Liturgical Chaos
The theme/question for this quarters CoCR by our host at The Cross Reference is:
I guess I’d be interested in hearing perspectives on what obstacles are presented by the varying liturgies (high/low, sacramental/non-sacramental, rubrical/freeform) and how they might be possible to overcome. I don’t necessarily want to get too doctrinal (although the law of prayer and the law of belief go hand-in-hand, as far as Catholics are concerned). And the issue of liturgical reform would be open for discussion as well.
Much of American worship experience when compared to that 5 or 10 centuries earlier is very much less liturgically and bound in ritual and movement than it was then. Charles Tayler in A Secular Age
I will admit up front, that I have always been part of a liturgical worship environment. I grew up in a Lutheran church … and have now ended in a Eastern Orthodox church, which is arguably about as “high” liturgical as you can get in the modern church. So I have a definite bias on the place of liturgy in worship. But, I’d like to pose a question for the non-liturgical church members.
One of the things liturgy and liturgical cycles are good for is memory. Passover and Pascha (Easter) are memories of two very significant events in the Hebrew and Christian churches. These are marked liturgically. The rest of the church year is marked out with a variety of other liturgical events … which in part are to help us remember and mark those as important. These can also mark other historical events. Recently, the church I attend has added to its liturgical calendar a service to remember 9/11. Americans remember July 4th and certain other Presidential holidays. We remember Pearl Harbor a lot less well. Why? Because, there is no secular “holiday” or secular liturgical event (if you will) to mark that day. 9/11 currently also has no such secular liturgy remembering that day. In 50-75 years in the absence of such a marking, like Pearl Harbor, 9/11 will fade from our public consciousness. The point is, liturgy and ritual make a connection not just in our mind, but in our whole being, our nous if you will, between us and events which we … as a church, find significant.
My question is how do you non-liturgical churches hold precious and fast to the important events in Church history in the absence of liturgical remembrance?
Filed under: Catholicism • Christianity • Mark O. • Orthodox • Protestantism • Religion
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If I might just ask a question first? How do you define “church”? If you’re definition is based on an institutional or organizational structure, one that prescribes and observes a specific form of liturgy, then I would answer thus:
I don’t think there is any such thing as “NON” liturgical! Every church has a liturgy, whether expressed in a simple or complex manner, e.g.:
Pray
Sing
Preach
Pray
Eat
(clue: that would be a typical country baptist fellowship! 😉 No robes, no candles, no incense, no choirs/organs, and maybe no air-conditioning!)
In that sense, I think the best liturgy is the simplest liturgy – one that allows the Spirit maximum liberty to operate on His own terms, within the parameters set by the SCRIPTURES, yet without imposing burdensome or extra-biblical rituals and traditions no matter how noble, e.g. lighting Advent candles, the obligatory and expensive annual Christmas and Easter dramas, etc.
However, if you define the church as the New Testament defines it, i.e. the “ekklesia”, an assembly of the “called out” believers, the “living stones”, the sons of God who are led by the indwelling Spirit of God i.e. — an organISM, not an organiZATION — then one must ask:
Why do “liturgy and ritual” NEED to remind us of the things that the living indwelling Spirit witnesses in our hearts and minds every moment we breathe?! Do we find our reminders in a dead letter (i.e. a calendar) apart from the Living God? Unthinkable.
Certainly, fellowship with God’s people is how our spiritual lives are lived out as a community. It serves a vital role with respect to how we learn, grow, serve, mature and are admonished in our walk of faith. But the idea that the liturgy needs to *remind* me of a faith I might have forgotten is ludicrous in light of the continuous indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit! Even when I’m in the doghouse because of this or that sin, my faith in the Lord is as real and present as December 25th or Easter.
There is only one sense in which a “liturgical reminder”, or a “memorial”, is found in the new testament: the Lord’s Supper… But even then, it is not because we forget Him and need reminders, but to “PROCLAIM the Lord’s death until He comes”. (1 Cor. 11:26)
In my humble opinion,
Lizzie
I would agree with the previous commenter that all churches have some form of liturgy and it can become fixed in stone quite quickly.
My question would be about a historical liturgy, historical in two senses. First, that it reflects the liturgy as developed over the history of the church, and second that it replays the historical events on which our faith centers. The latter is especially important.
I started very non-historical about liturgy, and remain tolerant in this area, but I have found that my faith is best undergirded by a liturgy that connects with the history of the church in both ways.
To answer your final question, I didn’t when involved in the less historical liturgy. I’m doing it more now by seeking out a liturgy that is historically based.