The word liturgy literally means “the work of the people.” We are the dramatis personae acting out an ancient truth Sunday after Sunday so that this ancient knowledge will become, as it were muscle memory. Liturgy doesn’t just happen on Sundays however. Those who plan for and prepare flowers for the altar and greenery on high occasions are liturgical participants, no less than the formal worship we practice; the same is of course true for setting up the altar for Eucharist; preparing meals for the congregation; visiting the sick and infirm; greeting and making welcome those who enter here; the preparation of the music that happens here….all work of the people…liturgy…And on Sundays and other occasions of worship, all that preparation is distilled into an expression as to who God is in relationship with us…and what that relationship means for our world, locally and globally.
In the former 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the one many of us grew up with, there was very little room for varying the way we worship; and though I still love the “old” prayerbook which used King James English, there was no room in it for fresh expression, and in some ways its theology over decades of its use had become tired and outdated. After Vatican II in the Roman Catholic Church in 1964 at which it was decided that the Mass would no longer be said in Latin, but that the Mass would be said in the native tongue of the worshiper; the Episcopal Church decided also it was time to revise its Prayer Book as well. Language was changed to modern idiom, but more than that important change the church was given much more flexibility in the manner in which we worship, more options to make more relevant and resonant our public expression of faith….we liturgists call that “the permissive rubric” for example from the Prayer Book: “here an anthem or some other suitable hymn may be sung” or, the rubric preceding the time honored “Gloria” early in the service of the Holy Eucharist, “When appointed, the following hymn or some other song of praise is sung or said.” In the 1928 Prayer Book no such flexibility existed, and there was not much opportunity for the laity to participate in worship either. Now there are ample ways laity are meaningful participants in worship. Now the work we do demands planning, creativity and relevancy…we are encouraged by the Book of Common Prayer, as well as later supplemental texts produced by the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church to expand our expressions of worship to be beautiful and resonant, inclusive and presently relevant….as theology evolves, and indeed it does; it is not static…so must our expressions of faith.
The Book of Common Prayer is the template of our worship, always will be, but we have imaginative and beautiful new resources for our use. You may have noticed lately, while using the traditional format including one of the traditional Eucharistic Prayers; we are also using a new set of collects that I find fresh and meaningful (one parishioner used the word expansive…good word) They were written by Steven Shakespeare, a priest and scholar in the Church of England, and they follow the thematic ebb and flow of the lectionary; again striving to give our worship a seamlessness, a connectedness from beginning to end. These collects are published by Church Publishing Co., the official publishing house of the Episcopal Church. Also we are using as the Prayers of the People a collection of prayers compiled by now retired Bishop Jeffrey Rowthorne, a noted scholar and musician in the Episcopal Church who has many contributions to the Hymnal 1982. These prayers also follow the lectionary cycles, making them more relevant to the occasion.
We make these changes from time to time, not for the sake of change, but to make our worship meaningful, relevant, resonant and most of all beautiful. We worship beautifully (or certainly try our best to) because our imaginations and therefore our souls are informed as to the truth and efficacy of our faith. We of course welcome your compliments, comments and critiques, because this is the work given to all of us as a community of faith….the beautiful practice of the faith in worship which will inform our actions and belief….and send us out empowered for the work in the world to which our liturgical work models for us and calls us.
