The Work of the People

Liturgy.

It's a word I didn't hear much about until Divinity School, when I rubbed shoulders with the more "high church" traditions.  In the Evangelical world, church was called "worship"--and anything other than rock-band-style music followed by a lecture-like talk was scoffed at as being "ritual."  As if ritual is a bad thing.

Liturgy has been defined many ways, but the one I remember most is: the work of the people.

This means that we participate in worship.  It is reflected in services where there are times people stand up to read, sit down to listen, stand up to play, and have a call-and-response interaction with the person delivering the "sermon."

Sermons in high church settings are much more compact--14 minutes versus 40 minutes.  One gets the feeling that the sermon is not the main part of the service--whereas in Evangelical settings, one can stroll into "worship" late, as long as you don't miss the sermon.  But in a one-hour, high-church liturgical service, I want to be on time, because I have a part to play, and the whole thing is one experience that I don't want to miss.

Liturgy is a beautiful thing.  It is the work of the people in response to God's work, and I want to participate with my body, soul, and heart.

Amen.