The next question, of course, is what would this kind of worship look like in practice? How could a church structure its worship to engage all of the senses? My wife and I were talking about this last night, about what it might look like, when it hit me that there are already many, many churches that have true multi-sensory worship every single week. Any visit to the majority of Catholic or Episcopalian or other high-church worship services is a true sensory feast.
Think about it. You walk in and see the font of holy water - you dip your fingers in and make the sign of the cross prior to sitting (touch). As the worship service begins, the priest and others process into the sanctuary, swinging a censer of incense (smell). Soon enough, you are joining your voice singing along to the music and listening to the priest singing the liturgy (sound). At the penultimate point, the climax of the service, you find yourself kneeling at an altar as the priest places the bread into your hand and the cup to your lips (taste). All of this takes place, in many congregations, in a place covered with symbolism - in the architecture, in the art, in the clothing (sight). You leave, having fully experienced worship with all five of your senses...having been given an opportunity to fully engage with God.
Now if only us Protestants could figure out how to bring the same kind of unified, multi-sensory experience to our own worship experiences!
3 comments:
I'm going to put this out there. This worries me. Not in a way that would make me write for concernednazarenes.org , but it worries me. I feel like sometimes we worry so much about meeting OUR needs and entertaining OURselves that we forget what we are really there to do, and that is worship God. How does God benefit from us feeding our own senses. I think God wants 3 things from us when we attend church. He wants us to tithe, He wants us to worship him, and He wants us to listen for Him. Church is not about entertaining all of our senses. It is about focusing ourselves as a community on God and allowing Him to speak to us His desires...
I think Keith has a valid point. Churches should be careful about catering to the concept of entertaining its audience.
That being said, I think multi-sensory worship could be an effective ministry tool. If church is designed to connect us to God, then why not connect to Him in every possible way we can? Wouldn't He appreciate us running to him with eager desire, wanting to taste, smell, see, hear, and touch Him? I imagine His endearing fatherly smile at our feeble yet enthusiastic attempts to reach out to Him.
Some experiences I've had like this have involved 'stations' - quietly and individually meditating thru the senses. It was quite rewarding, but I'm at a loss as how to apply it to corporate worship.
It would have to be done carefully, though. Much like our entire relationship with Christ, once the focus turns from Him to us - that's when it loses its meaning.
You both bring up something that is a valid concern...but my experience with "high church" worship has been that the services - though engaging all five senses - are far less "entertainment" oriented than many protestant services.
Perhaps that comes from the fact that they place the emphasis of worship on sacrament. Eucharist is the focal point, the climax of worship in such services; as opposed to the sermon centered worship in many churches - worship that turns the pastor into an entertainer.
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