What’s That Smell?
Smell is the gateway to the senses. It is also the doorway to the appetite. I love to walk into a home in which the cook has been preparing the meal for an hour or so. The smell of the food draws you into hunger. You’re suddenly hungry when you didn’t think you had an appetite at all. My wife makes a Chocolate ganache cake for my birthday and when she does, the aroma of chocolate is everywhere. It’s an amazing smell, so thick is the smell that you can taste it without taking a bite. I could have eaten 10 minutes before and that smell would still cause my stomach to growl.
When our congregation walks into the church, what do they smell? I’ve moved beyond chocolate to another sacred topic. Really, what is it about your church that draws them in before the first word is spoken?
It would be horrible to spend Thanksgiving dinner with family and not smell the food. Imagine. You walk into a home to celebrate with a 4 course meal and there is no roasted turkey, pumpkin pie or green bean aroma in the air. Where’s the holiday party in that? You know it’s true. The moment your nostrils fill with the aroma of Thanksgiving, is the moment the celebration begins!
The same is true for your worshippers. The atmosphere (smell) should speak for you. What are you doing to set the stage for their senses? We could simply have church, but we shouldn’t just “have church.” Our congregation should be aware of the worship moment in their senses. The atmosphere should be unique when they walk in long before we have said anything.
How to we set the table for our worshippers?
- Pray. Spend time in prayer. There is no substitute for the atmosphere that is bathed by people who are on their knees before God. It is an energy of expectation that cannot be replicated by human hands.
- Use music to set the atmosphere that you desire. A theme soundtrack if the pastor is in a sermon series that describes the message you want to make.
- Clean up and organize. Let the congregation know that you were expecting them. The church should be neat and clean. It shouldn’t say, “oops, we forgot you were coming.”
- Use images or media to send the messages that you want people to hear. Throw some scripture in with your scrolling announcements.
- Lose the cell phones. Make it clear that you want to hear God’s voice and not your neighbor’s conversation.
- Make sure your facilities direct the flow of traffic effortlessly. There should be nothing that would confuse or frustrate the worshippers before they are seating
There are many other suggestions to give out. The context is different for everyone of us. Yet the worship leader that realizes their role of leading into worship begins long before the congregation sings the first song, is the church that has the best worship experience of all.