In 'Revelation', John re-imagines this kind of sensual experience when he describes worship in the heavenly realms. There are trumpets and voices, rainbows and lightning, blood and incense, rumblings and tears, and sweet and sour scrolls. In the premodern, western Church, there was a greater sensual experience than what grew out of the modernist enlightenment. European cathedrals were designed to enhance the appreciation of God through all five senses. These attentions to the sensual experience in worship must be regained in the postmodern Church to help this emerging generation attend to God.
At our church, we are attempting to experiment with sights, sounds, touches, tastes, and smells. We use “PowerPoint,” not only to project song lyrics, but also to show beautiful images throughout the worship experience. We listen to songs, speeches, and silences. We are highly touch-oriented (relational). We feel and smell the bodies around us in worship, and we feel and taste the bread and wine in communion, and the coffee and desserts afterwards. The Christian life is a five-sense, corporeal experience. It is rooted in the humus of our bodies in time and space. It is realized through our physical beings. And the authentically Christian, postmodern preacher will engage her congregants' fully sensual lives.
