Sight. Use the colors and patterns of banners, creative bulletin covers, altar displays, etc. to draw worshipers into the theme of the day or the season. Organize a live nativity for Christmas. Burn the papers on which people have written their sins for Ash Wednesday or for other times of confession. During Holy Week, have people create a tomb out of the stones/sins that keep Jesus buried in their lives, then roll away the stones on Easter. Use red streamers blown by a fan for Pentecost. Light candles for those who have recently died for All Saints Sunday. Use lcd projection technology to project the scripture reading or the key points of a sermon. Project visual images to set the scene for praise, communion, baptism, or meditation (the UCC’s Worshiping into God’s Future and Abingdon Press’ Igniting Worship series include prepared CD’s for such purposes). Create your own photos or find photos or artwork on the Internet to help illustrate the sermon. Use video or DVD clips to dramatize a sermon point. As with music, many visual images are copyrighted, and copyright laws need to be observed.

Hearing–music.   Pay attention to the energizing and quieting effects of various music, so that rhythms of both enthusiasm and reflection are built into the liturgy. Use rhythm to engage the whole body. Give people permission to clap, sway, lift their hands, or wave their arms in response to music. Use bells, chimes or singing bowls to guide worshipers into more reflective moods. Sing the Lord’s Prayer. Weave contemporary, Taize, and appropriate popular music into the service–to open and close worship, to prepare for or respond to its different elements, or to convey the message itself. Write new words to familiar tunes for special occasions. The UCC published a resource edited by Martie McMane, Worship Comes Alive!” which is full of participatory worship music. The New Century Hymnal is a wonderful resource of worship music from all over the world. And Worshiping into God’s Future published in 2004 by the Worship and Education Ministry Team, Local Church Ministries, of the United Church of Christ, has fresh new songs (written and on CD) for various parts of a worship service.  Another resource is “Global Songs for Local Worship” I & II, published by a Lutheran consortium (out of print). Invite members of the congregation to bring CD’s to share for a centering time before worship. Contemporary CD’s can readily bring contemporary music into worship without having musicians who can perform it. Electronic pianos and keyboards readily lend themselves to a variety of musical expressions in worship. Many churches have introduced jazz, rock, bluegrass, or other musical genres into their worship on a regular or occasional basis. For chancel choirs, Worship Today Music Service provides an economical subscription service, whereby the church only pays for the particular anthems it copies and uses. All are recent compositions, and are available in a variety of musical styles (from traditional to gospel), including optional instrumental accompaniment on CD. And don’t overlook the musicians in your own congregation (including budding young ones or rusty older ones) who, with some simple music, regular practice, and support from the congregation and pastor, can flourish into an ensemble that brings new excitement and enthusiasm into worship. New genres of music should be introduced to a congregation with preparation and sensitivity. Generally, people will come to accept and appreciate new music if they are assured that it will enhance rather than replace the familiar repertoire.

Hearing–words. Words that sound stilted and “churchy” may lack the ability to empower people to love and serve God outside of church. Occasionally use various translations or transliterations of the scripture for “spice” and freshness–e.g. Eugene Peterson’s The Message (Navpress), Nan C. Merrill’s Psalms for Praying–An Invitation to Wholeness (Continuum), Leslie Brandt's Psalms/Now (Concordia), Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch Version of the Bible, and Wycliffe Bible Translators Da Jesus Book (the Bible in Pidgin English). Most of the scriptures were passed along in the oral tradition before they were written. Speak the scriptures rather than read them, learning them “by heart” rather than “by head,” so that the words come to life through your feelings and body.

Hearing and speaking beyond sound. Our world barrages us with such a cacophony of come-ons, input and stimulation that most people have become uncomfortable with silence and solitude. Yet our souls hunger for that open space to where our spirit and God’s Spirit can touch. Try opening worship with in invitation to center down and open to God in an attitude of faith, openness, reverence, and expectation, followed by a minute or two of silence. Allow people time to pray their own intercessory prayers following the pastoral prayer or gathered prayers. Try allowing half a minute of silence following the scripture reading. In his book The Postmodern Parish (published by the Alban Institute), Jim Kitchens reports that the minute of silence they have following the sermon has become the most powerful part of worship for many in his congregation.

Smell. Our olfactory nerves have many connections to the memory center of our brain, but in our disinfected world, those nerves are underutilized. Perhaps aromatherapy is in part our unconscious’ attempt to keep that part of us from atrophying. Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches use incense to create a sacred space–why can’t we? Or perhaps scented candles might help create a similar atmosphere (be sensitive to people’s allergies here). We might use an electric bread baker on communion Sundays to invite the whole body to the table, or fresh flowers in the spring to celebrate Earth Day Sunday. Biblical scenes can become more vivid when people are asked to smell the sea and drying fish in the air, the dank prison from which Paul’s letters came, etc.

Taste. World Communion Sunday might feature breads from around the world. Other celebrations of the Lord’s Table might include breads of unfamiliar tastes or textures to awaken us from the monotony of the familiar white sandwich bread (which carries a sense of Wonder in brand name only).

Touch. Passing the peace physically connects worshipers to the body of Christ. Try having worshipers hold hands during a prayer, and lift their hands together at the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer. Find tangible ways for people to experience the message, such as holding mustard seeds while hearing a parable, or bringing stones forward to lay down as they claim release from a burden. Sprinkle the whole congregation in a baptism renewal on a baptism Sunday or in Epiphany. Offer to anoint people’s foreheads with oil for a healing service. Have them light candles of hope at the beginning of the year. Experience the powerful message conveyed by foot washing at a Maundy Thursday service. (Or wipe people’s shoes with a damp cloth, or wash one another’s hands as a less intimidating–and less powerful– substitute).

Kinesthetic. When we put worshipers in the mode of passive spectators, worship loses much of its ability to move people–physically and spiritually. People can “get into the act” of worship by processing around the sanctuary to open a Palm Sunday service or parading into church together at the beginning of the church’s program year. “Altar calls” of various kinds help people embody new steps or movements in faith, whether it’s a new commitment of faith or action, the giving of an offering, the making of a pledge, the offering up and releasing of a confession or burden, the receiving of prayers for healing, or coming to the Lord’s table. The laying on of hands or anointing of one’s head with oil can powerfully communicate the healing touch of God. Some churches offer these rites during communion time. After worshipers come forward to receive the elements of the eucharist, they may then go to another station for personal prayer and healing. On a baptism Sunday or when the lection includes the baptism of Jesus, water can be sprinkled on all of the worshipers using hyssop (a pine branch makes a worthy substitute) as a renewal of their baptism. (Use a table-top fountain amplified by the P.A. sytem to enhance your exploration of the healing, transforming properties of water). Worshipers can vicariously participate in a full-bodied response to God by watching a liturgical dancer, and can be invited to directly embody their response to God by lifting or folding their hands in prayer, clapping and swaying to music, or even dancing in the aisles. Children can readily experience full-bodied worship by playing rhythm instruments or doing motions as they sing, which can help open adults to moving with the music. A wonderful song for getting kids (and maybe even the adults) dancing in praise is the title track on the CD Dance, Shout & Sing, published by Willow Creek Music (www.willowcreek.com). Having an American Sign Language interpreter expressively interpret all or portions of worship not only makes worship accessible for the deaf, but also helps all who watch it access it kinaesthetically. “Enthusiasm” comes from en-theos–having God in oneself– so maybe it is actually sacrilegious to discourage applause during worship when it is a spontaneous expression of enthusiastic joy or accord.

Pay attention to the moods and qualities of emotional energy throughout the flow of the worship service. Where is it appropriate for the emotional tone to be reflective, somber, grateful, uplifting, or exuberant? How can you use music, words, images, and actions to help set the tone and allow for their appropriate expression? How can the transitions be natural and smooth? The intent should never be to manipulate people’s emotions, but to engage and offer expression to the emotions that are naturally there as the whole person is engaged in the various movements of worship.

Use first-person monologues or multi-person dramas to draw people into the theme on a personal or emotional level. Provide ample points of identification between the actors and the worshipers.

Pay attention to the emotions that the music elicits, so that the music and liturgy enhance each other.

Provide ways for people to personalize both the message and the various components of the worship experience. For example, invite them to share prayer requests aloud or put them in a prayer bowl, write down personal prayers of confession, write responses to questions of reflection or challenge at the end of a sermon, or come forward for personal prayers for healing or forgiveness or for anointing with oil. Coming forward for communion and hearing the words spoken personally: “This is Christ’s body broken for you; this is Christ’s blood shed for you,” engages the worshiper in the sacrament in a much more personal way.

In using any of these approaches, it is important that they not be employed as gimmicks or mere attention-grabbers. The spirit of worship should not be that of a show, but of openness to God and responsiveness to God with our whole selves. Faith, love, trust, and authenticity are the underlying dynamics that help unify and move the people of God through the dance of worship. When people's senses, feelings, imaginations, and spirits are engaged in this way, they will be full participants in the drama of worship rather than spectators being entertained.

Maybe your church’s neighbors are people of other races, classes or sexual orientations, people who have been wounded by church, or people who have never been to church. How would Christ have you welcome these neighbors into his body with a holy embrace? It is unlikely that they will feel his welcome if you simply do what you have always done and expect them to like it or leave it. How can you be actively hospitable in your invitation, welcome, music, liturgy, programs, and relationships?

Draw on the gifts of the laity for special music, children’s sermons, liturgical dance, chancel dramas, clown ministry, and saying prayers.

Include the laity in infant baptisms by having a deacon hold up the baby and the prayer of blessing, give the baptismal certificate and remembrances to the parents, and/or walk the baby among the congregation. Infant baptism can be a time for all present to renew their own baptism, by sprinkling the congregation with an evergreen branch from the baptismal font, or inviting the congregation to come to the baptismal font to splash themselves or receive the sign of the cross in water on their foreheads.

Sermons can lead into lay people sharing their own stories relating to the sermon topic.

Sermons can occasionally be a dialogue between the pastor and a lay person on a scripture-related topic, such as honesty, forgiveness, weekday ministry, poverty, peace, stewardship of money or of the earth, etc. (Such dialogues may appear spontaneous, but should be prepared for ahead of time, with key questions and points mutually decided on with the allotted time frame in mind.)

Occasionally allow time in worship for one or two people to share how “God is still speaking” or working in their life or world.

Some services lend themselves to people coming forward and sharing from their own hearts. Examples include people lighting a candle in memory of a loved one on All Saints Sunday, as they share one gift they received from that person; people sharing something they love or have come to appreciate about their mother on Mother’s Day; people sharing gratitudes or hopes as they light a candle at the turn of the year; people doing a hanging of the greens to begin Advent and talking about the symbolism of the various decorations.

Solicit prayers of intercession (either general or specific to a particular situation) from the congregation, with the congregational response being said (“God, hear our prayer”) or sung (“Hear our Prayer, O Lord” or similar).

Invite the congregation to take part in a laying on of hands for someone who needs special prayers (with their advance permission) or those being commissioned for special ministry.