The Sin of Boring Church

Earlier, a conversation happening at UNCO asked the question "Why can't we get as excited about church as we do about the new Star Wars movie?"

As someone who engages with the meeting places of faith and culture, I've thought about this question before.
As someone who leads worship and preaches, leading a congregation in faith formation, I've thought about this question before.
I knew my answer.

Boring church is a sin. #unco16

— David Hansen (@rev_david) May 17, 2016

While I am prone to hyperbole (aren't all preachers?) I really believe this to be true.

My friend Tripp Hudgins called me out on this, and invited me to a deeper, more nuanced conversation about it.

Yeah, but the liturgical service is not the sum total of our activities. Must it be always exciting? 1/2 https://t.co/0TJHC2miQF

— Tripp Hudgins (@tripphudgins) May 17, 2016

And on the afternoon of the seventh day the LORD said, "I'm bored." #unco16

— Tripp Hudgins (@tripphudgins) May 17, 2016

Now, let me be clear - Tripp is one of the smartest people I know. He has spent years studying worship, and I learn a lot from him. We agree on much more than we disagree on - and in our disagreement I continue to learn from his wisdom.

(Read Tripp's counterpoint to this post - "In Praise of Boredom")

Now, to the point.

The church has been entrusted with one of the most exciting stories ever. A story filled with drama and intrigue, with humor and sadness, with celebration and sorrow.

Yes, the overarching story - the story of creation and redemption, of God and the world.
But also the stories within the story - stories of death and resurrection, of adventure and betrayal, or redemption and romance.

Most people experience our telling of this powerful story like Mr Bean:


The church has been handed this gift - these powerful, world-changing stories - and all too often we tell them as if they are as exciting as watching paint dry.

And that's a sin.

It is a disservice to and misuse of the gift that God has entrusted to us. 

Not all of our proclamation is needs to be "exciting" - it's not about turning the church nonstop into the adrenaline rush of watching Rey pilot the Millennium Falcon (although there are moments like that).
But our proclamation should always be engaging.

Proclaiming the story invites us to be a part of it. 
Their story then becomes my story now.

Some clarifications.

This is not about worship style - contemporary or traditional or postmodern or ancient-modern, they can all be boring, they can all be engaging.

It's not about preaching style - manuscript or not, behind a pulpit or perambulating - they can all be boring, they can all be engaging.

I agree with Tripp: boredom - that place of giving one's mind the unencumbered space to wander free - can be a beneficial part of the life of faith.

But the central act of proclamation, within the central gathering of the worshiping community, should not be boring.

We have gotten lazy with how we tell the story.

We (proclaimers) need to re-learn the power of inviting people into the drama of the story entrusted to us.
We need to let boring church die, and engaging church be reborn.

Our task, our calling, is to invite people into the most exciting and amazing story of all time and give them the tools to make it their own story.

And there is nothing boring about that.

Mahalia, Martin, and Lessons for Preachers

I love this story of how one of he greatest moments in history almost didn't happen.

After she had given an amazing performance in front of the crowd of 250,000 people, Mahalia Jackson was sitting on the stage when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr came to the podium.

Pastor King began to read from his prepared remarks. If you watch the video you can see it. For the first 12 minutes of the speech, King looks down from time to time - checking his manuscript.

And then, Mahalia Jackson shouted to King "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!"

This was not the first time that King and the Gospel singer had shared a stage. In fact, they had developed quite the friendship. And this was also not the first time that King had talked about his dream. And so Jackson called out, "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!"

And then, according to Clarence Jones, King took his manuscript and set it to the side of the podium and set his hands on the side of the podium. Jones said to those standing nearby, "These people don't know it, but they're about to go to church."

And from that point, from when he says "I still have a dream" (12:13 in the video) to the end of the speech, King does not again look down to his prepared remarks. Like a jazz improviser, King weaves together ideas from other speeches, images from Scripture, and the mythology of America to create a masterpiece. It seems clear that he is sharing his heart and his passion with the crowd.

As preachers, we are taught to prepare. We are taught how to do exegesis and how to shape a sermon and how to craft language. But I wonder how many of us have learned to improvise?

As preachers, we step into the pulpit and we pray that God would give us the Word that our community needs to hear. But more often than not, there is an asterisk on that prayer. "Give me the words," we pray, "As long as they are the words on this manuscript. Let your Spirit move through me, in exactly the way that I expect it to."

I am not saying that manuscript preaching can't be Spirit-filled. It absolutely can.

But there comes a time when we have to set the manuscript off to the side and share our passion with the crowd. There comes a time when we are called to tell them about the dream.

Fellow preachers, share your passion with the people whom you serve.
Tell them about the dream! 

Clarence Jones was an advisor to the Rev. Dr. King, and the author of Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech that Transformed America.

Watch the full version of King's speech from the March on Washington:

Wrestling with Mothers Day

As a preacher and worship planner, Mothers Day can be difficult for lots of reasons. In brief:

• There are those for whom the day is extremely important, because it is a day of celebration. 
• There are those for whom the day is extremely important, because it is a day of grief and sadness.
• There are those for whom the day has very little meaning, for a variety of reasons. 

This post doesn't really engage  the debate as to whether to celebrate the day in the liturgy or not. Instead, it is a story that illustrates both the beauty and profound sadness of the day.

On facebook we were discussing times that we had been shown unexpected kindness, and this experience was shared with me by Mary Miller:

I hate mother's day. I really do.  

Before my Mom came to live with us, I would go camping and eat a whole cake, hiding in the woods on that day. So it is a tough day for me. But for the sake of my Mom, I have to tolerate it.  

A few years ago, I was at church on Mother's Day with my Mom and my husband. We went to the service which is entirely in Spanish, because it is our favorite service.  

At some point, the pastor asked the Mothers to stand up. My Mother stood up. I never had children (I'm in my 50's), so of course I didn't stand up when all the other women did.  

In front of us was sat a Hispanic woman probably in her mid to late 30's with a baby less than a year old. It was obviously her first Mother's Day. I had never seen her in church before. She noticed that I didn't stand up.  

After the stand-up and applause for Moms, this stranger turned around and handed me her baby. She let me hold the baby until after Communion. I can still smell his little head.  

The woman did not speak English. I have no idea if she was a documented immigrant or not. We had nothing in common (except that it took her a while (into her 30's) to have a child).
This was the single kindest act anyone has ever done for me. I will never forget it.

(Image:Madonna von der Straße, Roberto Feruzzi. Public Domain. Source) 

Podcasting for Preachers: Broadcasting

In a separate post, I provided a guide for recording your sermons. First a clarification. You can take this digital recording of your sermon and post it on the church website. That is nice and helpful - but it is not podcasting.

Podcasting is providing a way for people to have your latest audio recording it delivered directly to their mobile device.

You've got your sermon as a digital recording - as an mp3 file - that is the first half of the process. Next up, getting your audio file onto the mobile devices of your listeners. (go back to the previous post if you don't yet have this first step).

Step 2: Find a Host
You will need a host. Someone who can store your audio files. If you have a sermon blog hosted by Wordpress, you can upload your mp3 directly to your wordpress site. This is an ok way to get your post online, but it adds some steps.

A better option is to use a podcasting service. I personally use Buzzsprout, and am extremely happy with the service. Many people also use Libyn, which is another good service. You can google "podcast hosting" and you will see that there are many options, with a variety of services provided. Some are free, and some charge a nominal fee.

Protip - Who Owns Your Sermons? Many pastors choose to host their podcast exclusively through their congregation. I understand why. It makes it easier to integrate into the congregational website, and the congregation can pick up the tab in the communications budget. I would advice that you pay for your own hosting service. That way, whenever you leave the congregation for a new call, your sermons come with you rather than remaining at your previous congregation.

Step 3: Provide a Feed
Whether you use Wordpress, Buzzsprout, or another host, your host will provide you with what is called an RSS feed. It should look something like this:
http://yourwebsite.com/feed
http://yourhost.com/feed.rss

Many podcasters use Google's feedburner service as well. You give feedburner your RSS feed, and it cleans up the feed and makes it easier for people to subscribe. Go to http://feedburner.google.com, and enter your RSS feed into the "Burn my feed this instant" box. Tell feedburner that you are a podcaster, and they will give you options to optimize your feed. The final product looks something like my sermon feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HansenSermons

Now you have a podcast feed. But you still need people to know about it.

Step 4: Publicize
How will people know that you have a podcast?
The best and most widespread way is through iTunes. Open the iTunes application. Go to iTunes Store. Navigate to "Podcasts" at top menu, then "Submit Podcast" on right menu. They will walk you through the next steps. (Note: Many podcasting host sites will submit to iTunes for you - which is very convenient!). People will be able to seach iTunes and find your sermons, and you can also point people to your iTunes page.

Share the link to your iTunes page, as well as to your RSS feed, in all of your networks. Have your webmaster integrate it into your congregational website. Check with your podcast host - many of them will provide a podcast player that you can insert in your website. (Here is what our podcast player looks like on the St. John website).

Are you podcasting your sermons? Provide a link in the comments - I love listening to other preachers!