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Joy

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 3 of 5

Cat is stretching. Exercise!Exercise for Happiness

The third suggestion from Shawn Achor’s Happiness Advantage is EXERCISE.

That’s a tough one to apply to congregational life, but let’s not dismiss it too quickly.

We Lutherans are known for standing up and sitting down. Many churches kneel and there is meaning in the physical acts. We stand to address God and honor the Gospel. We kneel in penitence and contrition. But this hardly qualifies as exercise!

At summer church camp we recognize the importance of exercise, sort of! We gather in the morning at the flagpole or cross, greet one another with a joke, read a short scripture and say a prayer. But included in the mix we do a bit of calisthenics. They are silly versions of standard exercises. My favorite is “doing squat.” As effortless at these “exercises” are, they serve a purpose. They help the camp wake up, laugh together and bond for the day’s activities. There is power in just having fun together. Exercise is a good option for making that happen.

So how can congregations exercise? In the olden days (within memory), most congregations had group exercise — bowling, baseball or basketball. Churches banded together to form leagues, creating interdenominational fellowship. This idea could be revived. Redeemer sponsored a community morning walk which catered to the less able. It was held at the community park which covers the area of two or three blocks. Those who have difficulty getting outdoor exercise on their own, met, enjoyed one another’s company and did a few laps around the park with safety and support of numbers. Playground playdates for young families are another exercise option. Yoga classes might be popular. Or teach liturgical dance! What if your liturgical dancers invited the congregation to join them!? Assign them some movements they could do in place to add to the praise of dance.

Think of what exercise options might be helpful to your congregation. Your worship experience might change if people gather having been energized during the week through social and physical benefits of exercise.

If nothing else, you can always invite the congregation to give you one or two stretches before worship!

photo credit: Kong SG via photo pin cc
21 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 2 of 5

Write A Daily Journal Entry

An unexamined life is not worth living.

—Socrates

Shawn Acher’s second recommendation in The Happiness Advantage is to write a daily journal entry addressing in depth something that added joy or happiness to your life.

Writing things down has a power. Motivational experts often give advice to commit hopes, goals, or intentions to paper to increase the prospects of making them reality. “Post your goal on the whiteboard. Make a “to do” list.” The act of writing changes the brain’s priorities. It will help you solve problems and determine direction. Acher adds, it will also help you be happy.

There is something to the discipline of doing something daily. Blogging experts always advise posting two or three times a week. Daily if possible.

Some of the most faithful Redeemer members are dedicated daily readers of devotional books. Even in our exile we have kept up Redeemer’s subscription to the ELCA devotional book, Word in Season. Our members purchase multiple copies.

Enthusiasm for daily devotional readings doesn’t stop there. Redeemer members still stop by other East Falls churches, share extra books and pick up copies of other denomination’s devotional booklets. They often come to worship eager to compare readings from the different publications.

One recent Sunday morning we met at a local bar/restaurant. (Our eviction from God’s house leads us to the strangest places!)

We hadn’t planned an Ambassador visit that morning, but we like to get together regardless. While we awaited breakfast one member said, “Let’s read from our devotional booklets and have a prayer.” She reached for her purse and tapped her arsenal of dog-eared booklets, leafed through them, and chose some readings. We sat in that bar and had our morning worship!

Daily devotions is a discipline which has contributed to our ongoing happiness even under persecution.

But Achor is advising writing! That’s a bit different! How can this enhance congregational life?

IDEA 1:

Try asking your members to write happiness experiences in the form of devotional illustrations. Each week list the daily lectionary scripture readings in your worship bulletin. You can find them online. Invite members to share some of their thoughts based on the readings.

IDEA 2:

Here is where your web site can be put to work. Create  a “happiness” page. You might label it “Blessings.” With permission, post your members’ writings. Compile them into a weekly newsletter and email them to your followers.

Use one or two of the best in worship.

IDEA 3:

Actually mail some writings to shut ins, students, or new members — anyone that might need a word of encouragement. You can use greeting cards or letters. Physical mail can be powerful, a meaningful departure from the digital age.

Your members will be boosting their happiness quotient and sharing the joy!

__________

Remember Acher’s advice: Give it at least 21 days! Our advice, as a group give it three months.

What ideas to you have that might make happiness journaling part of your worship life?

20 Aug 2012

What’s Missing from the Church? Emotion

“We are not thinking machines that feel;
rather, we are feeling machines that think.”

—Antonio Damasio

What does it take to mobilize a congregation?

The answer to this question is elusive. It is usually answered with formulaic responses presented by distant church leaders, many of whom have limited hands-on pastoral experience.

  • Get a good pastor. (Definition of this is never clear).
  • Write a mission statement. (The push to have mission statement is now a decade or more old. Has it made a difference?)
  • Target certain demographics. (Rather exclusive!)

Sometimes these approaches work. Not usually.

A congregation will not be mobilized until it feels. Emotion is fuel for action.

People don’t act based on the analytical part of their brains. They act based upon the emotional parts of their brains. In head vs heart, heart wins.

Churches are not good at handling emotion. Emotions can be so messy!

The cerebral approach permeates church life. We tend to turn up our noses at more demonstrative styles of worship. Soon, even hymns of joy are sung cerebrally, with every nose in the congregation buried in the hymnal!

Pastors are often cerebral in their approach to ministry. They are trained to read and analyze scripture. Applying that training to action is s rarer skill.

To appeal to the emotional is daring and dangerous, but it is the only way to get a congregation moving.

Congregational leaders must find ways to help worshipers feel again.

Too often in its history, the Church has relied on two emotions: FEAR and GUILT.

And we wonder why people stay away!

Here are some emotions that could change your congregational life for the better.

LOVE is powerful. Love is a verb. It is easy to talk about love and do nothing.

ANGER is a powerful emotion. Make sure anger is directed in unselfish ways, but don’t be afraid to encourage appropriate anger.

HOPE is an emotion. Hope is lost if people come to church week after week and nothing happens.

JOY is a powerful emotion. It demands expression. Foster joy. People are eager to come together when they can expect true joy. (View the boychoir video in the last post. Those boys come faithfully to rehearsals because they are encouraged to express joy. Compare the faces of the boy singers to the faces of the typical church choir!)

Warning! A church that takes an emotional approach to mission will experience conflict. It goes with the territory. Conflict, well-managed, can be a good thing. Both the Old and New Testaments are infused with conflict. If transformation is to be more than a buzzword, it must be expected, respected and embraced.

Learn to foster emotions—and the conflicts that go with them. Be prepared to use the dynamics of emotion to teach, motivate and change lives — including your congregation’s life!

16 Aug 2012