Early filing of column for June 4-6 2021

Let's Reimagine Worship

 

As I conclude my three-part column series exploring the decline of church attendance, I'm reminded of an old joke about a man who often interrupted his pastor's sermon with a hearty "amen!" 

 

With each disturbance, the pastor would often lose her place. A cantankerous old deacon twice asked the man to curb his enthusiasm, but the guy wouldn't be contained.

 

Following a particularly profound point, the man stood to his feet proclaiming, "Amen! Amen!"

 

The exuberant worshiper apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm just so full of God's spirit that I can't help myself." The disgruntled deacon replied by stabbing his bony finger in the air, "Please just shut up! You didn't get His spirit here."

 

The joke sadly exposes some of the ritualistic dryness reiterated in the 2016 Pew Research poll I previously shared. Allowed multiple answers, respondents named two reasons they joined a particular congregation: (1) How visitors are welcomed, and (2) The style of the worship service. Unsurprisingly, both factors were of equal importance to preaching.

 

Again, I'm not a church growth expert, but like you, I'm a pew expert. That's because in 1991, I shifted my career from pastor to chaplain, causing Becky and me to begin our church search. I'm sure it wouldn't surprise you to know that we were most attracted to the churches where people spoke to us.

 

While we heard plenty of great preaching and rousing music, there were places where no one, I mean not even the guy handing out the programs, spoke to us. (Note to church members: "Hello" is a nice word that covers a multitude of shortcomings.) 

 

I dare say we chose the church where June, the pastor's wife' and Matt, the caring deacon, gave us a consistently warm welcome. Both greeted us in simple fashion:  "Hello. Welcome to Bell Road. We're so glad you joined us today."

 

At some point, as we became conversant, they asked pleasant questions you'd ask any new neighbor. "What's your favorite restaurant?" They didn't pry by asking "What do you do for a living?" Or "Are you looking for a church?"

 

And as we left, they offered, "It was great to have you today. We hope to see you again."

We joined the church not long after our first Sunday because we were properly welcomed.

 

In addition to appreciating good preaching and a courteous welcome, about three-quarters of the poll respondents resonated with the remainder of this column saying that the style of worship services influenced their decision to join a congregation.

 

As pew-sitters, we can reimagine worship. We are the worshipers. Or as I once heard someone say, "People don't attend church, they are the church."

 

It's time we consider "Alternative Worship" where the leadership is decentralized. It's actually not that new as it continues to emphasize congregational participation within a multi-sensory experience. It can be hard to define, so allow me to list some examples.

 

A sermon needn't always be lecture style. It can be a pastor-led discussion that allows questions and doubt. Or how about talk-show format similar to The View? Or audience participation as found with Phil Donahue? A former pastor of mine added live polling where congregants texted their questions and answers. 

 

The music in evangelical churches needn't follow the same rut of a 7/11 service. (This is when seven phrases are sung 11 times.) And liturgical churches needn't decay into the same ritual drone of the stand-up sit-down.

 

Churches can still do liturgy, but it might be three people entering under a spotlight reading the Gospel. Or two people might "interrupt" the service with a mock debate from the Bible. Or it could mean a dramatization of the reading.

 

I think you're getting the idea. We must think of new ways to communicate the old, old story.

 

I'm not saying these ideas will increase church attendance by leaps and bounds, but I am saying these ideas might help you create a worship service that will encourage folks to keep coming back.

 

Let's face it, our churches won't be the same after this pandemic. Or at least they shouldn't be. Let's reimagine worship.

 

 

Readers: I encourage you to search the internet for ideas. See my website for a list of the great resources I found for alternative worship.

 

-----------------

Chaplain Norris' books are available at www.thechaplain.net. Contact him at comment@thechaplain.net or 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602 or voicemail (843) 608-9715. Twitter @chaplain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources for this column

 

Read why we joined Bell Road at https://thechaplain.net/chap-col/chaplain-swims-upstream-to-find-church/

 

https://careynieuwhof.com/5reasonsmillennials/

 

https://www.pinterest.com/araujomr/alternative-worship/

 

https://careynieuwhof.com/a-response-to-christians-who-are-done-with-church/

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/20/858918339/things-will-never-be-the-same-how-the-pandemic-has-changed-worship

 

https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/10/101-ideas-for-better-worship-services

 

https://engageworship.org/ideas/15-ideas-for-worship-without-band

 

https://www.reformedworship.org/article/march-2004/where-twenty-or-thirty-are-gathered-creative-worship-ideas-smaller-congregations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is legitimate doubt welcome in your religion. If not, there is not belief, just memorization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember their Names

Memorial Day 2021

Here's the latest column from Norris Burkes! View this email in your browser Tune into hear me on Facebook, Thursday June 3rd at 7pm EST.  https://tinyurl.com/HearNorris     Ohio Readers: Please forward and share on social media Chaplain Norris Burkes will be speaking Thursday June 3rd at The Shepherd's Fellowship 1647 Marion Marysville Road Marion. His topic is "Faith and the other 6 F words I live by."  Admission is free, but the church will accept contributions to help defray expenses. Seating limited. For more info call, 740-382-3500 or website at www.tsflife.com Reader's note: In honor of Memorial Day, today's column is an abridged chapter from my book, "Hero's Highway." Next week, I'll return with the last of the three-column series, "Where Has Our Religion Gone?"    These Were Their Names   On Feb. 23, 2009, I was in the middle of a four-month deployment serving at the Air Force Field Hospital in Balad, Iraq. From inside the hospital, I could hear the helicopters approaching our landing pad with urgent hope. Their pilots knew that if they could get their patient into our emergency room, the wounded had a 98 percent chance of seeing their families again.   The first person off the helicopter was a young lieutenant who rushed to the nurses' station where I was standing. Mistaking me for someone in charge, he urged me to look after his three buddies.   Then he raised his bloodied hand and added, "I think I've got a bullet wound, too." I shot a wide-eyed look to the chief nurse who began prepping the lieutenant for surgery.   As the lieutenant awaited treatment, he told me his men were part of the 5th Squadron he'd commanded from the 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.   Across the trauma room from the wounded commander, our staff worked feverishly to keep his soldiers together and make them part of our 98 percent survivor rate.   Clothes were cut off. IVs inserted. Chest compressions made.   The doctor grabbed defibrillator paddles and rubbed them together, merging confidence and chance.               "Charge – clear – shock – charge – clear – shock."              Nothing.               "One ampule epinephrine," called a doctor from the far bay of the trauma room               More compressions and more shock.               Heads turned to the monitor. Nothing.               The doc placed his stethoscope on his patient's chest.               "I'm calling it," he said.      "Chap!" summoned the doctor. "We've pronounced. You want to say a few words?"   I looked down at the young Army corporal staring up at me and prayed a quick prayer as someone else called out, "We need you over here too Chap!" I crossed the room to another bay to see the staff covering a 31-year-old soldier with a sheet.   A minute later, I crossed the room again to say a third prayer. The prayers quickly became benedictions. All three were dead. The staff stepped back from the gurney and stared at their own bloody boots.   Short sobs could be heard over the deafening silence that had enveloped the room like one of our dust storms. The snap of elastic gloves being removed in disgust announced each team's  realization that the three soldiers were dead on arrival.   There was nothing more we could do except don more gloves and go through  the pockets of these young men. Coins, pens and papers were pulled from their pockets. Patches were stripped from the uniforms.   Then a gasp was heard as an airman removed pictures of a soldier's wife standing with two small children. More tears.   "Are you all right?" I asked the bleary-eyed airman.   "Yes," she lied.   Soon I walked to the table where the young lieutenant sat shaking his head and making nervous twitches at the confirmation his team members were all dead.   He told me how his platoon was surprised by the enemy as they searched a house. In the return fire, the two surviving members killed the insurgents who had killed their comrades.   "We got the SOBs," he told me in language soldiers often hide from their chaplain. "They were some bad guys. They were torturing women and children. We paid a terrible price, but we got the SOBs."   I nodded in sympathetic agreement of the triple price paid.   Their names:     Corporal Michael Mayne, 21, former Eagle Scout from Burlington Flats, New York.   Corporal Zacchary Nordmeyer 21, of Indianapolis, a graduate of Ben Davis High School where he played baseball and was active in the ROTC program.    Specialist Michael Alleman, 31, father of two, and fifth-grade teacher from Nibley Elementary School in Cache County, Utah.   This Memorial Day weekend, please join me in saying the names of these soldiers as sacrifice recalls the price paid by over 7,000 U.S. service members since 9/11.   ----------------- To read the entire chapter of this incident, visit Norris' website at www.thechaplain.net. Contact him at comment@thechaplain.net or 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602 or voicemail (843) 608-9715. Twitter @chaplain.

This email was sent to burkesn.norris@blogger.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Norris Burkes · 10566 Combie Rd · Suite 6643 · Auburn, CA 95602 · USA

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Chaplain Norris Burkes will be speaking on a Facebook broadcast Thursday June 3rd at 6pm EST.  You can watch him at  https://tinyurl.com/norrisTalk or follow link from church website at www.tsflife.com

 

 

Memorial Day 2021 column

Editors,

A proofreader pointed out that the last graph in the Memorial Day column might need a bit more clarity.

Feel free to use this one in place of the last graph.

This Memorial Day weekend, please join me in saying the names of these soldiers as we recall the sacrifice paid by more than 7,000 U.S. service members since 9/11. 

Memorial Day 2021 column

Reader's note: In honor of Memorial Day, today's column is an abridged chapter from my book, "Hero's Highway." Next week, I'll return with the last of the three-column series, "Where Has Our Religion Gone?"

 

These Were Their Names

 

On Feb. 23, 2009, I was in the middle of a four-month deployment serving at the Air Force Field Hospital in Balad, Iraq. From inside the hospital, I could hear the helicopters approaching our landing pad with urgent hope. Their pilots knew that if they could get their patient into our emergency room, the wounded had a 98 percent chance of seeing their families again.

 

The first person off the helicopter was a young lieutenant who rushed to the nurses' station where I was standing. Mistaking me for someone in charge, he urged me to look after his three buddies.

 

Then he raised his bloodied hand and added, "I think I've got a bullet wound, too." I shot a wide-eyed look to the chief nurse who began prepping the lieutenant for surgery.

 

As the lieutenant awaited treatment, he told me his men were part of the 5th Squadron he'd commanded from the 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

 

Across the trauma room from the wounded commander, our staff worked feverishly to keep his soldiers together and make them part of our 98 percent survivor rate.

 

Clothes were cut off. IVs inserted. Chest compressions made.

 

The doctor grabbed defibrillator paddles and rubbed them together, merging confidence and chance.

 

            "Charge – clear – shock – charge – clear – shock."

           

Nothing.

 

            "One ampule epinephrine," called a doctor from the far bay of the trauma room

 

            More compressions and more shock.

 

            Heads turned to the monitor. Nothing.

 

            The doc placed his stethoscope on his patient's chest.

 

            "I'm calling it," he said.

 

 

"Chap!" summoned the doctor. "We've pronounced. You want to say a few words?"

 

I looked down at the young Army corporal staring up at me and prayed a quick prayer as someone else called out, "We need you over here too Chap!" I crossed the room to another bay to see the staff covering a 31-year-old soldier with a sheet.

 

A minute later, I crossed the room again to say a third prayer. The prayers quickly became benedictions. All three were dead. The staff stepped back from the gurney and stared at their own bloody boots.

 

Short sobs could be heard over the deafening silence that had enveloped the room like one of our dust storms. The snap of elastic gloves being removed in disgust announced each team's  realization that the three soldiers were dead on arrival.

 

There was nothing more we could do except don more gloves and go through

the pockets of these young men. Coins, pens and papers were pulled from their pockets. Patches were stripped from the uniforms.

 

Then a gasp was heard as an airman removed pictures of a soldier's wife standing with two small children. More tears.

 

"Are you all right?" I asked the bleary-eyed airman.

 

"Yes," she lied.

 

Soon I walked to the table where the young lieutenant sat shaking his head and making nervous twitches at the confirmation his team members were all dead.

 

He told me how his platoon was surprised by the enemy as they searched a house. In the return fire, the two surviving members killed the insurgents who had killed their comrades.

 

"We got the SOBs," he told me in language soldiers often hide from their chaplain. "They were some bad guys. They were torturing women and children. We paid a terrible price, but we got the SOBs."

 

I nodded in sympathetic agreement of the triple price paid.

 

Their names:

   

Corporal Michael Mayne, 21, former Eagle Scout from Burlington Flats, New York.

 

Corporal Zacchary Nordmeyer 21, of Indianapolis, a graduate of Ben Davis High School where he played baseball and was active in the ROTC program.

 

Specialist Michael Alleman, 31, father of two, and fifth-grade teacher from Nibley Elementary School in Cache County, Utah.

 

This Memorial Day weekend, please join me in saying the names of these soldiers as sacrifice recalls the price paid by over 7,000 U.S. service members since 9/11.

 

-----------------

To read the entire chapter of this incident, visit Norris' website at www.thechaplain.net. Contact him at comment@thechaplain.net or 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602 or voicemail (843) 608-9715. Twitter @chaplain.

 

 

 

Part 2 Where has Our Religion Gone?

Share with your Pastor

Here's the latest column from Norris Burkes! View this email in your browser Ohio Readers: Please forward and share on social media Chaplain Norris Burkes will be speaking Thursday June 3rd at The Shepherd's Fellowship 1647 Marion Marysville Road Marion. His topic is "Faith and the other 6 F words I live by."  Admission is free, but the church will accept contributions to help defray expenses. Seating limited. For more info call, 740-382-3500 or website at www.tsflife.com Share Your Story-Truth   As I prepare for my first speaking engagements since the pandemic began, I'm certain to again hear this common question: "Why is church attendance declining?"    Last week, I began answering that question in the first of a three-part series. I shared a Gallup poll tracing the decline of America's church membership by a whopping 23% through the last two decades.    So, what should a church do?    Well, I'm just a chaplain. I'm not a church-growth expert. On Sundays, I'm a listener, sitting across from you. What do we listeners know?   I dare say, a lot.   For instance, we intuitively know the accuracy of a  2016 Pew Research poll that said 83% of Americans say good preaching guided their choice of a congregation.     If we choose our places of worship by what we hear from the lectern, then we are qualified to encourage our pastors in the craft of preaching. Or as my seminary preaching professor often said, "Remember, anyone is a better judge of your sermon than you are."    With that in mind, there are three tips I often give when speaking to local ministers' groups. They are ideas you might discuss with your pastor. Just remember, he or she may be much like me – we carry fragile egos.   First, I encourage ministers to make their message short -- 12 minutes, 15 tops. That means sermons should be one point, not three. I knew a pastor who, after making his single point, challenged the people to post on social media what he called, "Sermon in a tweet."   Second, that single point should be coupled with a call to action. This is the "so-what" of the sermon. Congregants should be challenged with a specific action.   For instance, I once watched a pastor take a "reverse offering." Offering plates were passed throughout the congregation containing sealed envelopes of money. Each family was told to take an envelope and spend the money helping someone. The following Sunday, people were invited to share their stories.   When speaking about forgiveness, the same pastor asked church members to take a gift to places often perceived as condemned by Christians. Church members brought back stories of their visits to strip clubs, abortion clinics and a gay newspaper.    My third tip is one I especially hope you'll voice to your minister: Good preaching will be great storytelling. Jesus told story-truths called parables because stories confront people to change.   Tell us a story-truth, pastor. Tell us an amazing story about people, their heartbreak and the consequence of sin.    Tell us a personal story, or even one from pop culture, about overcoming the fear of (fill in blank).     Share the news, historical or current, but never your personal politics. Tell us stories about rockets, racketeering and race. For instance, Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme makes a great sermon on greed.    Give us comedy or tragedy. Like the story of the chaplain who accidentally carried his wife's pink pillowthrough airport security. We want to laugh at church too.    Within the first five minutes, give us 75% of the story. Then open the Bible and connect the story with the old, old story of redemption and grace.     As you close the sermon, I promise that we will be anxiously awaiting the end of your personal story. Tell us how things ended well or how they didn't – but be sure to relate it to the biblical story.   As you can share these thoughts with your pastor, remember that Philippians 2:13 tells us "It is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose."  This means you needn't be a pastor to tell a story-truth.   If all goes well, don't be surprised if your pastor invites you share a story of your own.     ----------------- Chaplain Norris' books are available at www.thechaplain.net. Contact him at comment@thechaplain.net or 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602 or voicemail (843) 608-9715. Twitter @chaplain.

This email was sent to burkesn.norris@blogger.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Norris Burkes · 10566 Combie Rd · Suite 6643 · Auburn, CA 95602 · USA