What
is liturgy?
The
greek word is simply “service.” It’s any
ritual or work we do for God. Romans
12:1-2 says your reasonable service to God is presenting your bodies a
sacrifice to Him. So liturgy isn’t even
confined to formal worship.
But
when we say we have a “liturgical” worship service, what does that mean?
First
level: Planned, not spontaneous
Not acting spontaneous when it isn’t. The Crystal Cathedral’s Hour of Power was
called “The show” by its producers for a reason.
Prayers are written ahead of time. Scripture readings are planned.
Many Baptist churches do this, with a
printed bulletin.
Screens contribute to the spontaneous
feeling. You get a sense of “let’s all
just do this,” instead of the understanding that church leaders have picked the
songs they want you to sing this week.
(Do
you bring a Bible or notebook to a service you expect to be spontaneous praise
to God? Not usually.)
Second
level: Formal, not casual
Closely related to the first, here
people tend to dress up more than street casual. From suit and tie heights, down to at least a
collared shirt. There is a sense that we
aren’t just here to express ourselves to God, but that we are in His special presence,
and so we should act and dress differently than we do in any other setting. This is Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and
some conservative PCA churches.
(Do
we dress the same for the office that we do for church?)
Third
level: incorporating helpful aspects of the higher liturgy.
We sing the Lord’s Prayer, and Sanctus each
week, for example, and often incorporate the lectionary into our opening
litany.
Fourth
level: bells and whistles.
This involves
robes or collars. Candles, incense, and
processions, even. This is “high
liturgy,” a la Lutheran, Episcopalian and Roman liturgies. Another aspect of this is not deviating from
form (Book of Common Prayer) prayers at all.
I’m
a third level liturgist, along with my congregation. I have yet to go to robe or collar (don’t
know that I ever will), but neither am I trying to act spontaneously in the main
worship order moves. (I often am
spontaneously, involuntarily, emotional in reading Scripture, but that’s a
separate issue.) CREC churches range
from second to fourth level churches, which is fine.
These
aren’t hard and fast categories. Many
congregations are second level in one part, and third or fourth in another
aspect. Let a thousand flowers bloom,
without judgment. Just maintain
Scriptural principles: have a reason
from the Bible for everything you do.
