All About Worship

What kind of hymns do you like?

• 10% said:

  I prefer only the stately hymns from ancient times, such as Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent, and hymns from the Reformation era, such as A Mighty Fortress Is Our God or Now Thank We All Our God.

• 2% said:

  I prefer only contemporary hymns, such as There Is Plenty of Room in the Family or Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, There’s Something About That Name, by Bill and Gloria Gaither.

• 2% said:

  I prefer only revivalistic hymns from the nineteenth century, such as Bringing in the Sheaves and The Old Rugged Cross.

• 83% said:

  I prefer all of the above, and I would like for the service to contain all types of hymns.

• 3% said:

  No response.

Apparently, if you the one who chooses hymns, it is best to pick a variety. Note also that older hymns are five times as popular as the newer hymns. I suppose that for many people finding an eternal God only in contemporary form is an oxymoron.

What style of preaching do you prefer?

• 6% said:

  I prefer stirring preaching, with all the rhetorical flourishes.

• 31% said:

  I prefer calm, reasoned preaching.

• 62% said:

  I like all types and would prefer a variety.

• 1% said:

  No response.

From this I gather that if you’re a preacher who is prone to dynamic preaching, you can safely tone it down from time to time during the sermon. While I am at it, I would like to add that if you preach very rapidly and at a higher than usual pitch, it can sound like you are shrieking and it can become difficult for the congregation to understand you. My advice is to vary the pacing and intensity of your preaching, and to keep the pitch of your voice close to your normal speaking voice.

Which method of preaching do you prefer?

• 10% said:

  I prefer for the preacher to preach without notes.

• 0% said:

  I prefer for the preacher to read from a manuscript.

• 36% said:

  It’s okay for the preacher to use notes, if it isn’t obvious.

• 54% said:

  I don’t care one way or the other.

The manuscript preachers among us should probably take pains to make the mechanics of manipulating the papers as unobtrusive as possible.

Do you think applause is appropriate in a worship service?

• 48% said:

  Yes, it is right for the congregation to express their appreciation for the musicians, the choir, and the soloists.

• 50% said:

  No, the congregation is not the audience, God is. By applauding, the congregation is usurping God’s role in the service.

This is a controversial issue, it appears. Too much and too frequent applause in church apparently can turn off a lot of folks.

What should be the relationship between scripture readings and the sermon?

• 61% of their pastors did expository preaching.

  They agreed with this statement: Our pastor most often examines the scripture reading in detail in the sermon, applying it to our needs and circumstances.

• 33% of their pastors did topical preaching.

  They agreed with this statement: Our pastor most often uses the scripture reading only as the departure point for the sermon, or to illustrate one of the points.

• 3% of their pastors did not preach on the text

  They agreed with this statement: Our pastor most often lets the scripture reading speak for itself; then preaches on whatever topiyt c the congregation needs to hear about.

• None of their pastors took issue with the biblical text.

  They disagreed with this statement: Our pastor most often takes issue with the scripture reading, showing how things have changed since back then.

• 3% did not respond to this question.

What should be the relationship between the scripture reading and the sermon?

• 82% of them prefer expository preaching.

  They agreed with this statement: I would most often examine the scripture reading in detail, applying it to the congregation’s needs and circumstances.

• 9% of them prefer topical preaching.

  They agreed with this statement: I would most often use the scripture reading only as the departure point for the sermon, or to illustrate one of my points.

• 4% of them prefer for sermons to take issue with the biblical text.

  They agreed with this statement: I would most often take issue with the scripture reading, showing how things are different now.

• None of them preferred to leave the Bible out of the sermon.

  They agreed with this statement: I would most often let the scripture reading speak for itself; then preach on whatever topic the congregation needs to hear about.

• 6% did not respond to this question.

All of the people whose pastors preach expository sermons prefer it that way. More than half of the people whose pastors preach topical sermons prefer expository sermons. Again, this poll confirms an earlier one that people prefer expository sermons.

Do you think your church should [continue to] use the lectionary?

• 63% of them prefer the lectionary.

  You agreed with this statement: Yes, it allows us to cover Christian doctrine systematically in synch with the Christian year.

• 22% of them prefer the lectionary, with the freedom to break from it if necessary.

  You agreed with this statement: Yes, but we should break from it frequently to address events and issues that arise.

• 9% of them prefer not to use the lectionary.

  You agreed with this statement: No, we should not use the lectionary.
  

• 3% of them don’t care about the lectionary.

  You agreed with this statement: I don’t care one way or the other.

• 3% of them did not respond to this question.

This means that 85% of them prefer to use the lectionary! So far, in all my polls, it has always turned out that most of the people who don’t like something have never tried it. I don’t know if that is the case here, because I didn’t structure the questions that way, but I suspect it is. The lectionary is one of those tools that I find indispensable. Once a Nazarene pastor confided in me that he was having trouble selecting passages for worship, because he always seemed to be going over the same ones. I suggested the lectionary and he thought it was a great idea. So don’t assume your pastor is not using the lectionary, just because there is no talk about it in your church! Although I theoretically agree that one should be able to break from the lectionary when necessary, it is amazing how seldom that happens—not because the lectionary is wonderful, but because the scriptures are.

Errors in the sermon

I asked if anyone ever researched the sermon the after church, only to find out that the preacher did not thoroughly research the scripture reading? (Or, if you are the pastor, have you ever discovered after the fact that you goofed?)

• 26% of them found an error.
• 61% of them did not find errors.
• 3% of them did not respond to this question.

There’s not much correlation between the type of sermon (expository or topical) and the incidence of error, because topical sermons inherently contain less verifiable data. But these results show that pastors are human! Like all humans, pastors constantly need to refocus themselves on their work. And if you are a pastor, let this be a warning that your sermons really are getting through and people really are following them up with personal study!

About scripture readings in worship

When I grew up, we had no scripture readings in church. The pastor just read a short passage that served as his ‘text’ for the sermon and that was that. The Revised Common Lectionary is becoming more and more popular every day. Even if you belong to a denomination that doesn’t normally use such things, and even if you don’t have formal scripture readings in church, don’t assume there is no lectionary in your church. Many pastors in such churches use the Revised Common Lectionary behind the scenes as a tool for worship and sermon planning. The lectionary provides for four readings each Sunday, so as a result of its influence, I think we will all see an increase in the public reading of scripture during worship, in accordance with 1 Timothy 4:13. Even though the Revised Common Lectionary only dates from 1992, the idea of a lectionary is extremely old. One of the stated purposes of publishing the Book of Common Prayer in 1559 was to revise the lectionary. The ancient Church used lectionaries, as did the Jewish synagogue before then.

Does your church have formal scripture readings?

• 38% of them have two or three readings.
• 35% of them have four readings.
• 27% of them said that the pastor reads a selection right before the sermon.

To my relief, no one said that there are no scripture readings in their church; that you only read your Bibles at home.

Even if the pastor uses the lectionary, there is no requirement that all four readings must get used.

Who reads the scripture readings?

• 76% have specially trained lay readers who are scheduled in advance.
• 18% report that the scripture is read by clergy or by a lay leader who has other duties in the service
• 6% report that the pastor reads them all

How do you read the psalm?

• 37% of the congregations read the psalm responsively or in unison.
• 25% of the congregations someone reads it to the congregation.
• 25% of the congregations have no psalm
• 13% of the congregations chant the psalm

Do you stand for the gospel?

• 53% of the congregation remain seated for the gospel reading.
• 47% of the congregation stand for the gospel reading.

  Standing for the gospel reading is a corporate memory of the time before pews were invented. When pews were new, sitting for the gospel seemed disrespectful.

In churches with four readings…

Who reads the scripture readings?

• 75% have specially trained lay readers who are scheduled in advance.
• 19% report that the scripture is read by clergy or by a lay leader who has other duties in the service.
• 6% offered no response.

How do you read the psalm?

• 75% read the psalm responsively or in unison.
• 19% chant the psalm.
• 6% report that someone reads it to the congregation.

Do you stand for the gospel?

• 75% of the congregations stand for the gospel reading.
• 25% of the congregations remain seated for the gospel reading.

Who reads the scripture readings?

• 50% report that the scripture is read by clergy or by a lay leader who has other duties in the service.
• 42% report that the pastor reads them all.
• 8% offered no response.

How do you read the psalm?

• 58% of the congregations have no psalm reading at all.
• 25% of the congregations read the psalm responsively or in unison.
• 17% offered no response.

Do you stand for the gospel?

• 67% of the congregations remain seated for the gospel reading.
• 25% of the congregations stand for the gospel reading.
• 8% offered no response.

These results remind me of a paradox that I have experienced in visiting churches. I don’t understand why this is, but the more a church insists on the importance of the Bible, the less it seems to use the Bible in worship! I visited a service in an Episcopal church in which nearly everything that was said was either a paraphrase or a quote from the Bible, and on the next Sunday I visited a service in a ‘Bible church’ in which the only Bible reading was half a verse quoted by the pastor to set the theme of the sermon! On another occasion, I attended a service in a Baptist church in which they never even mentioned the Bible!

I’m still scratching my head over this one. However, I do exhort you all to use the Bible more in worship.

More Information…

• Lay Readers

  The use of formally trained lay readers goes back to the earliest centuries of the church. Today it is a good idea, because it gets more people involved in the service. It’s kind of paradoxical, but you find the greatest number of lay worship leaders in traditional churches such as the Episcopal Church; and in the more contemporary churches, you are more likely to find a pastor running the whole thing alone or with a song leader.

• The Psalms

  From the time of Calvin to about the time of Isaac Watts, there were no hymns in Reformed churches. Instead, they chanted psalms or sang metrical versions of the psalms, which you will still find in Presbyterian hymnals. Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Episcopalians also commonly chant the psalms. It’s appropriate to chant the psalms, because that is the easiest way to sing them, and they were originally written to be sung. Chanting is one of those things that if you do it at all, you have to do it every week. If you do it every week, the congregation will grow to love it. Otherwise it gets awkward and doesn’t work.

• Standing for the Gospel

  The custom of standing for the gospel reading is an institutional memory of the time before pews. It is a sign of respect, just as one stands for a monarch or a judge. It is traditional for the preacher to read the gospel reading immediately before the sermon.

My Church

In case you are wondering, here’s what we did in my church:

• We had four readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
• We had lay readers, scheduled in advance, who read the Old Testament and Epistle lessons.
• A lay reader led the congregation in reading the psalm responsively.
• The congregation remained seated as I read the gospel lesson, which comes right before the sermon.

About responses and responsive readings in church

Many churches use corporate responses in worship. For example, the minister might say, The Lord be with you and the congregation responds in unison, And also with you. (This set of responses comes from Ruth 2:4.) Or, after a scripture reading, the reader might say, the Word of the Lord and the congregation responds in unison, thanks be to God.

Many congregations also have a responsive reading, usually a psalm, where the reader and the congregation alternate.

The purpose of the responses is to make sure that the congregation actually worships and that it does not become an audience, as in medieval times, and just observes the worship. They also are intended to make the congregation realize that they are the Body of Christ, not just a random collection of individuals.

In order to do responses, the congregation has to be paying attention, so there we have another benefit.

Now for a tip: if you are writing responsive prayers, keep the responses short and avoid wordiness. You want a corporate response, not a corporate mumble.

Does your church use responses or responsive readings?

• 60% of them say that your church uses them weekly.
• 27% of them say that your church uses them occasionally.
• 13% of them say that your church doesn’t use them.

That means that 87% of them have responses or responsive readings in church.

What is your opinion about responses and responsive readings?

Of the people whose churches do not have responses or responsive readings:

• 50% of them would like them if the congregation did them well.
• 33.3% of them do not like them.
• 16.7% of them don’t care about them.

Of the people whose churches have responses or responsive readings occasionally:

• 58.3% of them like them.
• 16.7% of them don’t care about them.
• 8.3% of them would like them if you did them well.
• 8.3% of them do not like them.
• 8.3% of them have another opinion.

Of the people whose churches have responses or responsive readings every week:

• 92.6% of them like them.
• 3.7% of them do not care about them.
• 3.7% of you do not like them.

It appears from these results that this is a try it, you’ll like it situation. If you have started attending a church that uses responses and responsive readings, give it a month or two; apparently it will grow on you.

If you are a pastor, and you want to start using responses and responsive readings in church, it’s clear that you should make it a part of every worship service.