On Liturgy and Worship 17 – Communion
I am going to conclude this series on the Eucharist by reflecting on the moment of Communion, the discernment and distribution of the Body and Blood of Jesus. It matters not to me whether we all agree on our language concerning the Presence of Christ in the elements of Communion. My experience is that even […]
On Liturgy and Worship 14 – The Consecration
Have you ever been with someone who shared something so personal, so tender, so precious that you were almost embarrassed for them? As though they had accidentally disrobed in front of all of you, and you wanted to turn away while backing in with a cloak, as Noah’s sons did? This is the God we […]
On Liturgy and Worship 16 – The Fraction
In the third book (by my count, not the current publisher’s) of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there is at the end a moment that still, after all these years causes me to catch my breath and tears to come to my eyes. Edmund and Lucy and Eustace, after their […]
On Liturgy and Worship 15 – The Lord’s Prayer
Last week I stopped before the Lord’s Prayer in the prayer of consecration. This week, I’m going to send you all a teaching I’ve used elsewhere on the Lord’s Prayer rather than “reinvent the wheel.” (Here’s a link to that paper on the Lord’s Prayer.) But that teaching doesn’t speak terribly well to the corporate […]
On Liturgy and Worship 13 – The Great Thanksgiving (The opening)
Having brought ourselves before the throne of the Almighty, giving ourselves to Him without reservation, we lift our eyes to look upon the King of Heaven and Earth. What Moses could not stand to see, we are privileged to look upon. Because of the Narrative we are about to recite, we may look upon God’s […]
On Liturgy and Worship 12 – Offering
At this point, we move from what liturgists like to call the “Liturgy of the Word” to the “Liturgy of the Table.” I don’t find that distinction very helpful, but it does place a certain shift at the same point in the service at which I am tempted to say that we move from “praise” […]
On Liturgy and Worship 11 – The “Peace”
I’ve had a difficult time working on this piece. I had almost talked myself into skipping “The Peace” and going on to the Offertory when my spiritual director suggested that people would surely notice if I did that. I’m having trouble with this one because I don’t like “The Peace.” Not for all the reasons […]
On Liturgy and Worship 10 – Confession
We’ve come to the Confession and Absolution We’ve engaged the enemy at the most basic level, declaring God’s sovereignty, God’s victory over every disease and broken place in our lives, both collectively and individually. We’re about to enter into the very heart of the Father, the contemplation of a love so far beyond our comprehension […]
On Liturgy and Worship 8 – Giving the Holy Spirit space
We are beginning to tread in places that make me want to remove my shoes. We have proclaimed God’s goodness, recounted His saving love, we’ve (hopefully) heard a word that brings us into relationship with the Savior, and we’ve shaken the earth with our declarations of belief, our claims that this is the only reality […]
On Liturgy and Worship 7 – I Believe
“I BELIEVE!” This week focuses on the declaration of belief found in the Creed. Usually it’s the Nicene Creed, but sometimes (as when there’s a Baptism or a burial) we say instead the Apostles’ Creed. It would be too easy here to get into the history or the theology of the two historic Creeds, neither […]
On Liturgy and Worship – 6 – The Sermon
The Sermon/Homily I think y’all can tell a sermon that leads toward the foot of the Throne, that has worship as its aim, from one that doesn’t. You can just tell. It’s like the way that Cleopas and his friend felt on the road as the Risen Jesus spoke to them. When you’ve been preached […]
On Liturgy and Worship 5 – The Gospel
It’s Thursday, and I haven’t written anything yet this week. Not that I haven’t started, or at least, tried to start. But nothing seemed right. How do you talk about the Truth? How do you talk about a story that destroys all other stories? A story that every other story tries to be? A story […]
On Liturgy and Worship 4 – Crying Out
Lemme tell ya, brothers and sisters, I was at the beach too long! It’s a lot harder than I expected it to be to get back into the rhythm of writing! Not that I don’t have anything to say (when did you ever find me short of words?) but I’ve been at a safe distance […]
On Liturgy and Worship 3 – Scripture (and more praise)
We aren’t really done with praise yet! In the last part of “On Worship” I talked about the way that God responds to our request to “cleanse our hearts” or prepare us to enter into worship by leading us into praise as a beginning place. We sing the “Gloria” or some other “song of praise” […]
On Liturgy and Worship 2 – Praise
Praise We have gathered from our various places. Most of us come from home, but a few come from work or some other place, and we are gathered to seek God and to offer him worship worthy of who He is. And we have prayed that He might “cleanse our hearts” so as to make […]
On Liturgy and Worship 1 – the Beginning
I had been writing a weekly reflection on the lectionary for more than a year when I was moved to do something different. It isn’t that I lost interest in the lectionary, it’s just that at that time in my life I was terribly and wonderfully caught up in what I was finding in the […]
