Creativity In Worship

For many years, I served in churches with excellent choirs, gifted instrumentalists, and great facilities. We had the privilege of incorporating many creative ideas as we designed worship experiences. Most of them involved employing the abundant resources we had available.

More recently, I have been involved in worship planning with limited resources. Making the transition has been difficult. In many cases, I have tried to “go big” even when our resources and realities did not align. One example would be a divinity school chapel service that I coordinated. This service included a gifted, high profile guest minister as the primary presenter that would surely attract many guests and university administrators. My natural inclination was to “go big.” Our organist agreed to premiere a new composition, our chapel choir worked for weeks to prepare a challenging choral selection, and I called in favors from four brass players to participate. This was going to be a “high and holy day.”

A few days before the service, I decided to add a call to worship to be sung a cappella by a vocal quartet from the back of the chapel. I chose a very simple, familiar hymn for the quartet because I knew they would only have five or ten minutes to rehearse. The selection was “Spirit of the Living God.”

The good news about this special service was everything went very well. The guest minister was incredible, our organist was amazing, the brass quartet inspired our congregational singing, and the choir sang beautifully. The surprising news was what people remembered and affirmed. “Spirit of the Living God” was the highlight! The last minute addition of an under rehearsed, familiar hymn, sung from the back of the chapel was the most impactful part of the service.

This experience caused me to remember the New Testament story of the “widow’s offering” from the gospel of Mark.

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12 41-44 NRSVUE)

I had forgotten that small things can make a BIG difference. Sometimes the smallest gift we bring is transformed into the most creative and impactful element of worship. Yes, “go big” and “all in” for those creative plans when time and resources allow. But remember, our small, humble, creative ideas can also be used to create fresh encounters with the ONE who sees us and seeks us.

Rev. Dr. Larry G. Dickens
Consultant - Center for Healthy Churches
Adjunct Faculty - Campbell University Divinity School