A Worship service is a kind of Holy Visit, in which we enter into a place to spend time with God: by our rituals, by our singing, by our sharing time and common heart with our neighbours.

 

Here the leaders act as “host”, helping all those who have gathered feel at home, find their place and join together in celebration. With music as the invitation, the worship flows, drawing worshippers into the heart of the visit and allowing them to leave it, as it ends.

 

Come join Linnea Good, to expand your ability to lead in worship from the heart, with sensitivity, intimacy and integrity. Explore the kinds of music that fit best at beginning, middle and end of the service, strategize about how to introduce new music to a sometimes resistant congregation, try out ways of using music to enhance calls, prayers, scripture presentations, silence, leave-taking.

 

Expect to sing copiously and take away usable music and worship resources.

 

Further Details

There is a flow to our traditional  - or any good - liturgy that mirrors the flow of any good visit with a friend.

 

There is a beginning in which we greet and find our place, a middle in which we are able to be deep, vulnerable and receptive, and an ending in which we re-emerge from the intimacy and prepare to go back out into the world. When planning worship, attention should be given - as we would in our own home - to the kind of intimacy and energy that we expect of our "guests" at any time in the service. In so doing, people feel safe, comfortable and willing to enter the liturgy.

 

Inattention to this results in an agenda-like worship whose "pieces" might all be excellent, but which will not succeed in inviting people in. Linnea helps worship planners (both word and music) to assess their own usual service in light of this approach, and then to see how music in particular (but also word, prayer, silence and other elements) can be a helpful tool.