Having a background in (well, a number of denominations, but mostly) Evangelical Christianity, I am not well-practiced in liturgical services. One thing that stood out to me about this ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) church was the structure. It was apparent that the way I was being led in worship yesterday is the way the congregation is led each Sunday. I find value in that. There's the danger that the rituals and the shared prayers will lose their meaning (you're just trying to focus on reading what you need to read, not actually thinking about it), but I think bringing the worship and the message out of the pulpit and more into the hands of the congregation is good.
Actually, I was happy to find that there was a paper in the lobby on the liturgy at 1st Lutheran! An exerpt:
"First, a word about the word 'liturgy.' 'Liturgy' is from the ancient Greek leitourgia and means 'public work' or 'the work of the people.' When the people of God gather on Sunday mornings, we gather to do 'the work of the people,' the liturgy."
You know, I graduated in May. A year ago, I had it firmly set in my mind that after graduating, I wanted to commit two years of my life toward an organization called Jesuit Volunteer Corps. JVC has four core beliefs: community (you share a living space with other volunteers, and hopefully, a friendship), spirituality (it's a Catholic organization, so church, Bible studies, and prayer are ways JVC encourages tending to its volunteers' spiritual needs), social justice (yay!), and simple living (you don't make much money at all for your services, but instead of that fact being viewed as a bad thing, JVCers see it as helping them become closer in understanding to the poor they are serving). It didn't work out (and good thing! For several reasons), but the process of applying was tedious. I wrote about 20 typed pages in answers to several questions applicants needed to address. One of those prompts said "Describe your communal prayer practices." Here's my answer (from a year ago):
[My home church] is a great church, however, like any one church, some points are hit hard on while others are missed. The idea that each of us is to have a personal relationship with Christ is preached just about every Sunday in some way or another. The idea that the church should have a communal relationship with Christ is not. Often one of the pastors will lead the congregation in prayer, but public prayers in which all the church-goers recite a prayer simultaneously rarely, if ever, are part of a church service. Whenever I’ve been to a different church that is more liturgical and have been a part of a public prayer, I have enjoyed the thought that for at least that moment, everyone in the room is united in their prayer to God, assuming that people are not just mindlessly saying the words. I have been involved in a prayer team for my missionary friend. The people in this group get together after church on the third Sunday of each month, bring a different dish, dine and converse, then get to business by sharing things that [my missionary friend] needs prayer for. Finally, with prayer requests noted, we all bow our heads and pray one person at a time. This time of group prayer is good because I get the chance to hear the ways that others converse with the Lord, join in a prayer that seems to have more weight than one that I might pray individually and silently, and know that even if my mind drifts, the prayer is being carried on, which is not the case when I’m praying on my own. I am hesitant to say that I feel God’s presence or the Holy Spirit moving within, just because I’m not completely sure, however, when I do pray in group settings, I often feel some force from God that touches me and reminds me of His attentiveness to our prayers and His power in answering them somehow. I definitely want to pray communally more.
Since JVC is a Catholic organization, I think I felt the need to praise communal worship practices highly, but what I wrote was sincere. Maybe I'll share more of my 20 page, deeply personal and spiritual application later in the blog. It's funny having reminders like that of how firmly I believed, or tried to believe.
Back to 1st Lutheran: the liturgy paper broke down the basics of any service at that church. If anyone has been to a different Lutheran church, perhaps you can chime in about whether this rings a bell. This church says the four actions that make every Sunday truly worshipful are the: gathering, word, meal, and sending.
Gathering- everyone comes to church. Confession and forgiveness, gathering song, greeting, Hymn of Praise, Prayer of the Day. Word- this part of the sermon is not just the reading of one passage, but rather 3: one Old Testament passage, one New Testament passage, and one Gospel passage. The congregation just stands when the 3rd passage is read, because the gospel has words spoken by Jesus, so it is considered more sacred. After each scripture reading, the readers says: "This is the word of God," and the congregation says, "Thanks be to God." Then the sermon, the Hymn of the Day, recitation of The Apostles Creed, the prayers of intercession (unique to individuals in the congregation's prayer needs)- again, there is a reading in the bulletin and the individuals in the pews are active in reading the prayer out loud... one person's not doing all the work while others sit silently, then the Meal. This involves taking an offering, then someone making a musical offering to prepare the hearts of the church-goers for communion (ahem, "the Eucharist"). I like what this liturgy paper says about these monetary and musical offerings that precede the Eucharist: "Our main offering, however, is really the offering of ourselves, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as St. Paul encourages us in Romans." Then, a congressional singing of Great Thanksgiving which ends with the famous Holy, Holy, Holy. Finally, Words of Institution, The Lord's Prayer, and the taking of the Eucharist. Then, a communion song, a post communion blessing and prayer. Then, the Sending, complete with a blessing, sending song, and dismissal "Go in peace- Thanks be to God."
So there you have it. Similar to Catholocism in the rigid structuring of the service and in the valuing of liturgy and the Eucharist, but definitely Protestant (Luther!!) Although there were a fair amount of people there, the reverend noticed me and greeted me personally. I've sent him an email. Hopefully he gets back to me.
