Sunday Morning Showtime January 31, 2008
Posted by Gordon in Worship.Tags: Christian entertainment, experiencing God, nervous pastor, Sunday morning worship, Worship service
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Here’s a secret few people in my congregation know: most Sundays I’m so nervous before the service starts that I have to go to the toilet twice. In fact, I get the same feeling as I do on race mornings when I run marathons. There’s a number of reasons for my Sunday morning ablutions, and not all of them are good.
The first reason I’ll start with is that it must indicate humility. [Having pointed to my own humility that now negates it] In fact there’s one particular elder who is in on my secret who told me that I’m the reverse of other pastors. To quote him; “when other pastors get the *****s its time for them to go, when you stop getting the *****s that’s when we know its time for you to go”. It’s at that point that I think I can handle this thing on my own and time to call it quits or go back to relying on Paul’s modus operandi: God’s power made perfect in my weakness.
It doesn’t happen on Sunday nights. The reason goes to the heart of the problem for me: the Sunday morning service in the expectations of many believers is Showtime! Sunday Morning Showtime is when the punters expect great music, good worship leading, great sermon and the highest priority of all: a great experience. This ‘experience’ is viewed as an ‘experience of God’. If the service is disappointing, then there is a price to be paid in today’s consumer driven church transfer market.
Whilst reading The Gospel According to Starbuck’s, which is filled with a lifetime of good quotes [as all Leonard Sweet books are!], this one jumped out at me as I was thinking about the year ahead:
“Rather than merely seeking experiences of God, we are invited to become living expressions of God.”
Genius. I knew it already but put like that it has simplicity which is easy to grasp. I have made it a renewed determination of mine in my capacity as a shaper of culture and assumptions, that I will continue drive this home as much as possible.
Just like the next person I like services to be inspiring and to have a ‘great experience’. I’m not putting my hand up to endure or provide boring, insipid, mediocre services. I am putting my hand up for a life that does not rely on the gathering worship to be my key experience of God. Where I come across these assumptions in the people I minister amongst I am determined to help transition them into a deeper understanding of the notions surrounding ‘experiencing God’.
Do you feel under pressure when it’s time to shine?
mate, it’s petrifying. i recently had to preach my first AM service at our church and the amont of stress that builds during that week is incredible. having said this, i don’t concentrate on the weightiness of it, it can just be too burdensome. i would prefer to focus on the truth and know that the Lord has ordained that i tell others the truth. now, in that sense i feel much more at peace b/c i know that He is with me. there is no other situation i would prefer to be in than teach the truth, but there is not other situtation i would prefer to be away from b/c of the weight and responsibility of the office.
Hi Jon
I find that the busyness of normal weekly ministry means that I have 2 shifts: Mon – Fri and all the associated pressures of counselling, meetings, pastoral issues etc – then there is the weekend shift, and even though I’m only speaking on Sunday it hangs over your Saturday like a cloud, not allowing you to truly relax and unwind.
Thankfully we have a few retired ministers and a policy whereby we give over a good percentage of the praching time to developing new preachers [students and 'lay' people].
In a week when I’m not preaching I feel liberated.
So I put pressure on myself, but I’m also pressured by lack of time, and also by the burden of expectation from people for whom all their eggs are placed in the Sunday basket in terms of connecting with God. Perhaps that’s a bit rough but you know what I mean I’m sure.
It’s humbling to know that you’ve got nothin’, but always a rush to experience being inspired despite your emptiness!
Good thoughts here Gordon I am 44 years old and am a minister in a different capacity. I go into the prisons and get to minister to a captive audience. I have found the pressure to have diminished with the time but not because of time. I recently spoke a word where the holy spirit said that many of the ministers today spend more time preparing their lips yet it is whats in the heart that the mouth can release. We need hearts prepared for ministry! I have grown into a more out of love for him type messenger that grows the more I walk with Him. It is there out of a deep Love for the Father I am able to represent Him as His friend and not His agent representing his offers. Like a lover describing the love of her life. I think too many times we minister an impression that we ourselves we are needless yet if we have no needs then there is no purpose for the supplier of our need. Some of the greatest moments of ministry for me where when I had little time to get a word ready and trusted Him to use me.
I think if we could comprehend what Paul meant when he said the life I live is Christ. I see this where it is not just Christ then being in us but also Christ as us. Where others can come to say I see you, but in so doing I experience the Lord. (Christ in you reconciling the world unto Himself)… just some thoughts.
you brother in His Blood
John
G’day John
Thanks for your insights – I will reflect on them.
I do enjoy the occasions when I just junk everything I have prepared because of a sense that something different is needed.
It’s scary to do that when there’s little time left, but then you tend to experience the reality of what Paul said when God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.