By David Manner
If churches have learned anything during these last few months of online worship services it is that words and music had to be synthesized. A succinct, refined, and consolidated economy of sermons and songs was necessary since the service time online was abbreviated and attention spans were diminished. Those lessons shouldn’t be lost as worship leaders plan and lead regathered worship services.
Worship leader verbal transitions that connect songs and other service elements are vital to achieving worship flow. And yet, some worship leaders prior to moving completely online rarely prepared or even thought about the words of those transitions until it was time to make them. The result was often a long-winded circular discourse of clichés and verbosity. Hopefully, the distillation of words they refined online can be transferred to those in-person verbal transitions too.
Scripture often reminds us of how important our words are:
The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble. Proverbs 21:23
Do you see someone who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 29:20
The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin. Proverbs 13:3
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom; his tongue speaks what is just. Psalm 37:30
Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2
Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you,
Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Worship leaders could learn a valuable lesson from microblogging sites such as Twitter. Its success is based on sharing succinct but also persuasive information posted by users who get in, get out, and get on with it. Character limitations on Twitter force users to formulate a mental outline of what is essential to say and how they want to say it before they actually say it. The most successful accounts synthesize information based on what the audience needs to know most.
Meaningful worship service verbal transitions are marked by a clear, succinct economy of words. Concise verbal eloquence requires preparation and practice. So maybe if we spent as much time praying over and rehearsing our verbal transitions as we presently spend praying over and rehearsing our songs, those transitions could contribute to rather than detract from our worship.
This post first appeared on David’s blog, WorshipEvaluation.com and was reposted here with permission.
