August 24, 2006> 9:20 AM
quicktake > liturgy
I thought of this the other day, sort of a new blogging technique to keep me more "regular" - introducing the quicktake. From time to time I'll post a brief ramble on some subject or other without trying to hash the whole thing out as an "essay."
Liturgy The skeleton of a faith community's worship and prayer life. It is the spiritual life's work we do as a community, together, with and in Christ. Should we have one, a skeleton that is? Yes. The question certainly should be asked, but if somehow we come to the answer "no" I'm pretty sure we fell off a cliff somewhere. Should they all be the same in every church? Yeah, hmmm, yes and no. That's right - to a degree, yes, all skeletons in all bodies are the same. You have a humerus, I have a humerus. I have a rib-cage and so do you. If you didn't have a rib-cage, that would not be good. It would mean either something bad happened in your genetic formation or you were in a bad accident - something, but it wouldn't be right. I believe there is a certain core of liturgical worship and prayer that is, let's put it this way, a healthier skeleton to have in your body. It's the one we've basically always had - well, until about 500 years ago. It's way too rigid in some parts of the Church (and non-existent in others = jelly body). There are places that it ends up choking people instead of guiding them or helping them worship and stand in the flow of God's Grace in the community. Choking isn't good. You can die from that. A rigid skeleton will break too easily. So, yes, there is a core that should exist in all places, times, cultures. But no, the exact expression and fleshing out of that skeleton is not, and probably should not, look the same everywhere. People go too far on both ends of this liturgical spectrum. Can we try, please, not to do that?
August 24, 2006
> 9:20 AM
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