Liturgy - Class 1

Our instructor began this evening by asking for our definition of liturgy. Various suggestions were made, such as “worship in public” and “what ties our religion”. A more official definition came from the Second Vatican Council, "Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows" (Sacrosanctum Concilium). Our instructor suggested that Liturgy is a bit like baseball, in that there is an underlying structure. Most people like baseball even though most people don't know as much about baseball as they might like.

 

Like baseball, the goal is to find a way to do liturgy so that even those who don't know what liturgy is can still participate and enjoy it. Every liturgy should have these four basic forms:  Word (scripture), symbol (environment), music, and movement. Also like a story, liturgy should have a beginning, middle, and an end.

 

Next, our instructor asked us to list what is required to create a good liturgy. The class came up with a lot of suggestions, which we eventually reduced to five things:  1) Creativity (resourcefulness), 2) reverence, 3) teamwork (cooperation and participation), 4) commitment, and 5) communication. I would have preferred resourcefulness rather than creativity, because to me it implies both creativity and boldness.

 

I’m not exactly sure how this is going to work, but the goal is to use these five qualities every week. I think we’re supposed to commit to doing the five parts every week to build a liturgy in your parish (?). He also mentioned that every week one of us should be prepared with a prayer.

 

Our instructors are actually a husband and wife team. The husband is from back East and when he was younger and working for the Newman Center they sent him to a liturgy workshop that turned his life around. Although he had grown up Catholic he really didn't get it until the workshop.

 

Long before this, someone named Virgil Michaels was a monk in the Mid-West who is responsible for re-creating (or re-invigorating) liturgy in the United States. He started a liturgy school at St. Johns that still trains Liturgists today.

 

We talked a bit about the class structure and use of the class website. The student learning agreement for the ILM program should be familiar to most students: Regular class attendance, keep up with the assigned readings, be open, practice mutual respect, and participate in discussions.

 

We were then challenged to go beyond this list because it's something we want to do: Obviously we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. An educator named Martin Knowles was a college professor who worked with learning theory. He was fascinated by the different learning habits of teen agers and young adults, and he eventually discovered that asking students to come up with their own learning plan enhanced the learning process significantly. We were asked to create our own learning plans for this class using five questions:

 

Where have I been? – As an RCIA Team member from 2004 to 2008, I felt the program could be improved. After learning abou the ILM program I thought it might be an excellent way to learn about the Church and understand what changes might be helpful. So I asked to attend the ILM program.

 

Where am I now? – After graduating from the ILM program in 2013, I was actually a bit surprised to be asked to join the RCIA team. By then two things had changed, but most significantly was the fact that I felt the RCIA program in my Parish had improved significantly. What I didn’t realize until later was that I wasn’t being asked to be a team member, I was being asked to lead the program in my Parish.

 

Where do I want to go? – My goal is to continue to improve the RCIA process in my Parish.

How am I going to get there? – I believe that this Liturgy class will improve my ability to better involve the Parish community in the RCIA process of welcoming and strengthening new Catholics. As with my previous ILM classes, taking detailed notes that I can transcribe into paragraph form will re-enforce what I learn. I will share this process in posts to my this blog.

 

How will I know I have arrived? – I will be more comfortable when I can recognize the parts and feel the flow of the Liturgy, and I will be more confident when I can fold the RCIA process into our Liturgical services.

 

As you might expect, the writing assignment for this class can be found on the web site: Basically it breaks down to three choices: 1) Write and post 100 words weekly to the class web site; 2) write three 500 word reflection papers due incrementally; or 3) write one 1500 word paper due at the end of class.

 

Our instructor noted that each of us has a wealth of experience, and he wants us to come ready to talk and share. He is asking us to find and make connections that relate to the readings and class. He concluded the class by saying that like snow skiing, you can learn all about the mechanics of liturgy, but if you miss the beauty you are missing the point. It's about faith and about who Jesus is, and it's about making Jesus more real for people. This is the way we share faith with hundreds of millions of people every week. This is how we come together as community.

My post to the class website:

Tonight, our instructor talked a little bit about how Liturgy is like a story that has a beginning, middle, and an end. Rabbi Waldenburg, who is also an ILM instructor, talks about how everyone has a Master Story. For instance: The key to understanding Judaism is the Exodus from Egypt. As the story goes Moses led his people out of Egypt, breaking the cycle of slavery, and the Exodus event became their Master Story. Everything from that time forward is viewed in light of that event. Prior to the Exodus the people understood the gods to be a part of nature and after that event God was a part of their history. Mosses received the law from God and it is through him that the people entered into a covenant with God.

I found this connection interesting, because Rabbi Waldenburg influenced how I see my own journey in light of my personal Master Story. The point our instructor was trying to convey is that what makes catholic liturgy Catholic is the story. You can learn all about liturgy, but if you miss the beauty, you are missing the point. It's about faith and about who Jesus is and it's about making Jesus more real for people; because through Liturgy we share faith with hundreds of millions of people every week. This is how we come together as community.

The Gospel reading for Friday, January 10, 2014 was about Jesus curing a leper. Afterwards, although he was asked to keep it quiet everyone was coming to Jesus for help. During the morning homily it was noted that Jesus didn’t just restore this man’s health; He restored the man’s access to the community. I found this very interesting, because it’s a bit like going to confession. During confession we are not just restored from sin, or worry, or stress, etc., we are restored to the Kingdom of God.