Creative Worship

Liturgical creativity is the process by which succeeding generations make traditions of Christian worship their own, through exercise of the gifts of the Spirit in the church.

Creativity in worship means calling forth the gifts of the leaders and all participants. Among these gifts are the ability to write and speak prayers that express the faith and praise of the community; the ability to use space, the visual arts, and movement for fitting praise of God; and musical gifts. Litugical creativity is not the same as liturgical innovation—for the goal is not to entertain through the novel, but to call forth authentic contemporary praise of God, whether in local, denominational, or ecumenical settings. Learning what is done in other worshiping communities can feed liturgical creativity, but creativity is not imitation, since it depends on specific gifts and abilities in each worshiping community. The process of evoking creative gifts for worship is not uniform, since it involves the working of the Spirit. However, some stategies can assist the process. First, leaders of denominations and congregations must find ways to honor and nurture gifts which can contribute to worship. Second, the work of planning and leading worship must be surrounded by prayer. Third, liturgical creativity requires a commitment of time as worship leaders and committees seek ways to speak to and from the heights and depths of Christian experience rather than seizing upon the first suggestion or resource that comes their way. A particular challenge which calls on the creativity of planners and leaders of worship is to work with past traditions so that they continue to be intelligible and consistent with a community's theological understandings. For example, the early church drew on Jewish worship traditions while expressing distinctive Christian insights; thus the Passover seder became the paschal liturgy. Sometimes the transition is linguistic, for example the movement from Latin to the vernacular or from King James to contemporary English. Sometimes the transition is theological, for example, the revision of baptismal rites in the last three decades in accordance with a renewed theology of baptism and Christian mission. At times, transition involves a radical change, when church leaders seek to bring out basic meanings and actions in rites which have lost their focus over time. In all cases, liturgical creativity calls for awareness of the piety and sensitivities of worshiping communities. It is important to understand what worship traditions mean to a community before revising or eliminating them. In recent years, the Roman lectionary and other lectionaries based upon it have become a major source of liturgical creativity, as many Christian churches seek to give Scripture a more central place in their worship. Hymns, anthems, and prayers composed in response to lectionary text can enrich and unify Christian worship.