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July 09, 2004
> 10:51 AM
why the liturgy helps > part one There are quite a few people out there, doing church differently, rethinking some things, who end up in a vague liturgical place. It's really a very interesting phenomenon. And I'm not just talking about postmodern coolophiles grabbing pieces of liturgical worship to use in reaching the more mystically oriented parts of our society. I'm talking about some of us who are rediscovering a real value to a liturgical life in our communities (read: churches). I mean, when I have a conversation with a church planter who has never been in a liturgical tradition, and no one in this community is from such a tradition, about the deep value and centrality of the Eucharist and how that can be woven into the life of that group of people - it's a very interesting world we're living in. On to the question - why does the liturgy help? Well, I'm not going to pretend to answer that question fully and comprehensively here and now. That would be too much. I will say a few things though, that I have experienced and that I believe to be true. Specifically in settings like some of our newer "emerging" faith communities, ones that have stepped outside what people call traditional church structures, I believe we have seen some crisis. I think that's obvious. There is a crisis of identity and of belonging. Well, if we're not "X" any more, then who are we? If "Z" isn't our "spiritual family" any more, then what is? Where do we belong? I'm not trying to answer those questions right now - just putting them out there as an introduction to what I'm about to say. These crises lead also to a crisis of what to do. How, then, are we to be the church? I suppose that would be the question that is flowing from the deep parts of many people these days. Some reject, in their pain, all form and ritual, all leadership and structure, everything that would remind them of "the old." Then, perhaps, they grab hold of some things that look like what they're thinking: the old house church movement, cells, or something else. So, they sit in a living room and drink coffee and talk and laugh and maybe pray ever now and then. It's organic you know. You can't be hemmed in by a plan. I understand this. I know from whence those thoughts have come and I am sympathetic. They come from deep places, from very legitimate experience of harmful things. So, yes, I understand how you get there. But the question still remains: how are we to be the church? By being nothing? I'm not thinking that's the answer. Sorry to be gross, but it's like our skeletons have been ripped out. Wow. Yeah, like an Alien movie or something. Anyway, we are now, sometimes, like piles of boneless flesh and organs laying on the ground - no stability, no structure to hold us up, to allow us to walk or sit upright. If the picture didn't do it for you, I'll say it straight out; this isn't good. This is how the liturgy helps. It gives us a skeletal structure to stand with, and it's not just some new made-up thing that hasn't been tested. It is tried and tested and still standing. It has helped in this way since the beginning. It is an ancient Oak. This, I think, is what we're catching hold of. Our eyes are open. Our noses are alert. We see and smell something that will give us what we do not have. OK, 4 paragraphs is enough for one sitting. I will continue this. I think it's in me to say so stay tuned. Pax vobiscum. Labels: church, emerging church, liturgy 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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