Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 0-206 From 'Sunrise Sunset' (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco), Rowland Croucher's book of daily meditations. Feel free to use or adapt it. Praise the Lord! With trumpet sound... lute and harp... tambourine and dance... strings and pipe... clanging cymbals, clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Psalm 150. Biblical worship was sometimes active. So we should involve the whole congregation in worship: not just singing hymns, but with responsive readings, litanies, united prayers, times of community sharing, bringing the offerings forward, moving to greet one another etc. Biblical worship was also sensual: appealing to eye, ear - and nose! Do a checklist of your worship-service: what is there for the eyes (form, light, colour, architecture, dress etc.), the ear (besides voices of leader, congregation, musical instruments [see Psalm 150] and choir, recorded music, voices, special effects), taste and smell in the holy communion: what else? Touch is important: we all have 'contact need' since separation from the womb. In the gospels physical contact was important for Jesus as he ministered to people: so, when it is appropriate, we may hold hands to sing or pray, or clasp arms, or share an embrace as an expression of genuine Christian love. These are opportunities to say with flesh what we feel in our hearts. May I worship you, Lord, with all that is within me, with all my senses, softly and sometimes loudly, reverently and boisterously, in silence and with music. Amen.

Shalom! Rowland Croucher