This is a response to a question asked regarding a previous post: how do you limit the noise in church? In order to answer this question, one must have a proper understanding of noise. What is it? Is it completely external? Noise is anything that hinders clear transferal of communication. Examples of external sources of noise would be an email written in cell phone text language, a noisy room, staticy phone, etc. In church, some examples would be the pastor wearing a clown suit, the sermon being choppy and illogically presented without flow. These are some typical examples. However, one often goes unnoiticed: a traditionalistic mindset in the congregation. This mindset finds it's comfort in the fact that everything is done the way it's always been done. If something is different, critisism and offense arises in the minds of the people. Notice this comfort and basis for offense has nothing to do with what church is about. This mindset comes with a "spiritual" contentment with "doing church" regardless of terminology involved. Therefore, the working of the Spirit is quenched by "leave everything the same" mentality. Change is a swear word. The mindset toward church inevitably latches onto one's mindset toward spiritual things in one degree or another. As I have observed churches, this is typical. A church gets stuck in a rut of traditionalism, spiritaully grows weaker - both tr'ism and spiritual weaknes working together - but then experiences revival. Then things naturally tend to change in the service: the people welcome and even encourage spontanuity, things are cut out of the service to give room for something else that's actually worth doing, etc. So what needs to happen to eliminate noise? One thing, get rid of comfort in how things have always been done. The people need to come to church wanting to worship their God together, regardless of the order of service or elements involved (as long as those elements are worshipful in the first place). If the mindset of the people worships God with the individual elements, then they can do so no matter what order they are in. The problem is that people just "do" the elements of church without being consumed by their God in those elements. So, the lack of noise starts with a right heart. Other options beyond that is to change things up to help people not get stuck in a rut. If a rut is perceivable, it might be wise for a pastor to have a family discussion with the congregation about it, and maybe even take out the cause of the rut for a sufficient amount of time. The service does not have to reflect the immutability of God, but rather praise Him for Him.