Letter to Church Family of FRPC
To the church family of FRPC,
As you may remember, the Session gave a little announcement a few Sundays ago, regarding distractions in our worship service. If you have not seen it, please click on this link and go to minute 4:05 to listen/watch. It will be helpful in understanding the context of this letter. Also, please take the time to read all that is here.
The Lord has seen fit to continue to grow our congregation in multiple ways and this has presented us with various challenges along the way. One of those challenges is that our sanctuary is busier on Sunday mornings. This is obviously a wonderful blessing, but, with this blessing, comes the challenge for all of us to put more effort into loving each other in our worship services, both morning and evening. Please hear this as us saying that this is a great problem to have and that we are delighted to be at the point where we need to address this issue. The Lord has been very good to us!
To give some perspective of what is being seen and heard in our services, allow me to reiterate some of what was said in the announcement. We are not always aware of how our movements and sounds are affecting those around us. From the vantage point of the pulpit, we can see how the congregation is experiencing distractions. Someone asked if the congregation, at times, looks like cats following a laser pointer. The answer is, yes (hence the image above). Although pastors are often able to preach through almost anything taking place within the congregation, what really causes a preacher to lose focus, and wonder whether or not to continue, is when the preacher senses that he has lost the attention of the congregation.
On the human level, try to think of a sermon not as a scripted monologue, where only information is being delivered, but as a dynamic dialogue, where life is being communicated. Imagine a conversation you may have with someone at lunch. As you are speaking, sharing a story (perhaps, expressing your love for them), you are gauging how they are interacting and whether they are understanding what you are saying and how you might clarify and explain further. That is more of what a sermon is like. The preacher is reading the faces and the sense of the congregation, and dynamically making decisions about what and how he communicates. Now imagine at that hypothetical lunch that the person you are talking to is distracted by the movements and sounds of the restaurant. How would you continue the conversation if you could tell that they are not really listening to what you are saying?
Please do not hear this as if your pastors are taking this personally. Hear this as less of a concern for our ability to speak and more of an overall concern for how the congregation is able to listen.
To that end, let’s think of two categories of distractions: movement and sound.
Considering Movement
Over the last many months, we have noticed an up-tick of continued distractions, especially during the sermon, that have drawn the attention of many in the congregation for extended periods of time. There have been times when multiple people are up walking around and even exiting the sanctuary during the sermon (for whatever reason). What we may not be aware of is how this has distracted many people around us from hearing the word of God.
Considering Sound
Our sanctuary is quite a noisy sanctuary. Certain sounds (frequencies) carry throughout the congregation and reverberate amazingly well. This is helpful for congregational singing, but not as helpful for the spoken word. Other voices in the congregation that compete with the voice of the preacher cause immense distraction. You may think you are speaking quietly, but others can hear you, even if you are out in the lobby with doors closed. You may think your child’s voice is not that loud, but people fifteen rows away are struggling to distinguish the voice of the preacher from all others.
A Slight Digression
Allow me to pause here and remind us all of what it is we are pursuing, and we can put it into a question for each of us to consider, personally: how do I love those around me by seeking to limit distractions for them? This requires an awareness (perhaps hyper-awareness) and an active pursuit to be considerate of those in our midst. And this is not just because this is a good idea or good manners. It is because of the reality we are experiencing in worship, which is where I want to turn our attention for just a few moments.
What Is Happening When We Worship?
On numerous occasions, I have mentioned a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson that has been particularly formative in my own understanding of worship. It is from the 2003 Ligonier conference, which I had the privilege to attend with my family. I can still remember returning to worship the following week in Dallas and having a completely different perspective on what was taking place. Here is the link and I commend it to you with a strong plea that you will spend the time to watch and listen. I recommend you gather with a few other people (perhaps with your parish groups) and, after watching, spend some time discussing how it might affect the way you approach morning and evening worship. Make an evening of it!
At the risk of stealing the thunder of the sermon, Ferguson takes up the topic of worship through the lens of Hebrews 2. He speaks of Christ being the true worship leader and reminds us that when we “go to church” we “go to heaven.” That reality alone should be enough to cause us to think more carefully about our worship experience. We recognize the grandeur and glory of what we are experiencing. We recognize the holiness and splendor of the One we have come to meet. We recognize the sheer majesty and awesomeness of the One who calls us to worship. We recognize that those around us are those whom we will spend eternity with, worshiping the eternal God of the universe.
Since this is the case, our worship should be like a family gathering for a wedding. We are coming into the presence of our Triune God and when we come we come in reverent joy. As many of you have heard me say multiple times, reverent joy should be what marks our worship. If we can keep these two summary words in our hearts as we approach the Lord, I believe it will go a long way in enhancing our worship experience together.
This goal of reverent joy in the presence of Christ guides our perspective on distractions in worship; it both motivates a concern to limit distractions and keeps us from the mistake of making a distraction-free experience the goal in itself. As Robbie Castleman said in her classic book on training children to worship, “Too many adults who learned how to be quiet in church are still doing just that. And many of them are passing this along to their children. A family can learn to sit still very well, but be unmoved by the holy presence of God” (Parenting in the Pew, p. 31). Avoiding distractions is not an end in itself; its goal is to maximize our ability to pay attention to the holy presence of Christ. However, a desire to pay attention to the presence of Christ will motivate us to reduce anything that distracts us from him. Further, this motivation should extend beyond ourselves to those around us.
One aspect of worship that Ferguson highlights is that Jesus assembles us as a family. When we gather, we gather as a family. This is a wonderful thing! We are all different in certain ways, but we are all children of the Father. This is our new identity in Christ, and it has implications for our worship. Perhaps the most pertinent implication is that we worship with other people; it is not a me-and-Jesus experience. So the issue of distractions is not only about my own ability to pay attention to Christ, but also about those around me. The apostle John says, “No one has ever seen God; if we love each other, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Let me paraphrase: if you expect to see, hear, and know God, you must love each other. This is never more applicable than when we gather together to meet with our God. Loving each other is essential and fundamental to our being able to know God in worship. Worship in the presence of Christ cannot happen apart from our active love of the rest of the gathered family. Again, this prevents us from thinking that just being still and quiet is the goal. Rather, we are motivated by a sincere love for those around us, not to inhibit their attention on the presence of Christ just as we desire for ourselves.
Another aspect of worship that Ferguson highlights is the reality that in worship Christ, himself, is declaring his word to us. This helps us understand why it’s so important not to distract others from hearing the preached word. What we are hearing in the sermon (and throughout the whole service) is the very voice of Jesus. He has brought us into heaven to speak to us of things eternal, things of life and death. He has taken us into his presence to commune with us, personally and corporately. When we distract another person from hearing the word, we are interrupting their communion with Christ. The service, and particularly the sermon, is not an impartation of information, but an imparting of a Person. He is in our midst and, by his Spirit, is communing with each of us. He is expressing his great love for us and we do not want to miss what he is saying to his Bride.
Suggestions For How We Might Seek to Love Each Other in Worship
At this point, we may be convinced that we need to truly love each other by actively pursuing the good of others by limiting our distractions in worship. Wonderfully, since the announcement, we have already seen extra efforts being made and that is greatly appreciated! As we think through some practical ways we might continue our efforts, allow us to offer a few suggestions, both of our thought process and our actions. Please take these as suggestions and not as an exhaustive list. Our hope is that they will spur each of us on to prayerfully and creatively seek to love each other in worship.
Thinking of our limiting distracting movements and sounds: There are undoubtedly times when it may be necessary for us to move or exit for some reason. And there is no way to avoid all unwanted sounds, but let's make an effort to be hyper aware of how we or our children are affecting those in our midst. As we lovingly seek to limit distracting ourselves and others from attention on Christ, here are some questions that might be helpful:
“Is my potential movement or sound worth the risk of distracting others from communing with Christ?”
“Is there a way I could prevent this by planning ahead?” (for example, a bathroom stop before the service)
“If I have to move or exit, is there a time or way of moving that minimizes distraction?” (While everyone is standing or singing? Using a path of least visibility?)
“If I need to do something which may be clearly audible to those near me, can I do it at a time when it will be unnoticed?” (during a hymn, for example)
Thinking of training children to worship: Again, we do not want anyone to hear us suggesting that we don’t like having children in worship. It is a huge blessing to have many children in our midst and we hope for many more in the future! It is in light of the fact that we greatly desire to have children in worship that we take up this consideration. And our hope is more than that they are simply present with us. We want them to learn to worship the Savior we all are worshiping. And as we’ve already seen, this will include training them in how to love those around them. Here are some questions that might be helpful:
“Is my child at a developmental point where I can effectively train her in self-control regarding listening and talking?”
“If my child has not yet learned self-control regarding listening and talking, how can I continue training him for loving participation in worship while minimizing current distractions? (Use of the nursery for a while? Strategic removal from the sanctuary?)
“Am I consistently framing my worship training of my child in the context of learning to give attention to Christ and love those around us?”
“Am I seeking to model for my children what it looks like to diligently pursue attention on Christ while lovingly considering the needs of those around me?”
Thinking of our own approach to worship in general: However this issue may touch us, whether we might distract, find ourselves distracted, or even if we are blissfully unaware of any distractions, let’s let the Spirit continue to shape us into the image of Jesus. Here are some questions we can all ask ourselves:
“Am I coming to church on Sunday to meet with Jesus and the family of God, or just out of habit and tradition, to be entertained, to do ‘my duty,’ or anything else?”
“If I am distracted by someone else during worship, do I distract myself further by letting judgmental or angry thoughts fill my heart, rather than the humble, loving forbearance and patience which will unfailingly guide my attention back again to Christ?”
“Am I praying diligently (as I promise at every infant baptism) for parents and their young children that God would give them abundant strength, wisdom, and patience as they seek to train up their young ones to trust and worship Christ as a member of his household, the church?”
“Am I praying diligently for myself and for the whole church family that we would continue to grow in our worship of Christ, and in unity and love for each other?”
Final Thoughts
We hope and pray that this letter is received with the posture and tone in which it is given. The Lord has given his Bride a wonderful gift of meeting him every Sunday in worship. May the Lord continue to bless our worship and our efforts to love one another as we seek to live out his call to us: “Little children… a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
In love,
Brent, on behalf of the Session of FRPC