Someone left a comment on one of my older posts that provoked me to this thought:
Liturgical worship is missional by nature.
Christina put it this way:
"In our theology it is believed that the liturgy is the work of the people ‘for the life of the world’… In the liturgy through our prayers we gather up the world, praying
general prayers that cover all aspects of our lives and individual
prayers that the faithful put forth to be included. The historical and
theological belief is that in the Eucharist we are in the heavenlies,
in the presence of God, lifting up all things to God in prayer and
thanksgiving."
In other words, a liturgical service is outwardly focused by its very nature. It is our work on behalf of the world. We lift the broken world to God in the Eucharist. We don’t come to the gathering to "get something from the worship", we come to "work for" new life to be brought to the world. When we’re in the "heavenlies" we aren’t just having a good old time with God, we are doing priestly work, lifting the world to God in prayer and thanksgiving.
Liturgical theology forces us to recognize the narcissism of thinking that we should be "getting something" out of worship. Sign me up for "the work of the people for the life of the world" instead!
Ben – you put me to shame and said it so much better than I did but that is it exactly! Was not man created to be Priest, King & Prophet?
Thanks for the post. I have never heard that explanation of liturgical worship. Perhaps that is why people speak so abusively agianst it. Because they have no idea why it's done in that manner, not to mention it's far to mystical in nature for those who also speak abusively about mysticism.Thank you Ben and Christina. Oh yeah,and how beautiful is that term: the "heavenlies"?!
Having just sampled this savoury post, full of rich aroma, I am hesitant to “season” it. I especially like the idea that “we come to work for new life to be brought into the world.” That said, if/assuming our work is fruitful, we will also want to bring an offering be it thanksgiving, praise, freewill, etc unto the Lord. I got this idea long ago from Joe Hensley, one of our worship leaders, that we should always bring an offering with us rather than our appetites to “be fed” or our grumpies with life (grumpies do not equal sorrows which are allowed). Maybe we could do an activation some Sunday and all leave the room as if going to get the offering that we forgot to bring that day returning with it. It also seems that Mt 5:23,24 speaks to this missional task/overlap with liturgy. That act seems to be as much about removing an obstacle from my brother’s path as it does about cleansing my path.
Having just sampled this savoury post, full of rich aroma, I am hesitant to “season” it. I especially like the idea that “we come to work for new life to be brought into the world.” That said, if/assuming our work is fruitful, we will also want to bring an offering be it thanksgiving, praise, freewill, etc unto the Lord. I got this idea long ago from Joe Hensley, one of our worship leaders, that we should always bring an offering with us rather than our appetites to “be fed” or our grumpies with life (grumpies do not equal sorrows which are allowed). Maybe we could do an activation some Sunday and all leave the room as if going to get the offering that we forgot to bring that day returning with it. It also seems that Mt 5:23,24 speaks to this missional task/overlap with liturgy. That act seems to be as much about removing an obstacle from my brother’s path as it does about cleansing my path.
I believe that one of the things our congregation has learned about liturgical worship is that it can be dynamic. During the liturgy we are there to do the work but depending on the season, i.e. Easter, or if you are large enough, time can be added at the end for praise and worship. Before our church split we often had this time and it was truly a time of glory. People would bring gifts of song and dance in praise to the Lord. I do not believe that liturgical worship negates these gifts that are more commonly practiced in different protestant congregations but rather can enrich them and add depth to them. One does not have to mean an absence of the other. Not to be critical but my understanding is that during the reformation the baby was thrown out with the bath water, so to speak. Because of the corruption, abuse and hypocracy that was taking place within the Catholic church many things that were good were thrown out because of the connotations associated with them. As you explore liturgical worship I would encourage you to keep this in mind. While there will always be individuals who look to get something out of worship this is truly an area of blessing within the different areas of protestantism. I can remember the first time I went to a black baptist church. While I missed the liturgy of worship, I was overwhelmed with the beauty and spirit of the praise lifted up. I believe strongly that we run into issues when we go to any extreme, balance is the key.