conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

One of the things that I cannot shake about preaching is the strange idea that what I say in the pulpit may make enough difference to someone that they will decide either to stay or to leave the congregation on the basis of my twenty minute musing. Now, I am not (often) foolish enough to think that a sermon alone will do this. That would have to be one heck of a sermon...or one horrible sermon...But what is likely is that a sermon that creates such a strong resposnse is found within the context of other events within the life of a congregation. It is usually a combination of things working that causes such a strong response whether positive or negative.

That being said, I preached last Sunday at Reconciler and at North Shore. Today, to my great joy and surprise, some of the guests at both congregations returned today. Again, a sermon is not preached in a vacuum. Nonetheless, I am thrilled that I may have said something that encouraged someone to return, or that my sermon was not so horrific as to undermine the excellent ministry of someone else in the congregation. That is good news indeed. Y'all keep comin' back!

Now with the returning visitors at Reconciler, I wonder about our liturgical life. Music is such an important feature in the liturgical life of our congrgation. Yet, where our time is concerned, I believe I do not give it the attention it deserves. I choose the hymns every Sunday. I try to pick out reasonable sung responses, gospel verses etc. There is so much more I would like to do, but there are always limits, time constraints. But finding music that assists in expressing our faith as well as articulating God's word in a helpful way is, at times, a trick. It is not as easy as it looks. People have opinions and skill levels. I ant people to feel that they can dig into the music of a servce, pour themselves into it, lose themselves with in it. I have high expectations. What can I say?

Fortunately I am not the only one who has to figure this stuff out. I have loads of help. And as the Reconciler church council finally draws some things to a close, I am hopeful that we will find people with energy and time to give to the liturgical life our little congregation.