John D. Witvliet

Q Thanks for your comments in RW 69 about ordination. I have one more question: What about the assurance of pardon? In our church, only a minister offers the benediction and greeting or leads the sacraments, but our lay leaders do the assurance of pardon. Is that permissible or advisable? —Michigan

Q   One big change for us in the past few years is that our pastor just preaches in worship, while our worship team leads the rest of the service. We enjoy leading, but don’t have a lot of training. Shouldn’t the pastor take a more active role in the rest of the worship service? —Iowa

Q. Our newspapers are full of stories about crime, homelessness, the environment, and other societal problems. Why don’t we hear more about this in worship? —Michigan A. My hunch is that these themes are quite prominent in communities that face injustice but less so in more affluent places. It is always a temptation to prefer worship that comforts us without challenging us. But the gospel clearly involves both.

Q. I have trouble with planning our prayers of confession. People are saying the words, but I wonder how many are actually personally confessing their sin. If we aren't actually confessing, why perform this rather onerous part of the service? —Ontario

Q   We’re hiring a new worship director.  Do you have any advice about how to set up a job description? —New Jersey A    Based on learning from a number of congregations that we have heard from at the Worship Institute, I would recommend thinking about three things that churches sometimes miss:

This Q&A by John D. Witvliet reflects on All Saints’ Day, the use of prayer books, and the difference between songs about and to God.

Q. In our last worship committee, we had a long discussion about whether banners should or shouldn’t feature words. What are the issues here?

Q. Since September 11, the United States flag has reappeared in our church sanctuary. But some people are offended and want to remove it. What is the issue here?—Illinois

John Witvliet answers questions about selecting readings for Advent, repetition in contemporary worship music, and the meaning of a Latin phrase.

“We are what we eat.” Anyone who’s suffering the cumulative effect of too many ice cream sundaes knows that’s true. But when it comes to matters of spirituality and faith, I’d like to suggest, we are what we sing. Music has the uncanny ability to burrow its way into our spiritual bones. Even when we are tired or depressed, old songs well up from within us and dance on our plaintive whistling lips. When we are old and can remember little else, we are still likely to recall the songs we learned in our childhood.