Wow, CH, are you ever fast to rise to the challenge!  I thought for sure that comment would languish somewhere in the electronic ether for the rest of eternity (although that may still be the case). I actually didn't expect it to be taken seriously.

I have to admit that my personal interest is in music. As an amateur musician (clarinet), music speaks to me in ways that words never will. Yet music is a very thorny issue in worship because:

1) new music isn't regarded as legitimate unless it's in a hymnal

2) many churches are restricted to hymnals because they don't have projection technology

3) much contemporary music is rejected because of copyright issues

4) much contemporary music is rejected because it's repetitive (i.e not enough verses)

5) much contemporary music is rejected because its message doesn't tie into the lectionary reading for the week (no one, apparently, is willing to try setting better lyrics to the music)

6) the feeling that "if it isn't played on the organ, it's not a hymn"

7) the difficulty in drawing together volunteer musicians with any kind of alternate instrumentation (eg guitar, percussion, winds, etc)

8) the belief that rewriting the words to an old tune produces a new hymn (so we have lots of "new" hymns, right?  - just look at all of those old hymns with altered words).

9) the difficulty of introducing music that the minister is unfamiliar with when it is only the minister who is permitted to choose the hymns

10) when music directors are hired, the first requirement is that they are able to play the organ. This skews the selection of applicants to those with a more traditional background, and tends to exclude a lot of younger musicians (since very few younger musicians study the organ professionally)

11) the lack of a "clearinghouse" facility to spread new music (as the question can legitimately be asked, where do we find new music?).

And all of this presumes that a congregation may actually be willing to incorporate **some** new music or new instrumentation.  This issue may resolve itself in twenty years after all the resistors have died. Of course, there will also be no church in twenty years because the resistors will not have handed on a sustainable church (one that new members would be willing to join) on to the next generation.

I'm hoping that I don't sound too bitter here. I've been working on this for twenty years, and any successes seem to be swamped by immediate backsliding ("oh, we tried that once......").

For many people music is a really key part of the service and hence the tendancy to not want to change.

Perhaps getting yourself onto the music committee or onto the worship committee, certainly onto Session will allow you to voice those issues.

An trial of one modern piece of music every month or even every quarter might be the aim.

Copyright is a different issue and if things need to be purchased, then they do.  All that really means is you can't afford to buy many new things.

I actually am really happy with my current church and it's service.

I adore the minister.

He gives me enough of the tradition that I crave at times and theologically is so brilliant that I am left thinking all week.

We have a student minister this year and he is wonderful.  He has such a natural gift with the kids, what a gift for whatever church eventually gets him.

One small thing I would change is Communion.  Ours is very traditional , which I like , but it is very solemn.  I wish it had more spontaneous joy.  I know it is because of the seriousness, but it is mainly due to the hymns we sing and the chant type music we do.  That is one of the traditions that the minister hasn't been able to break us of and I wish they cold be a bit more of "joy to the world"

I hope you will have a lot of response to this thread, spiritbear.

I have  noticed that at a church I went to, the choir was an entity of its own, The choir director and organist held the control.  The anthems, special music etc were in their control.  Most of the choir came only because of their spot in the bulletin. Many left right after they sang. They knew no one in the congregation and followed the director. When he left his previous church, they followed him. If he left this church, would they follow him again?

So, my thoughts are that the Worship Ctte should have more in -  put into the music selection. But I may be wrong.

Worship services are a drama thus are formed that way.  As well, like music concerts they try to create charisma --  to lift and send out.

Thus one begins in creating an open space in word, poetry and music where we shift focus - this is the meaning of entering the sanctuary.  One way is to begin in silence and then gather - through music or/and calls to worship - one thing that can included here is a responsive psalm

Music should move the people through the drama - welcome, introspection, response and sending out.

Readings belong together - followed by music

often then the children's time and then a hymn

sermon

hymn

response with offering, communion, prayers of the people and then sending out with music and blessing.

Note I use the Lord's prayer early before the children leave because this is the only time they hear it - also print it because no everyone knows it.

The prayers of the people should be ( note I use the word should) be bidding or guides not long prayers of the leader - often that is just another sermon.  let us pray for - silence - let us pray for silence.

The prayers of the people should be ( note I use the word should) be bidding or guides not long prayers of the leader - often that is just another sermon.  let us pray for - silence - let us pray for silence.- Oh, I so agree pan

They are prayers of the people not a prayer of the worship leader.

CH:

I think the church of the future will be (if it is to survive) more broadly based in its decision-making. That means more worship teams where both ordained and lay put the worship service together. (That may mean different worship teams each week, so the oversight of a Worship Cmttee would still be needed for feedback, assessment and continuity). 

When more voices are brought to the table, more can be heard. And as we have learned from biology, the more diverse a system is, the more stable it is. The loss of one component doesn't result in the collapse of the system. (Too often churches have to take a long time to recover after the loss of a long-serving minister/choir director, etc). The challenge with this model is that A) it depends on staff working together as equals and B) it gives significant power to the laity in the design of worship.  And as we know, designing worship week in, week out can be time-consuming. Do people have the time to spare? Well, after seeing the amount of time that choirs, Sunday school teachers, etc give, my experience is that people will find the time if the cause is important enough to them. Churches have to make it so.

While I tend to agree with you spirit bear there is a problem with worship committes these days - I had to fight with one member who did not want the word God to be used -  I know it takes time to help people understand liturgy and it is my job to do so, but sometimes it is easier to do it myself -  given that I still want to work with others and in a multi staff situation did.

As well there is power in some stablitiy - we do not need to create a new liturgy everweek - too much change biologically leads to chaos just as stasis leads to death.

• I think that the hymnals should be done away with.  I hate holding them and finding the songs.  I think that we should only have projections.  We should not sing all 7 -10 verses of the hymns. 
•  
• We should have organ for only funerals. 
• We should have many different music groupings and do away with the choir except for special music. 
• We should sing popular Christian songs as well as hymns.  We should not have the children's story.  Have Sunday School for the whole time and have the kids not in the service at all. 
• We should have no verbal announcements.  Announcements should be on the overhead and in the bulletin.  People can read.
• We should have Bibles in the pews so we can follow along with the scriputure readings.

That is all off the top of my head at this point.

Sure Serena - have everything on a projector so that any near-sighted people (and glasses cannot always improve vision to 20/20 or better) are left out - or people sitting at the back or at an angle where they cannot see the screen - and, I would think this would be important to a person who reads music, almost always projections are for words only - not music. 

Maybe someday, maybe already in some parts of Canada, churches will be built so that everybody can see the screen (even if they canot make out the words), and the technology perfected to a point where the music can be projected - but its not so in most of the churches in this part of Canada.

I'll stick to the hymnals - and supplements.

I wouldn't change much in the service at the church I'm attending.  The architecture leads me into worship - and the little gates on the pews are great for keeping small children in place.  The stained-glass windows are priceless.  The greeters and ushers warm, friendly and welcoming. 

The music is generally good - large choir.  And yes, we have an organ.  But we also have piano, guitar, chimes, handbells, and a delightful children's choir that sings occasionally.  The anthem is professionally done and inspiring, and as far as I know no one leaves right after the anthem (unless they are helping out in the nursery).

Candles, banners, colours add to our worship.

Sometimes we have a short skit, a litergical danse. 

Various members of the congregation participate in the reading of scripture, and sometimes in the prayers.

The sermons are well thought out, sometimes scholarly, sometimes amusing, sometimes comforting, sometimes challanging, but always reverant, and related to the scripture reading (or the other way around).

What would I change?  Maybe on communion Sundays when we go forward I would have two more communion stations - one on either side of the sanctuary as well as two in the middle - to speed it up a little.  They do have a station up in the balcony, and the choir is served.

That's what I like about Sunday service - I also like the discussion groups. the study groups, the work parties, and everything that goes on in the church every day of the week.

We should not have the children's story.  Have Sunday School for the whole time and have the kids not in the service at all.   says Serena.

Well here we go again. Over the last 20 years, children's ministry people, presbyteries and National church as well as most congregations of the United Church have struggled to   make the church experience welcome to children. There have been many steps foreward - children are now taking   communion, they are taking part in services - reading scripture, enacting scripture, providing music, providing pastoral care in differnt ways. they are a part  of the church family and to send them to the basement for the whole service does not give them any experience of corporate worship.

Do I sound passionate. It is because I am passionate. There  has to be a way for children to participate  every Sunday in worship - even if it is only for the first 20minutes or so. If children , today, have no sense of worship, how then as adults will they want to come and worship and be involved ?If the age group that is being targetted  now are apathetic, I can bet the coming generation of kids will be even more so when they reach adulthood.

I agree with you completely - I give 1 minute of silent prayer at the end of fairly brief POTP.  Folks thought it was weird at first and then really grew to like the quiet time.

The problem with church music is not whether it is in the hymnal. It is whether or not the person singing it is BE or AE. BE = Before Elvis. AE = After Elvis. People who live their lives BE do not like modern music with rhthym- they prefer melody over rhythym. . People who live in the years AE prefer music with the backbeat, which is the opposite ryhthym of church music.

Even though I am not part of the UCC, may I make a suggestion?

ADD DRUMS!!!

Sounds good to me cf

Sweet. Where should I set up?

Close to the door, in case you have to make a fast exit.

What. And leave my drum set behind?

 .

Projectors are good but there are a large number of older members in our flock (hate to call them ludites but a shovel is a shovel) who are completely against the technology.

The font needs to be of such a size that anyone can read the words and only a few lines at a time on the screen.

We also print up the order of service in large print, with the hymns, but that does not include the music.  So if the eyesight is poor and the hymn is newer than 1879, they don't know the tune and don't want to sing it.

Copyright is the worst stumbling block of all.  You can have 100 copies of VU for everyone in your congregation but that does NOT give you authority to project nuthin'.  So you pay your bucks to one of he copyright clearing houses.  Ahhh, not every hymn in VU or MV is covered.  You have to sort through song by song, and who is going to do that.  Result, while not exactly, quite illegal, you are, wellll, sort of projecting things, ummm, immorally.

But unless you go this route, as was pointed out, by the time the old farts die, they ain't no church left to pass on, because the youth have done exactly that to the church, passed on it.

IT

Russ

CF

We have a youth band called JAM, and they do have drums, and when they play, they are hard to miss.

IT

Russ

Excellent. They really rock I take it.

Forgive me for being the wet blanket, but one word comes to mind here - cosmetics. Projectors and drums and whether or not the children's time should or shouldn't be in the service - cosmetics.

I've totally lost track of the conversation in another thread with "clergychikita" but if I were asked how to transform the worship in the UCC or any other like-minded denomintion, the model she described would be the one I'd be going for.

Otherwise, I'm afraid it's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic folks,

I would be interested in hearing from any UC that have had success in attracting young families. We have two young families attending our church, with usually 4 to 6 children in sunday school. Most of the congregation is over 65 and they seem to enjoy organ music. Once or twice a year I will take my violin and do 2 or 3 hymns, which many of them seem to enjoy.  On a typical Sunday in the winter time we will have about 12 cars on front of the church. Two blocks away there will be about 30 or 40 cars around the arena.  If there happens to be a bonspeil on there will be another 30 or 40 cars around the curling rink.   We need to change the UC if we are to survive as an institution. But how?

Hello David, 

Clergychikita's post was on the "Congregational Change, Renewal and Culture Shift" thread.  I will bump it up for anyone who is interested in reading CC's comments ... P3

Golden

I think a projector is more than cosmetics.  It may be minor but it seems to me that a bunch of smiling faces singing the hymns upwards beats mumbling into the pages of a book.

But I do agree, change is required and it has to be more than changing the colour of the chairs.

IT

Russ

Hi crazyheart,

More capital "R" in reformed. 

Seriously though.  Reformation has an end in mind it isn't just some grand trek through the wilderness.  It is deliberative and to someplace specific.  Change for change sake is not reformation.  It is change. 

Rearranging deck chairs so to speak.

Knowing what you goal is for worship helps you to plan your reformation better.

So . . .

What's missing?

Too often the focus is quantity, as in how do we fill these empty seats.  That approach is always wrong-minded.  The focus needs to be on quality.  If you build it they will come.  Quality attracts numbers don't.

If I know hundreds are going to the Train Station to welcome the Queen I might be inclined to add to the throng.

If I know hundreds are going to the Train Station in an attempt to kill the Queen I'm calling the police, Crime stoppers, loading my kids in the car and leaving town.

If we take seriously the notion that Christianity is intentionally relational then it is the quality of relationships (in all dimensions) that we need to address.  Reformations in worship may help but there is only a 1 in 8 chance that it is the worship that needs the most reforming.

Assuming, with all the risks that entails, that it is worship which needs to be reformed and our goal is to increase the relational dimension these are some of the changes I would encourage.

Welcoming.

I would expect all members to do a Spiritual Gifts Inventory (NCD's 3 Colors of Ministry is the best I have seen) to determine who it is in the congregation that is particularly gifted in hospitality.

I would gather those people and brainstorm what it is that they think is the best foot our congregation has to put forward (it really is them) and how we can be more deliberate about that.

I would look through the congregation to find the most recent members who have joined or adhered to the congregation and pick their brains to find out why.

With all of that information we (the congregation) would implement as many strategies as possible (tailored to the many preferences of those who come through the door) to ensure that those who come in an want to be anonymous remain anonymous and those who need attention get attention.

We'd have refreshments available.

Name tags for our hospitality team.

Clear signs directing folk to washrooms and classrooms.

Individuals who will stick to those who need it and walk the visitor through every aspect of the service.

Individuals who will create buffer zones around visitors who do not wish to be swarmed.

Music

During the gathering time we would have a praise band warming us up.  That band would lead us into some up tempo versions of the hymns our congregation holds dear and begin to slow us down to a more contemplative speed as necessary.

The tempo would increase in the final few hymns and then after the benediction and commissioning the praise band would be let loose.

I am not opposed to fast music in worship.  Dirges have their place (it is limited).  The theology of the congregation is expressed in the hymns that it sings.  They are also part of the way that we internalize scripture so I am not giving them up for anything more happy/clappy.

There would be no choral anthem if the choir cannot pull it off.  The crackly voices of four dear old saints who can only manage to sing in the octave just below the threshhold that makes dogs howl does not contribute to worship it detracts from it.

I love the key of praise.  Paul doesn't suggest quietly and in private without good reason.  Some saints should be seen and not heard to sing.

Testimony

If we cannot share among ourselves what it is that inspires, comforts, confuses us then we will be useless trying to communicate to others the same stuff.  Every tragedy and triumph of faith that I have experienced is a tragedy and triumph that others have experienced or will have to experience as well.

If we do not talk about it none other can learn from it.

Testimony would be vetted not spontaneous.  I would probably leave the vetting to individuals gifted with discernment.  I would expect them to approach members of the congregation to see if the member is willing and to work with the member to ensure that what is said is more quality then quantity.

I'm suggesting refining of the witness not necessarily scripting the witness.

I wouldn't use the testimony time every Sunday.  I would probably use it during services when we celebrate a sacrament.

Sacraments

It is a Reformational tradition that the Sermon be the centrepiece of the worship service.  I still think that is an approach which has tremendous validity though is often underappreciated.  This may reflect more on the skills of the preacher than anything else.

At any rate a change is as good as a vacation.

The sacraments are, from a certain perspective, visual sermon and an opportunity for all of us to reconnect with the generations that have gone before and will come after.  No sacrament is steeped in one particular understanding so there are a number of legitimate aspects which each sacrament can lift up.

Speaking personally. 

I prefer the death and resurrection images contained within the sacrament of baptism and it is through that particular sacrament that The United Church of Canada focusses most of its understanding of regeneration.  So I play that up big time.

One of the things I am so thankful to Calvin and Calvinism for is imagery within the sacrament of Holy Communion which lifts the congregation up into the heavenly realm to participate in the the great end-time wedding feast of the lamb of God.

We are not, despite all appearances to the contrary, sitting in hardwood pews choking down day old wonderbread cubes and getting an insubstantial sip of warm Welches grape juice.

It is this kind of imagery which I think allows the sacrament of Holy Communion to become more of a sacrament of invitation and welcoming than we think baptism is.

Those are some of the reformations I would aim and am aiming for.

Last, but not least, reformation is not an overnight process.  If you rush it it takes on no life of its own and it will sap all of the life out of you to maintain it.  Remember the words of Gamaliel, (or at least this paraphrase) if it is of God it cannot be stopped and if it is not of God it will not fly.

Reformation is not for the moment.  It is for the generations that follow.

It will take time.  It will take sweat.  It will take tears.

It is entirely worth all of that and more.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Good post, RevJohn.  Ever think of writing for the Observer? ... P3

Great post John. Everybody can take something from it.

 lots of good posts here, and even what Serena said needs to be taken with openmindedness.  I am all for kids in worship, but I'll pull them out in a heartbeat if someone is planning a service that excludes & bores them.  People apologize to me when they don't bring their kids, and I say, more power to you.  In fact, I don't force my son to come at times because I know that a lousy experience kills God, rather than sparks it.  Adults suffer sometimes too.

So what kills Church?  Tiny Talent Time - confusing participation (adult, choir, child or otherwise) with meaningful worship sharing.  A lousy singer shouldn't sing just because they want to.  The children's choir should be abolished if there is little interest and poor leadership.  Getting Johnny to play his trombone is not a good idea if he can't play, not matter how encouraged he would be at first.  Embarrassment & memories are not helpful.  Move Tiny Talent Time to a Talent show & family supper - everyone who comes knows what they are in for, and it can be delightful that way.

What else - slow hymns.  Even crusty old ones can perk up with a good pianist & some energy.  Bad drums (sorry CF) - if it is just a basic, thumpy addition to some song, it comes across as 'bash bash bash bash' - and i'm totally into drum solos - love them!  But again - quality is very important.

Bad flow - choosing a piece of music because you heard it on the radio and it gave you shivers and you learned to play it but then injecting it into a service with a different message is dumb.  

Picking too many jumpy elements, or too many slow ones, or too many spoken ones without other senses engaged - boring or jittery.

Don't try all the time to include everything.  Communion services need to focus around communion, and if any other element needs to be included (baptism, dedication etc) - take something else out, or combine things.  Shorten the lectionary readings if they are long - yes, shorten them!!

Always start by considering the group, and considering the quiet ones who don't speak up, and the newbies who are timid - what do they need to hear this week?  how will they hear it best?  

Honour the past - (again - it isn't age, its about comfort) - past traditions soothe us and comfort us - some of us.  For some they bring back bad memories or aren't familiar at all.  So balance an old element with a newer one, or better yet explore with people why the old element is good & why the new way is good too.

Grownups shouldn't laugh very loudly at children's time - it is embarrassing for the kids.  No wonder they shrink when people laugh at them.  They aren't there to entertain you, no matter how entertaining they are.  Snicker to yourself, talk about it afterwards with a friend, and always praise the child for coming to church and being brave!  An engaged child is magical & shows that something holy has happened - don't crush it!!!!  

the screen is a tool to be used properly - skip the silly fade-outs and stuff.  Use clear fonts, hang it right, and get people to learn how to use it.  It is ok to choose not to use it sometimes even if people are used to it.  It is ok to use it as just an extended bulletin too sometimes, but better to at least a couple of times a month, put in a slideshow to good music that enhances a reading or story, or a video ro something.  Just please research how to do it right.

Music- Spiritbear covered much of my feelings on music, and I'm not talented enough to change lyrics substantially.  I hang back & use VU or MoreVoices exccept for a few carefully chosen instances.  And copyright issues!!! grumble!

Music shouldn't be entirely central, but if it is really good & charismatic, it doen'st matter what you play.  A teen can appreciate a rolicking old hymn or jazz riff or whatever if it is done really well.

I heard of a church that had its organ break, so they chose to try a month of worship with no music whatsoever.  It was apparently a wonderful experiment that led to a lot of meaningful experiences.  They happily went back to music afterwards, but with new understandings of what good worship meant to them.

I'd love to see conversation opportunity incorporated into worship somehow.  It think that people love it but dont' get the opportunity and rarely give up an extra trip to church to have it.  WClive before church, or after, or insert it after the sermon & prayer (shorten up the early worship parts).

phew....

Birthstone. I love it Keep talking.

This, incidentally, is why I am in favour of ditching children's time altogether.  The child is much more likely and able to be engaged when they aren't on display, and no matter how carefully the children's time is executed, they are always on display.  Birthstone is right on the money in reminding us that the kids aren't there to entertain us, but I want to take that concept to it's logical conclusion.  If we really believe that, then let the kids just be kids.  No reason they shouldn't be there for part of the service, sitting with their families.  But kid specific instruction should be for the kids, not for our giggles.

http://www.united-church.ca/allages/children/leaders_vision  This is from our work on a task group in 1997. Do you think that in 12 years it is outdated?

RevMatt

Right on.  At our place they are there until it is time for Sunday School, and if they make noise, who cares.  And if there is Communion, they are back.

IT

Russ

I can't agree with these sentiments more.  I have been in churches where children are ergonomically placed to be seen better and a wireless mike used to be heard better.

Then there are ministers and speakers who seem to be trying to communicate as much with the congregation as the children.

And of course there is the laughter and giggling, hemlock to a shy child and a tantalizing temptation to extroverted kids with the gift of clowning.

Bad scene all around.

God bless,

I'll leave the music stuff to others - even in the shower the water droplets stop if I try to sing.

My main interest is the 80%, or more, who don't go to church. They have voted with their feet that the church is irrelevant.

Churches need to sit back and think about what they are trying to do. In my opinion they are trying to improve people's lives by getting them to understand and be closer to God, to realize that there is a help system in God/Jesus/ Holy Spirit.

I really believe, as I posted elsewhere, that science is closer to finding God than most churches are. So it is the sermons and the readings I would see changed. I would see one reading from the Good Book and one or two readings from something else, something spiritual, something that the congregation could think about.

And I would see sermons that rely heavily on some of the modern spiritual books and spiritual topics. They might even touch gently on science issues. I would see some meditations. I would see some two-way dialog during portions of the service.

Wait untill I tell them at Worship Committe that folks on wondercafe are talking about ditching children's time! 

Such good points you are making.

 Oh, boy. 

Three words from the late homiletics and worship professor William Morrison Kelly, Emmanuel College,

"FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION".

I'm intrigued by JamesK's suggestion of including non-Biblical readings during worship.

So what sources would you have on your list if this were a possibility in your worship?

When I was attending church I totally loathed the special Childrens Time.  Shy children could barely find the courage to go to the front - the show off kid played shamelessly to the audience.  This was encouraged by the laughter of the adults.

Kids should be in church, at least some of the time, but treated with loving respect not as a source of entertainmnent.

I often wonder why churches don't gain new members by the simple process of reaching out to their friends and neighbours?  Loving behavior would attract more people than posters and advertisments.  Once someone has been encouraged to attend then treat them well - talk to them, involve them in the things that interest them, help them grow spiritually alongside yourself. 

Hi spiritbear:

I can't speak for JamesK, but I would include Gautama the Buddha, Lao Tsu, T.S. Eliot, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, various Sufi Mystics, and Khalil Gibran, to name only a few.

Come to think of it, I actually have, in those services I conducted last year—but always in combination with biblical quotes that convey a similar meaning.  

Those are very exciting ideas James K. 

Am I right in assuming  this material will be presented in a way that directs it back to Jesus Christ?  I am a great believer in spiritual freedom.  But as a Christian, I would never, ever want to put the light of Christ under a bowl.  If presented with the goal of ultimately glorifying Jesus the Christ and his message, I would have no problem with spiritual readings from most if not any sources.

I am not trying to limit the range and breadth of Christ and the Christ story within the box of tradition.  But I also don't want to sacrifice a whit of  his wonderful presence and message.

Of course finding that balance between myself and my more liberal, freethinking counterpart in the pew is one of the key challenges facing our church today. 

 God bless,

At our church we typically have a reading, usually OT, a responsive psalm and then a NT reading.  My understanding is that the 3 readings are supposed to be thematically linked, but I usually have a hard time seeing the connections.  As well, the theology in the psalms makes me cringe most of the time.  It would be amazing to take just one Bible reading, and then find other passages from other traditions of faith and wisdom that connect directly to the main idea/theme of the Bible passage.  It would let us explore an idea from different angles, as well as demonstrate the universality of Christian values and themes - so important in our global society.   We could still be centred in Jesus Christ, but exploring different expressions of what he taught.  

Arm;

Could you be a bit more specific? For instance, what poems of Eliot or Whitman did you think were especially relevant?  (Just wanting to save people some time hunting through hundreds of published works).

First of all, all of this is the norm in Unitarian Universalism (okay, we've mostly moved the dialog part to after the service, but other than that), since we embrace the truth in all traditions, including the scientific. It is the one thing I miss when I go to the UCC instead of my UU church and is probably what keeps me as a UU. At the same time, I wonder how far the UCC could move in this direction without becoming, in essence, Unitarian Universalists? Ultimately, as someone said further downthread from you, if the UCC is to be a Christian church, it has to come back to Christ which means the Bible (or related texts). As a UU who also attends a UCC church, I like the idea of more variety coming from the pulpit, but I can't really see it happening unless the UCC is going to move down the path that my Unitarian and Universalist forebearers did, which is pretty far from the mainstream of Christianity.

On the broader topic of services, when I compare my UU services (which I occasionally plan and officiate in) to UCC services, the one thing that stands out is that we are liturgically very simple. The UCC that I attend has a fairly complex, formal liturgy that I find overbearing at times, although I also like some elements of it, especially the music (my UU church has a pair of very good pianists, but no choir and minimal music beyond the piano). In the end, I'd like something in between: the liturgical simplicity of the UU service but more in the music department.

That, and add drums.

As I said worship is drama, and as was said above, form follows function - it we seek to create a sense of opens space so the feeling or sense of God flows in then our worship has a rhythm to it. 

In my aesthetic bias I would not have a praise band 'warm' up the 'audience'.  As that is a premature organism, but if the tone wnated is one of heightened charisma then the rocking sense is needed but that energy needs to be maintained.  It is a different experience being created so we might miss be still and know experience.   It might work in a Neil Young concert which I went to - two opening acts at high intensity and then Neil coming out in full intensity - and then as the night moved on, when we were getting tired he moved into the set of mediative piece - one being based on a hymn and then back to intensity.   But would I want that every week.  We had to have the encore which was a mix based on I heard the news today which sent us with harmony and intensity - a more reflective sense - a completion.  Worship has that flow of harmony and intensity. 

Yes Matt is bang on children's time is misuse of the children - why else would there be clapping for them and no where else - I got told, though, that candle lighters and junior choir being part of the movement of the service did not work "as we want to see the children up front"   How to get rid of the children's time is hard in our liturgy - when we have communion they come up so there is no children's time - this happens once a month and everyone never notice the 'lack' of the children's time.  I had to fight to get offering later in the service because the 'kid's ' took it up and it was "so nice". 

Again if there is a flow of harmony and intensity - we  begin in a mediative mood and then increase the intensity - too much intensity there is chaos, too much harmony boredom.  It is interesting how worship is a movement to some 'charismatic experience' and we interrupt the flow - offering and announcements do that. 

Now some churches have the announcements at the beginning and others near the end.  My feeling is near the end as it is part of the response to the movement of the spirit.

If the worship is a three act play here is one template

The Expectant Approach- Silent Reflection

Lighting the Christ Candle - Invitation to Worship 

The Scriptures Read and Taught 

Our Response in Giving and in Prayer The Life and the Work of the Congregation

Offering 

Prayers of the People ( communion)

Commissioning & Benediction

There is nothing to prevent the sermon from containing poetry, music, references to movies et al.  I do that every week.  Now the job of the theologian is to help people to understand why we read - I love the psalms because they are so real to our existential reality so I preach on them once in awhile or make reference to the reading in my sermon - not to do that does leave people in the question of why did we read that? which is great opening.

Hi spiritbear: The last few verses from T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding" would be suitable:

IV

The dove descending breaks the air

With flames of incandescent terror

Of which the tongues declare

The one discharge from sin and error.

The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre—

To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.

Love is the unfamiliar Name

Behind the hands that wove

The intolerable shirt of flame

Which human power cannot remove.

We can only live, only suspire

Comsumed by either fire or fire.

The second-last verse is equally profound, but more lengthy, and the last verse, also lengthy,  starts with the lines:

We shall not cease from exploration

And at the end of all exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unkown, remembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was in the beginning;

There are also passages from  BURNT NORTON,  EAST COKER,  THE DRY SALAVAGES, and excerpts from some of his other poems that might be suitable.

Walt Whitman's "Prayer of Columbus," which is somewhat historical because it was supposed to have been prayed by Columbus when he was shipwrecked on the Antilleans in 1503, is suitable to be read in church.

The last two verses of his SONG OF THE ANSWERER are suitable, and so is WHEN THE FULL-GROWN POET CAME.  Pearls of wisdom are sprinkled throughout his "Leaves of Grass."

I used TS Eliot for the coming of the wise guys.