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aaron klinefelter
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March 19, 2007
> 4:39 PM
liturgy > the longhaul life of the community   That's the title of a little break-out session I lead at the thinspace gathering this weekend. It was a good conversation I think. Some of these things are pieces of things I've said in the past, some of it is new. I thought it might be helpful to put it up here as I put it together for the session.But isn’t liturgy dead, dry religion? Isn’t that what many of us left a long time ago in favor of something more "spirit-lead" and "organic?" Well, I don't know, is it? I think some people think that. I think there are many people who don't really understand what liturgy is or what its purpose is. I'm sure of that. What also seems clear is that there are many in this so-called "emerging church" phenomenon who, after leaving this or that for whatever reasons, are beginning to rediscover liturgy as something good - liturgical prayer, worship, etc. The concept of organic church What about that word - organic? Let's think about that for a minute. Think about the natural world, organic life - how does that work anyway? It's certainly not formless or chaotic. Organic life has rhythm. It’s not accidental. It's not wherever, whenever, whatever. That's not organic. I think liturgy is organic. It is a rhythm of activity focused on God, on God in the community of His People the Church. It moves in seasons - like breathing, leaves falling, buds sprouting, freezing and thawing, mating and giving birth, etc. Liturgy as skeleton Think about the human body. Liturgy 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. A liturgical lifestyle As we re-examine the mode of our active Christian lives, we are discovering, it seems, the real value of a liturgical lifestyle, not only the trappings of liturgical worship. We are finding, once again, the real spiritual formation that happens in the context of close Christian community, and we are finding ways of living that out in the midst of "real life." The monastic life is not merely a life of quiet and solitude, although there are elements of that within it. It is a liturgical lifestyle - a life of "spiritual work" that is done by a community together. We are coming to see "discipleship" as less of an individual "me & Jesus" deal, and more as something that happens in the context of community - a community of those traveling this common journey together, for a long time. And this liturgical lifestyle is being rediscovered as something legitimately formational. So, this is what I mean by the longhaul life of the community. We cannot live as communities of faith who are dependent on the newest, coolest thing that comes down the pike. We can't sustain a transformative life together by merely "hanging out" - doing whatever, whenever, wherever. It has no skeleton. It eventually falls to the ground. Liturgy (and at least to some significant degree I mean the liturgy that is old, which has been lived in since the Church began) is our stable skeletal structure. It is a compass. It acts as a rudder in a vast, open ecclesiastical ocean. It is a pattern of one step after another, together, toward a common goal. It will get boring. It will seem repetitive and sometimes dry to many. And it will form you, straighten your crooked limbs. It will act, spiritually, like physical therapy does for the body. Longhaul. Steady. technorati tags > church, emerging church, organic church, liturgy, spiritual formation, community Labels: church, emerging church, liturgy, spiritual formation 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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