As for the performance thing, I have experienced this when singing in choirs. Sometimes it was my problem, sometimes it was other members of the choir having the problem. Once I became particularly aware of it, I would try to give myself a couple moments in the pew before I went into the choir area to remember why I was singing. I was singing for God, not for myself…as part of the worship service, not as part of a show. (Let me state that also helped me chill the few times I had to be a cantor.)

We have been blessed with a recent series of good priests at the churches we've been members of the last few years. All of these men have been very approachable and very much not “I'm up here and you're down there and thus I am closer to God than you'll ever be.” I have, unfortunately experienced that kind of preaching and it's very disappointing.

Also at two of our past churches the altar was in the very middle of the sanctuary so the service is done “in the round.” This model made some people, used to a more traditional setting, very uncomfortable but it forced the priest to move around face more than just one part at a time. At one of the churches in particular, everything happened throughout the sanctuary. The altar is shaped like an octagon and Father would move sides of it during the Liturgy of the Eucharist so he was never facing the same way every Sunday. The processional wove in and out of the seats (no pews – long story). After a baptism, the baby was paraded around by the parents, and parishioners were able to mark a cross on the baby's head as they passed by.

It was a good model for “we are this church, this church is us.” The people are the church, not the preacher.