Messy Liturgy
Those of you who know me are aware that I date from the Tridentine Anglican period of our history. We were very precise in the way in which the altar party acted at the Liturgy – even to the point of the angle the fingers touched the altar, and the distance between the out stretched hands. And, I confess, some of that still remains with me. (Indeed, I am certain that I could, without any rehearsal, “do” a pretty close to perfect mass (solemn or said) in that style.)
Also, I have been a very strong encourager for reform of the Liturgy. The first time I read The Shape of the Liturgy, by Dom Gregory Dix, I was in High School. That began my involvement with Liturgy and all that it means, and I have been all my life long one who advocates change in the Liturgy. I tend to clarify, clean up and simplify, using models from the past – often the very ancient past. (Pastorally, it is easier to explain changes in worship as restorations from the past, than to present them as new ways cut off from the historic traditions of the past.)
I have been active in Prayer Book Reform since the early 1960s when the General Convention first approved using translations other than the Authorized (King James) Version. (We began to use The Jerusalem Bible the very next Sunday!)
One of the key issues in the Prayer Book Study programs that led to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was the attempt to clarify and simplify what was happening at the Eucharist. It is often forgotten that the Official Reason for prayer book reform was an effort to increase Missionary Activity in the Church.
As the People of God was created – in the Body of Christ – at the Eucharist, so their function was priestly and Christly. They came to the Eucharist to fulfill their Baptismal promises – they became the Body of Christ. They were dismissed at the end to go forth and be Jesus wherever they were. In the Prayer Book Catechism the Laity were added to the ministry; and no provision was made for a “final” hymn – so that after giving post communion thanks (and, if needed, also blessed) the People of God would go out to begin to do their “task.”
While there is much more that can be said at this point, that is not where I wish to go in this note. An un-published – except to a tiny congregation – series entitled From the beginning . . . deals with these things in greater detail, and I will probably present them in some way in this context.
One of the things that the Prayer Book Revision Commission did was to adopt much of Dix’s premises – as did other groups, including the Roman Catholic Church. What is normally done on Sunday Morning in most parishes is a Liturgy (remember, it means People’s work) that is composed of two traditions. One is the Synagogue Service and the other is the Temple Sacrifice.
The Synagogue Service developed during the Great Exile to Babylon in 586 BC. It was in Babylon that the great Hebrew traditions that we so honor today took their “modern” form. Here the Jews “discovered” the Babylonian Epic of Creation, and rewrote this myth as the first chapter of Genesis. From this flowed a second major restructuring of the entire presentation of Hebrew religion. This addition was placed on top of the Deuteronomic and Prophetic restructuring during the time of Josiah in the previous century. It is interesting to note that during this particular time frame, the Greeks were just beginning to develop philosophy and science – indeed, all humanity throughout the planet was making major steps toward what we now call “civilization” and “learning.”
For the Jews, the Synagogue Service developed as the Hebrew equivalent of Greek philosophy. This language of concreteness, with an inability to think in abstracts, used poetry and historical interpretation and prophetic proclamation to fire up the emotions of the Jewish people, so that they could see and act upon their mission as the People of – the only God there is. They saw that through the worship of , they were bound to Utter Reality, and that full participation in the life of that Utter Reality is the way to peace and justice and freedom and compassion and acceptance among all humans. They thus began the original diaspora – an act of mission and joy.
Their worship began with acclamation of joy to ; it continued with readings from the past – in order to emphasize that their mission was based on the Acts of ! Preaching followed, and their worship concluded with prayer, generated from the Readings and the preaching.
It was THIS that the Commission intended us to find in the Liturgy of the Word. Preaching is only one of the instruments used to help us understand who we are, and what our true function is in God’s plan. Preaching is NOT a time for generalized pastoral counseling, nor is it really a time for explaining moral decisions. It is a time for reminding the People of God what God has done, and how they fit into God’s plan to bring peace, justice, freedom, compassion and acceptance to God’s world and universe.
For us Christians, this Service ends with the Greeting of Peace. (Those of us who worked closely with the Commission tried – and failed – to keep reformation religion in the form of the General Confession out of the Sunday Eucharist. When General Convention made it clear that was not admissible we tried to get it placed at the very beginning of the Liturgy, but it just didn’t catch on.)
In most parishes, after the Greeting, comes the Announcements. Often these go on and on and on, sometimes even developing into another sermon that sometimes improves on the “official” one. In any case, they are a major distraction and take away from the importance of what has just been done in the Liturgy of the Word. And they can also trivialize what is to follow, especially . . .
The Second part of the Eucharistic Liturgy is the Temple Sacrificial worship. As Thomas Aquinas says in his great hymn, “Types and shadows have their ending, for the newer rite is here.” This is the idealization of the Sacrifice on the Cross from the Fourth Gospel and the climax of Luke’s Gospel at Emmaus. The Commission accepted from Dix’s study that this is a Four Fold Action. AND, of the two parts of the Sunday Liturgy, this is the more important. For it is here, at this worship, that the Body of Christ is constructed from its birth (baptismal) parts. It is here that the People of God respond to the Synagogue service.
It is important – Liturgically and Dramatically – that it is very clear that this is a different Liturgy, and that the People of God act differently. Here it is more in action than in words – important as they are – that the Body of Christ comes alive.
If it is possible, there should be nothing at all (other, perhaps, than candles) on the altar until the Celebrant goes to the altar and reads the offertory sentence with which this Liturgy begins.
How many times the beginning of the most important Liturgy that Church has is started with a sentence from Scripture, used as a means to end the all important Announcements. And the Prayer Book is quite clear that it is the Presider – the Celebrant – who goes to the Altar and reads the Offertory Sentence there, the book being paced there as s/he arrives. The action of going to the Altar in silence emphasizes that something new is about to happen.
Then – in the only time the Prayer Book gives directions that do not allow an alternate position – the people stand while the gifts of life – bread, wine, money – are offered and placed on the altar. This is best done in silence – or, as many now do – using offertory prayers from some of the African Anglican Liturgies. This is NOT a time for a performance by the Choir. THIS IS WHEN THE PEOPLE OF GOD OFFER ALL THEY ARE, ALL THEY HAVE, TO BE JOINED WITH THE ONE, TRUE SACRIFICE JESUS MADE ON THE CROSS. This self oblation then is one with Jesus, is presented to the Father, is raised – made alive – and given back to confirm our union with Jesus, and through him with each other.
That empowers us to “Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.”
