go do, you'll know how to

just let yourself, give into the flood-tide

(Go do!)

what we’re doing

For the next four posts I will be working through the four basic parts of a service (Gathering, Word, Meal, Sending). The idea is to mine the resources available about each part of the service and ask relevant questions.

And as I said last week, much of the formal material isn’t that helpful…

a ritual within a ritual

That being said, the sending, or propelling, is the end of the service. After God’s people have gotten together, read a little and noshed, it’s time to go. They’re thrust through the thresholds into the world. There should be a momentum to this propelling.

The reason the sending is a specific ritual is because as these people are going, they find they’ve been changed.

As with all liminal moments in life, a ritual is appropriate.

The sending, then, is a specific ritual that is located at the end of the larger ritual of worship. The sending requires a ritual because after the service we’re a little different and we need a ritual to help us grasp with what the sending means.

How are we to live now as different people?

What does it mean that we’re leaving a place that has (hopefully/ideally) changed us in a meaningful way?

the sending helps us wrestle with those questions

The sending helps us wrestle with these questions, not so much by giving us answers, but by reminding us God goes with us. The sending helps us wrestle with these questions by reminding us that, not only is it okay to leave, but that is what God intends.

 The sending tells us that we don’t leave our transformation at the church door. In other words, we’re not just saints in the church, we’re called to be saints outside of the church, too.

a digression

By saints I don’t mean obnoxious, pious people. I mean people who, somehow, are changed.

The sending helps us understand that this reign of God, that this beloved community is not just a tribal thing.

the sending reminds us that the gifts we’ve been given are to be shared

That, basically, is what the sending is all about.

So, with a better grasp of what the sending is all about, how do we craft rituals that are meaningful and that carry these meanings?

Obviously every answer is different.

Some basic parts have been singing, a blessing and a call to “go,” with a response that we’re thankful about it.

the things is, we’re all familiar with sendings

When we moved out, when the bar closes, etc. We’re so familiar with sendings it is easy to just float through them.

The church service is no different…

Honestly sometimes I am annoyed if there is a sending song, by the time I get to that part in the service I am ready to go (especially if I know there is a postlude I am going to be expected to sit through)!

So, not only do we easily float through the sending, but our rituals retard the process. Rather than being sent out euphoric & with a sense of urgency, we’re sent sedated & bored.

Okay, I know I’ve been complaining a lot, but I guess it’s because I think the sending can be a really meaningful part of a worship experience, all too often, though, it is boring.

here are a few proposals

•The blessings should be brief and it should be given from the back of the congregation, so everyone can get the hell out of there (the world is waiting for passionate people).

•If, however, the blessing is going to be given from the front of the church, all God’s people should still be gathered there from communion.

•If there is a “sending song” it should be either familiar or projected on the exit-wall so people can sing as they leave.

•Sometimes for a “remembrance of baptism” people are sprinkled with water, perhaps we should do this on our way out.

Ultimately, though, the sending is something God does

As the name makes clear, the sending is something that happens to us. God sends us, the ritual needs to contain that urgency. The ritual needs to convey the fact that this is actually happening.

The forensic formula-ism of a specific blessing given from a specific place will have trouble conveying the urgency and the work of God.

the sending should jar us

There are many other ways that the sending can really propel and compel. I invite any and all ideas.
At the end of this series I will publish a list of suggestions should any be offered.