Wayne Schmidt. Beholding him with your eyes would have made you consider overlooking him altogether, maybe literally. But despite his small stature, he was a giant to me. He taught my worship classes with such understanding and vigor. He stressed things that seemed quite mundane at the time. But these things too have grown in my mind over time.
He taught time and time again a simple concept that I treasure. “When you are speaking to God, face the altar. When you are speaking to the people, face the people.” So simple and yet so ignored in so many churches. In other words, “Pray to God, proclaim to the people.”
The practice of this simple axiom has led me to fall in love with the wall altar which I enjoy in our church. It all but forces you to follow this rule, especially if you use an altar book on the altar. I have talk to several pastors who prefer a free standing altar because then they never have their back to the people. I never think about who my back is towards, but instead, who I am facing. Perhaps it was the old school drilling of Wayne Schmidt that programmed these thoughts into my brain.
But I know it is important for me to look away from the people and towards the symbol of God presence when speaking to Him. I have enough trouble keeping focused during the parts of the service directed to God. This simple rule helps me and, I pray, my people realize that these portions of the service are directed God-ward. I do not pray towards the people because they are of no help when it comes to my petitions. My help cometh from the altar.
There are any parts of the service that are dialogue between pastor and people, and there the turn towards them is meant to show that relationship spatially.
But please, don’t pray towards me and don’t sing things like the Gloria in Excelsis toward me either. Face the altar. Even if you have a freestanding altar, turn towards it and turn away from me. When it is time for the Benediction, turn to me and bring me that blessing face to face. As Wayne Schmidt said so well and so often, “When you are speaking to God, face the altar. When you are speaking to the people, face the people.” It reminds us that we are there to receive from and respond to God, not simply to discuss things between ourselves.
Thanks, Phil, for that memory of Dr. Schmidt concerning sacrificial and sacramental posture in conducting the liturgy. He was always my favorite. Maybe it was because I always got 100% on his tests? 🙂 I was in his last worship class.