The last time Christmas Day fell on a Sunday was in 2016 and I remember the appalling feeling I had when churches began to announce that they were canceling their worship services for that week. The reason most often given was to allow parishioners and staff to spend time with their families. I was shocked…
Tag: Worship
To Pastors and Churches Having Online Worship Today
Dear Pastors Leading Worship Online Today: I see you. More importantly, God sees you. I’m in this boat with you so I’m experiencing this “new normal” with you. And, like you, I will get the experience of leading prayer, proclaiming scripture, and preaching a sermon in an empty worship space (minus two musicians and our…
Pastoring in a Pandemic
This has got to the most challenging time for ministry so far, at least in my short career. When I began candidacy and seminary, I never imagined that I would find myself ministering in the midst of a global pandemic. There were no classes offered on how to manage a congregation in the midst of…
Worship is Active Work, Not Passive Consumption
One time I overheard a conversation between two people who were discussing their churches. From what I could pick up, one went to a church within the mainline denominations and the other went to a non-denominational church. The topic of their worship services came up and the man who worshiped in the mainline congregation was…
What Does Worship Really Mean?
“Worship is when all God’s people get caught up in love and wonder and praise of God. It is not the performance of the few for the many.” – Dr. Ben Witherington III Several times, I have mentioned here that I have had a sense that we, as the wider Christian church, need to get…
Cancel Christmas?
Perhaps I’m still somewhat naive and idealistic to this whole ministry thing. I say that because, to me, some things should just not be up for debate. One of those things is having worship on Sundays unless some sort of unusual situation – such as snow emergencies which close the roads, and the return of…