Worship Weblog

Report #3 from St. Olaf conference

Posted by CICW

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Report on last month’s Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts from student Rebecca Hoeksema: (read more reports)

When I think back on the week at St. Olaf’s Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts, the thing that stands out the most is the worship. It was worship that was like none I have experienced elsewhere. Every detail is scrutinized. Every detail flows like it is effortless. There is no panic stricken student workers; there is plenty of thought. And so, coming away, I am left with an eye that looks at worship in a slightly different light.

At St. Olaf, the worship was exquisite. It appealed to all our senses: we smelled the candles, tasted the bread and the wine, saw a pile of sticks take on new life as a manger scene, and heard the brilliance of a beautiful organ and gorgeous choirs. Yet, the worship was more than just parts. It was an intricate puzzle whose creators had made purposeful decisions about its every moment, purposeful decisions that would ultimately point the congregation to God. They didn’t simply create worship that we just breezed through the motions—they created worship that invoked wonder and invoked awe and the beauty of God. Sometimes we fall into habit of creating worship from a template—and we get so locked into this template, that we can easily forget the larger picture. However, at St. Olaf, although the worship very obviously followed a template, we did not fall folly to “going through the motions”. Every aspect was still purposely placed—and somehow, the congregation could detect it. One of the best examples of this is the presence of the celebration of communion at least once, if not twice a day. Never before, could we remember celebrating communion quite so much, and so we were left wondering why? However, in the last service, the full picture was revealed—we were celebrating the new life in Christ that we receive through his body and his blood. And so, partaking of communion so often is quite fitting.

As I reflect on the time at St. Olaf, it is my prayer that in planning worship, a larger purpose for the individual things we do can be made clear to my congregation. Worship should create wonder and point, in all things, to the creator of all things: God our Father.

Tags: awe, beauty, beauty of God, Lord's Supper, music, organ, participation, St Olaf conference 2010