Spontaneity can be overrated. Worship is sometimes diminished by the erroneous belief that to be led by the Spirit is to be entirely spontaneous. This often leads to rambling, unimaginative, over-long services, lacking in content and true beauty. I would no more lead unplanned worship than I would go to church in my Pyjamas - a little preparation of the self is required both of body and soul.
But too much preparation can also be a bad thing (just as too much blow-drying and make-up can). I read somewhere that early liturgies were never recited word-for-word, but were agreed formularies that were recited more-or-less the same. Not read off the sheet, but said with a mix of pre-planning and learning, and of-the-moment personal interpretation. I recite the Eucharistic prayer in just this way - it's almost word-for-word (because I've said it so many times I can remember it near enough, apart from the seasonal add-ons) but if ever I lose a word or two I just say something that means the same thing - because I also know what's meant to come next in terms of the SENSE of the thing. (Of course, very occasionally this leads to a comedy moment, but neither I nor my congregation seem to mind this particularly.)
Plans for worship, including liturgies, shouldn't be tight boundaries within which things must happen, they should be a skeleton into which life can be breathed. Enough planning and preparation for true beauty to emerge. Enough freedom to make it fit the moment, stretch to the local setting. Filling souls, not ticking boxes.
Well put.
Posted by: Jay | 05/06/2005 at 12:45