LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD
“ The spotlight of critical attention so frequently focused on min isters of hospitality (read "ushers") must just as carefully be directed at each minister from priest to acolyte to the in dividual in the choir or instrumental group.”
All "visible" ministers may question how they themselves listen when the ap pointed minister proclaims the Lord's Word, how they respond in gesture, song, and speech under the leadership of other ministers. Te spotlight of critical attention so frequently focused on min isters of hospitality (read "ushers") must just as carefully be directed at each minister from priest to acolyte to the in dividual in the choir or instrumental group. After this self-analysis they may share their perceptions of other minis ters' attitudes, since what our faces and postures express to others is not always what we intend. A non-threatening ob servation can open one's eyes to an un recognized problem one may be unwit tingly creating for others. For example, the forehead furrowed in attention and/ or concern may present a fierce look quite unintended. Boredom or dis traction may be hidden, one thinks, but a finger tracing designs or a foot tapping shouts the opposite to an observer. Te "tools" of ministry- vestments, cibor ium, cup, music, instrument -add to or detract from the community's efforts to gather, listen, respond; and so they, too, should be scrutinized.
Finally, someone is certain to wonder "when (or how) do we start telling the people all this about gathering, listening, responding?" Te old adage about values "better caught than taught" is ap propriate here, along with the oppor tunity to share impressions of the warmth experienced in a hospitable greeting given in an unknown church, the prayer one has been drawn into when seeing others truly praying, the joy shared and passed on because of a freely given smile.
Go beyond details and look at the fundamental movements of worship.
Tis is not to say that we should never tell the congregation anything. It is a plea to seek first every possible avenue of non-verbal communication on the premise that this is a more powerful teaching tool than the spoken word. You may need to use many words in planning and sharing the principles of gathering, listening, responding with various ministers or ministering groups; the result should be to limit the amount of words needed to communicate to the community. A further benefit of well indoctrinated ministers is the increased number of grassroot opportunities to off er explanations when real interest arises. People, who may be bored or even hostile toward explanations given to a large group with uneven levels of in terest in the topic, may be very open to a one-on-one sharing, even a lengthy one, if it is an answer to their particular ques tion.
Finally, a community whose ministers are genuinely caught up in gathering, listening, and responding will gradually develop these modes of worship, which are, in the deepest sense, the tradition of the Christian assembly: a community that knows itself called and loved, drawn to listen to the ever-new Good News, moved to respond in thanksgiv ing, in joy, and in sharing, beyond its own members, the gift it has received.
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