Brim

Creative Overflow in Worship Design

Andra Moran, Suzanne Castle

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9780827202801
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Worship Leader Magazine's 2013 Editor's Pick for Service planners category.
BRIM opens your eyes to creative, artistic worship possibilities. Inside you will find ways to engage your team, worship templates to launch the creative process, and encouragement for the solo worship planner.
BRIM combines music, art resources, imagery, digital content, leader devotionals, prayer encounters, practical how-to's and more to jumpstart your creative engine and to create new, meaningful worship experiences.

CHAPTER
1

HAND-ME-DOWNS

“Tradition

is a guide

and not

a jailer.”

—W. Somerset
Maugham

Leader Devotional 1

RATS ON A RAFT

by Andra Moran

The thing about having a close-knit, but geographically far, family is you have to like to talk on the phone. This is tricky with nieces and nephews on both coasts and under the age of five, but in the last couple of years, my nephew Ben and I have gotten into a conversation groove.

Ben shares knock-knock jokes and stories from kindergarten. He gives unsolicited advice, (“Sharing is caring!”) and confides tales about his secret life as a super hero named Hot Man. (Hot Man can shoot lava out of his feet.) Ben spends his afternoons with my parents, who live near his school. A frequent topic of our conversations this year has been his after-school snacks. During a recent call, Ben explained to me that one of the snacks he likes best is celery spread with peanut butter and dotted with raisins (a sure sign of hanging out with Grandma). I mentioned that sometimes that snack is called “ants on a log.”

Ben replied, “Really? I think it looks more like rats on a raft.”

Okay. Interesting.

When it comes to worship, some people see ants, some see rats, and some just see plain old raisins, and you know, it can be sticky as peanut butter, trying to get everybody on the same page.

A simple shift in perspective can help us move to a place of connection with others, while also serving to widen our own vision.

One goal of worship is to connect with God together as a community. Soul to soul, we discover each other and God in all sorts of different ways. What we see and how we see it is largely influenced by our perspective.

I believe a simple shift in perspective can help us move to a place of connection with others, while also serving to widen our own vision. Think of this in terms of a conversation in a worship committee setting: “Rats, not ants? Well really, we’re still talking about raisins, anyway. Let’s share a snack and talk some more…”

Now, it’s certainly not up to me to lay out ideas of what things in your life could use a perspective-shift. After all, if you’re anything like me, I bet you already have a few in mind. But, speaking from personal experience, I find worship design most exciting when it’s the combined efforts of the community, and the community needs to agree on a variety of raisin-perspectives to do their best work.

Sometimes that’s not so easy, so here’s a little tip: If you’re feeling grouchy about knowing you need to shift perspective, I recommend muttering the words “rats on a raft…” This is sure to get you giggling into the right place: a place of openness to renewal and redesign.

Leader Devotional 2

It’s no wonder I became a church nerd. I blame it on my parents. My mom and dad, the Rev. Drs. Ruth Ann and Geoff Moran, brought their two daughters up in creative and loving church communities across America and in Europe. My father served as a U.S. Army Chaplain, and so our little family experienced the joy and struggles of discovering and honoring an existing worship community’s traditions over and over again. —Andra Moran

WORDS FROM MY FATHER

HAND-ME-DOWNS

by Geoff Moran

An older, wiser Army chaplain told me once, “Remember, Geoff, when you walk into a new chapel assignment for the first time you are walking through doors built by people who came before you.”

Indeed we do walk through doors conceived, designed, funded, built, and used by countless faithful souls who preceded us. Likewise we stand on concrete poured by others, speak in languages rooted in the experience of centuries, and play music in a system of notes, measures and rests designed by those who played centuries ago.

What have you been given over the years, and what do you have to give?

The simple recognition of all those hand-me-downs evokes deep thanksgiving for all those gifts from the past—the very long past, and including ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• What’s “Brim?”
• Why This Book?
• Meet the Authors
• It’s Your Turn
• For a Pastor: Build Your Team
• From a Pastor: Go Team, Grow!
• Brim Basics: How to use this book
• Acknowledgments
• The Goods: Worship design by theme – 10 services to offer, adapt, and enjoy