Friday, June 5, 2009

A Volley from the Canon, #53

THE MAIN EVENT

One of many things I’ve always liked about parish ministry is the variety of activities one gets to do. Clergy can manage their own schedules to a great extent, and no two days of a week need be quite the same. That really helps in keeping things fresh and interesting. The down side, though, is that it can be challenging to stay focused. It is easy to get pulled in one direction and another.

With more on the to-do list than one can shake a stick at, it takes discipline and resolve to stop shaking sticks long enough to put quality time into the things that matter most—especially when everything seems to matter so much and demand so much attention.

People certainly matter enormously, and their urgent pastoral needs often trump other obligations. In the end, though, it is important for both clergy and lay leaders to realize that what happens in church on Sunday morning is nearly always the most important event in the life of a congregation in any given week, the one most impacting the lives of the people and the future of the church. Sunday liturgy, particularly the Eucharist, is the Main Event. It deserves careful and prayerful planning, attentive communication with worship leaders, and even intentional rehearsal. Our prayer book worship, prescribed as it is, may seem to be predictable and rote. In presentation, however, it is imperative that it be experienced as anything but! Keeping it fresh week by week does not happen by accident, but only by taking the time to ponder, wonder, and pray in preparation.

People have plenty they could do with a Sunday morning, including say their prayers from the comfort of their own beds. Those who get up and haul their carcasses to the church deserve to be rewarded with something special and inspiring. Worship that expects encounter with the Holy One is the most effective evangelism, spiritual discipline, pastoral care, and Christian formation experience a congregation can offer. No demand on a church’s ministers’ time is more important than that.