Introduction
Sally Ann McKinsey
A Reformed understanding of Christian vocation and the polity of the PC(USA) includes an aspiration of leadership free from hierarchies. Our understanding of the priesthood of all believers and our horizontal leadership structure gives us a foundation for how to think about collaborative relationships. But in practice, these ideas can often feel like an eschatological hope rather than a lived reality. Worship is a space and time set apart to practice hopes like these, though, making liturgical practice a ripe place to begin in seeking true collaboration.
I am grateful for the contributors to this issue who have shared their experiences of collaboration among their colleagues, church members, and congregations, and I give thanks for authors who have engaged in a collaborative process in the very writing of their articles. The tapestry of practical wisdom and liturgical expertise that has resulted makes this issue meaningful in form as well as content.
Gennifer B. Brooks develops a homiletic centered on the work of the Holy Spirit, our greatest collaborator in worship planning and practice. In a conversation I shared with Jonathan Hehn, he explores the ways in which worship teaches the faith, remembering the deep relationship between education and worship in the Reformed tradition and approaching liturgy as a collaboration between disciplines.
Samuel Springer and Cat Goodrich of Faith Presbyterian in Baltimore share a conversation about their worship planning practice as colleagues, inviting church staff members to investigate their own communication and support one another’s gifts in ministry. Jemimah Ngatia and Christopher Brown write about their perspectives on the life-giving relationship their worshiping communities have cultivated. Catherine Neelly Burton offers wisdom about the gifts of congregations with unpaid leadership from her work with rural communities in the Presbytery of Southern Kansas. GB Burgin shares his vocation as a minister of music to empower members of his congregation to be regular leaders in worship and music ministry.
Veronica Cannon recognizes the centrality of worship in all of congregational life while exploring the seven marks of vital congregations, marks that work together to cultivate wholeness and collaboration in communities across the church. Kathy Dawson explores worship as an intergenerational experience, writing about the reasons and methods for including children in the worship life of the congregation.
Father Frank Sabatté shares yet another perspective in collaboration between a faith community and the art community surrounding it in New York City. In this edition of the “Work of Our Hands” section, we hear about Openings NYC, an almost twenty-year-old artist collective, residency, and exhibition project that continues to foster collaborative relationships between artists and members of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. The work of Openings builds connections between ritual and artistic life, provides space for interfaith dialogue, and explores what it means to sincerely listen to one another.
Samuel Son offers a beautiful poem exploring family relationships and cooking together as a lens through which to consider the ministry of Jesus and our sacramental practice, and throughout the issue, Theresa Cho shares community art projects carried out by her worshiping community in San Francisco.
Columnists for this volume bring insight about the importance of pastoral relationships in liturgy writing, preaching that relies on collaboration with the congregation, ways to navigate issues of music preference in worship planning, and the role of art in worship that leads us to work for justice. Each of these columns invite us to ask questions about the boundaries around the disciplines they explore and wonder about connections and intersections.
Collaboration can often seem a hollow hope in practice, for true collaboration is difficult. It requires relinquishing control, listening deeply to another’s perspective, valuing each other’s wisdom and experience, exercising curiosity about unfamiliar ways of being, and trusting God to surprise through the Holy Spirit. The articles in this issue invite us to cultivate collaborative practices in our own contexts, asking questions that will transform our worship: What do we mean by collaboration? What countercultural labor is required in collaborative liturgical practice, and how can we support one another in that vital work?
