From the Minister I found it very helpful to attend the recent education session led by the Rev Ray Gormann on ‘Understanding The Liturgy’ (along with around thirty-five other members of the congregation!)

In Ray’s presentation, he explained to us that when we gather for worship, we are taking part in a Drama, with a beginning (The Gathering of the People), a middle (The Word), and an end (Response to the Word), culminating in the Blessing and the Sending of the people.

It got me thinking!

Dramas usually have one or more actors, an eager audience, and sometimes a prompter to help the actors remember their lines. In that case, when it comes to the ‘Drama of Worship’, perhaps we could say that it is the Minister who is the actor on stage, it is the congregation who make up the eager audience, and it is God who is behind the curtain prompting the Minister’s performance.

As a Minister, I rehearse as well as I can, looking to God to help me. As the spectating audience, we cheer or boo (silently of course!) the actor on stage and decide if we like how well they perform. We will then consider whether or not we come back again next week. Perhaps we prefer different ministers leading our worship from time to time so we get a bit of variety in the performance each Sunday. In the nineteenth century, a very well-known Christian teacher told his congregation that this understanding of the drama of worship is actually ‘upside down’.

When it comes to Christian Worship, he explained,
• the actor on stage, performing the drama, is not the Minister but the Congregation!
• the audience is not the Congregation but God!
• the ‘prompter’ is not God but the Minister!

I wonder how that might turn us and our thinking about Sunday worship ‘upside down’?
See you on stage on Sunday! …I’ll be behind the curtain!
Blessings, Randall