On Liturgy

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For someone who is new to Anglicanism, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday is probably their primary form of worship. From an outsider’s perspective, there might be one other piece of information they know of what to expect when they come to an Anglican church on a Sunday: liturgy. A formal prescribed order of service prescribed in some dusty tome that tells parishioners what to say, when to say it, when to sit, when to kneel, when to stand and when to sing.

There is a famous quotation by CS Lewis from his Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer where he says:

Every service is a structure of words and acts through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best--if you like, it “works” best--when through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.

In this, he describes the faithful utility of a liturgy when coming to worship in that it allows worshippers to focus on God rather than being concerned with an order of service. Lewis here expresses the practical reason for St Paul’s reminder to the Corinthians that, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Cor 14. 33) This is a useful understanding of why there is a written and ordered liturgy, but to take this understanding (and it should be noted Lewis was talking here on the subject of worship, not liturgy specifically) is only a minor part of the full meaning of liturgy, the expression of liturgy that we see only when we gather together to worship, just as worship of God occurs both corporately and privately, but it is chiefly expressed for many Christians on Sunday when they gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

The liturgy goes well beyond that, however. It is an ancient institution with roots in the early church where the liturgies sprung up out of Christ’s words of institution recorded throughout the Scriptures. As it is rendered in the Book of Common Prayer:

[Christ], in the same night that he was betrayed, took Bread; and, when he had given thanks, he brake it; and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my Body which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper he took the Cup; and, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all, of this; for this is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins: Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.

Following Christ’s commandment to do this in remembrance of Him, a number of different liturgies with almost entirely common features, but generally different orders, appeared.

The modern Anglican liturgy stems from two of these ancient liturgies. The earliest English Church liturgies were rooted in the liturgies of St John and St Paul associated with the Church at Ephesus. During the 6th century, St Augustine of Canterbury introduced some revisions using the Sacramentary of St Gregory the Great, which itself found its roots in the Liturgy of St Peter, associated with Rome.

The first thing to remember about the liturgy is thus that it is rooted in both Scripture, Christ’s commandment to us, and in the traditions of the Apostles and the Church Fathers.

It should further be noted, even from just this brief introduction, that there is more to liturgy than simply a formal and prescribed method of worshipping when Christians gather. The etymology of the word liturgy may reveal even more. The term stems from the ancient Greek leitourgia, which might be rendered as ‘work of the people’ or ‘public works’ and referred to the civic works undertaken by wealthy citizens on behalf of all the people. In that sense, the liturgy for Christians referred to the works they were instructed, by Christ, to undertake on behalf of all people. The term in its Christian origins can be traced to the Septuagint (the Greek language translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used by Jews during the time of the early Church) in which the word leitourgia was used to refer to public religious service at the Jewish Temple.

Christ’s instructions to Christians were not limited simply to the use of the sacraments. Early Christian understanding of liturgy involved their actions at all times, of which only part was frequent participation in the Lord’s Supper for spiritual nourishment.

It is why when the communion is finished, the Prayer Book ends the service with a final blessing based on St Paul’s words to the Philippians:

THE peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen. (Phil 4. 7)

In this blessing, we are commissioned to go forth to continue to do the liturgy throughout the week by keeping the knowledge and love of God in our hearts and minds at all times. We pray to God to bless us in this way, to keep that knowledge, in order that we as Christians may perform our own ‘work of the people’ throughout the week by practicing the love of God as Christ further instructed us.

In both the practical sense of an order of service, and the broader reminder that Christians are called to love all people, the liturgy stands as a necessary tool for Christian life, and an essential practice of the ancient Church.