Cognitive scientists have long touted the advantages of repetition for making memory. “Cells that fire together, wire together!” The more our synapses literally connect around the same thing over and over, the more those things become “common knowledge” or “second nature.”

Worship, I believe, is meant to be formative of who and how we are out in the world. So I think information from science is immanently helpful as we look at what makes messages “M-M-Good” (as I like to say) – or “meaningful and memorable.” If worship is memorable, our brains are more likely to access that message and those images more readily and easily when we are not in the worship space. And that’s when our faith stories start to form our life stories.

One of the reasons that a series of worship that explores a theological concept or an aspect of our faith narrative over several weeks is effective communication is because we get to revisit the main message or underlying truths again and again instead of every worship experience being a “one hit wonder.” While the message in a series changes and deepens each week, we are still “steeping” in a set of symbols and metaphors over time that get more and more solidified in our vocabulary. Singing “Nothing can trouble…” over 6 weeks has an effect on us when that song springs up in our heads during the week when things get stressful. A U-turn sign used as a logo in a worship series about turning our lives around gains a layer of meaning when we see one out in the world. You get the idea.

Join me Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 4pm Pacific (7pm Easter) for the first of my video conference webinars–open and free to everyone–about the liturgical season of Lent and Holy Week coming up.  We’ll explore several ideas for worship series based on the theology of the season that could form and shape the lives of our communities this year.

For information about logging on, visit http://www.worshipdesignstudioblog.com/online-events/

See you in the Studio!