This unusual phrase came from one of the speakers at the Festival of Homiletics I attended last May. The speaker is a Lutheran pastor charged a few years ago with planting a church in Denver. Her ministry is quite successful and one of the things she does is to make sure that liturgy really is the work of the people (which is what the word 'liturgy' means). As the congregation arrives, they take a card from the narthex that tells them what part of the service they will be leading that Sunday - Scripture reading, communion server, prayers of the people, etc. The card also gives them whatever information and instructions they need to know. The pastor described this practice as being pro-participation, anti-excellence.
You should not let your fear of failing, your fear of not being excellent, keep you from participating in worship.
I shared this example today at our new service when issuing an invitation for the congregation to take part in leading the service. And then, unintentionally, the service became an example of how in spite of our mistakes God is glorified, anyway. The bulletin did not include communion. The communion table was set with two chalices instead of three. After the Learning Moment, I announced the Offering next, completely skipping over the Peace and the Time of Prayer and catching the ushers and musicians off guard. We were not excellent today. But guess what? We still had church; we still worshiped God.
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