of the worship meeting participants volunteered to serve on the worship committee. Rev. Morn is interested in hearing from anyone else interested in being on the committee and will be distributing information on the next meeting.