From Steve Taylor

In preparation for our audioconference today, some of my recent reading has raised for me the following questions, which I will use to introduce the class.

Question 1:
From Uniting in Worship 2, the official worship book of the Uniting Church in Australia, from a section titled "The Service of the Word/Receiving God's Word":
"People are shaped by story, by narrative. When we want to get to know a person, we listen to their story. When we hear stories again and again, we are shaped and re-shaped as the stories are told and re-told. Christian people are shaped by the story of Jesus .... The story is told through proclamation - which may include reading the Scriptures, preaching, reflection on Scripture, drama/movement, symbolic action, art, multimedia resources, and silence ... Hearing the story requires a response." From Uniting in Worship 2, page 134.

And so the question: My experience is that in 99% of churches (all churches, not just Baptist and not just Uniting), proclamation is only every the first two, "reading the Scriptures, preaching"? Why is this? What is it that limits the church's proclamation to spoken words?

Question 2:
A second quote, from Jonny Baker's new book, Curating Worship:
“In many church circles the only gifts that are valued for worship are musical ones or the ability to speak well. This attitude needs shattering, and opening up so that poets, photographers, ideas people, geeks, theologians, liturgists, designers, writers, cooks, politicians, architects, movie-makers, storytellers, parents, campaigners, children, bloggers, DJs, VJs, craft-makers, or just about anybody who comes and is willing to bounce ideas around, can get involved.” (Baker, Curating Worship, 12)

And so the question: Think about the most recent worship service you participated in. Is Jonny right, that the gifts most valued were musical or speaking gifts? Was there any point in the service in which one of the gifts listed above could have been incorporated?