"Earth as the Body of God" @ First UU Oakland, CA

Two weeks ago, my housemate and I decided to go to church in the morning. We looked up the sermon topic and found that an old friend of ours from YRUU, Marcus Liefert, was worship associate for the morning. The service was entitled "Earth as the Body of God." As worship associate, Marcus spoke directly from the heart about his recent experiences in Brazil, in which he realized that everything from the stunning natural beauty to the heartbreaking poverty of the favelas was a part of what he called "the body of god." The language he used cultivated a sense of spirit and reverence.

I was struck by the contrast between Marcus' heart-speak and the minister's head-speak. She shared her common struggle of trying to be eco-friendly, and drew keenly from the ecological literature. Her sermon was well thought out, but hardly as felt as the contributions of the worship associate.

At one point, the minister called on the congregation to share with one another - for about forty-five seconds - how they were struck by this idea that the earth is the body of god. I appreciated the gesture towards a more interactive service, but as my housemate observed later, the short time provided for that space allowed only for lip-service to an in-depth conversation. Only a small breadcrumb of our philosophies could be shared. Our soul-searches were not exposed, and more likely than not, little common ground was reached.

Indeed, if we were discussing this same topic in YRUU, we would take an hour to discuss the topic amongst each other, and still we would not be satisfied in the breadth of the discussion! Yet at least we would have the opportunity to truly break our barriers down, coming to a genuine rapport with one another's beliefs, and possibly some recognition of shared philosophy.

The worship associate model can be used to start engaging ministers in developing new patterns of organizing Sunday service. If I were to transform this service into the circular tradition, the worship associate would play as much of a role as he or she desired in setting the tone, and it might be the job of the minister to facilitate a deeper conversation amongst the congregation - lasting a half hour or even 45 minutes. The minister might use their intimate knowledge of spiritual literature to deepen the conversation, coaxing the congregation to share more freely and find new common ground.