Vintage

How frames can help us worship

Faculty book designed to help enhance experience of “people in the pews” As Dr. Deborah Kapp delved into research for her new book, she encountered a few surprises. “I learned just how hard the worshipers themselves work,” she says. “I felt humbled. My research unmasked what I see as some of my failings as a worship leader. In some ways I’m not sure I really do know more about worship than the parishioners.” Campbell Associate Professor of Urban Ministry at McCormick, Kapp recently published Worship Frames: How We Shape and Interpret Our Experience of God (Alban Institute, 2008), in which she applies the sociological concept of “frames” to help pastors and congregations alike think about worship in new ways. It is designed to be a non-technical book for pastors and laypeople, not sociologists or theologians. “The technical language has been scrubbed out,” Kapp says. “The intent of this book is to offer new ways of thinking about ordering and concentrating worship to enhance the experience of the people in the pews.” Worship Frames grew out of Deborah’s doctoral dissertation work for Loyola University. She conducted in-depth studies of three churches in Chicago’s western suburbs, which offered both traditional and contemporary worship services. In the process, she became interested in the writings of sociologist Erving Goffman, who espoused the idea of using “frames” to study how experience is organized. Among other things, he concluded that frames shape action, an idea Kapp found organically applicable to congregational worship. Worship Frames is not about “traditional” versus “contemporary” styles of worship. Rather, it analyzes how structure and preaching shape the way we give meaning to worship and congregations. A frame can be words and/or a series of actions that signal or create a set of expectations for what will follow. Using a trip to the theater as an example: the ritual of buying a ticket, traveling to the venue, finding a seat, and waiting for the curtain to rise gives meaning to our experience. We know why we are present, and what we are doing. “Opening segments of worship similarly shape the experience we have by setting up the action, pulling people together into a single worshiping body, and determining the emotional feel of what follows,” Kapp says. “Although most pastors don’t usually give it overt attention, there is an emotional context to worship. The opening parts of worship influence what emotions will predominate in the service: Is worship going to be emotionally reserved or expressive? Will it be serious, joyful, or exciting?” Opening frames also pull people together into a unified worshiping body, which is not as easy as it used to be. “The challenge comes when a congregation contains those with diverse religious backgrounds. That creates a lot of different sets of expectations for worship. The frame structure works to pull people together and helps build community.” One question Kapp posed in her work with the suburban congregations is how a worshipper understands her or his role in worship. Universally, the respondents answered that it was “my responsibility to pay attention.” “Worshipers have serious intentions to participate,” Kapp says, “but sometimes they get distracted, which troubles them.”  She concludes that worship leaders who want to encourage people’s participation will take care to plan services that are coherent and have smooth transitions, and will prepare carefully for their roles in worship. *** Deborah Kapp teaches classes not only in Urban Ministry for McCormick’s Masters-level programs, but also for the Doctor of Ministry program in the area of congregational leadership. To read Dr. Kapp’s biographical overview, click here.

 

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