Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
On Wednesday of this week, Fr. Stephen Waller and I were honored to be guest lecturers in Dr. Stephen Sprinkle’s Doctor of Ministry class at Brite Divinity School, “The Ministerial Leader as Practical Theologian.” Steve specifically tasked us with leading a conversation around the practical implications of liturgy. What does our liturgical life as Episcopalians have to say about or to do with our lives lived out in the world? In short, so what?
It was a fascinating, humbling time together, as we found ourselves surrounded by those who were every bit as schooled in their own liturgical practice, of so many different varieties, shapes and sizes. I started my part of the discussion by waging what we subscribers to Anglican theology uphold in our liturgical practice, the three-legged stool of “scripture, tradition, reason,” and what that looks like when praying really does shape our beliefs, and vice versa. So often, Episcopalians get accused of reciting “rote” prayers, and not really meaning, enlivening, what we say.
But we who live the liturgical life, the Anglican rhythmic cycle of life, know that not to be the case. We know that the word (small w) on the page, much like sacrament itself, represents an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, the Word (capital W) lived out at the altar, Logos, Jesus Christ, and out into the world. The words on the page are merely representations of all the things that we think, and feel, and desire, and hope, and dream, and work to implement in God’s new world order.
Liturgy, therefore, has lasting implications upon who we are. Liturgy says something about our identity. Liturgy says something about who we want to become, as the beloved kin-dom.
For example, consider the five questions we ask of ourselves each time we take and renew our baptismal covenants. These questions structure (or they should structure) how we view everything about the world around us, and how we respond to the world around us. Go back and read them! If you take them seriously, as I am sure you do, they are life-changing, world-changing.
A very astute Lutheran pastor asked of her own tradition and ours (and any liturgical tradition), “Are we to assume that the liturgy itself shapes the type Christian that people become out in the world?” In other words, should I assume that because we answer, “I will, with God’s help,” that we will behave as model followers of Jesus Christ, out in the world? If so, it would seem that praying is not shaping believing (or at the very least, our actions)!
And maybe that, then, is why it is so critical that we prioritize liturgy, week in, and week out. We do know these words by heart. We can say them by “rote.” They are just words on a page (small w). Until we “liturgize” them into life TOGETHER, as the body of Christ, and live and breathe them into being, again and again. We, with the Holy Spirit, take them from words (small w) to Word (capital W) by breathing life into them as Christ’s body in this place!
And that is why liturgy is important, and your presence in liturgy is important, each and every week, whether it is in Zoom or in person. I can’t do this, we can’t do this, liturgy isn’t liturgy, without each and every one of us!
Please know this, somewhere deep inside yourself, as you go about your week, and decide what you will do on Sunday.
Yours faithfully,
Fr. Christopher+
