Liturgy - Class 2

Tonight our instructor divided into small groups of four again, and then asked our group to write down some names and titles for God: My small group wrote down Creator and Almighty Father, although we also considered Yahweh. Along with the other three groups we put our two post-it notes on the wall. Our instructor then created a spontaneous prayer following the words on the four sets of post-it notes.

 

This form of prayer construction comes from the Jewish Berakhah prayer, which is the form of prayer that Jesus used during the Last Supper. It follows the form You, Who, Do. You (recalling that God has made us in his image); Who (what God has done for us); Do (the great things He will accomplish in us).

 

After the life and ministry of Jesus, Christians added a fourth part. Through (in the Name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit), or (I can do all things through Jesus Christ who saved me).

 

Someone in the class asked, "How is this prayer scriptural?”. We were told that, “First of all not all prayer is scriptural, but it is based on scriptural names and titles”. Our instructor asked us to look at a painting that was about 12” x 18”. It looked a bit like an icon, of a man bending over something round, with the dividers common to those used in ancient construction.

 

It turns out that this painting was used as an exercise in prayer form. We were first asked to reflect on what we saw in the painting: The person seemed to be doing something important, like centering, holding, molding, or measuring. It’s actually a painting of God the Architect of the World and the creation of life. It’s God creating order out of chaos, His foot is just out of the frame signifying that He is too big to comprehend fully, and Gods influence is dynamic.

 

From that we considered the act of creation. The Creation story has a beginning (in the beginning this there was nothing and void was upon the face of the earth) during which everything is created; a middle (He created man in the image of God)which means that we too are too big to contain and we too are creators; and an end (Jesus came to restore everything to God) after which we become one with God in Heaven.

 

Liturgy is supposed to be simple (elegant) and recognizable to the people. The simplicity should encourage participation, which is required.  All prayer is communal, including the Homily which must be given and received. Everyone has a role and the various ministries (music, collection, lectors) must be cooperative. All of the community is equally important and each person has a part; each must perform all but not more than their part for the liturgy to be successful.

 

The music should be simple and sing able to enhance worship. The vestments and art should be simple, noble, beautiful, reverent, and truly sacred. The environment should not appear to be more important than the function of the space. In other words, good liturgy is not the product of a well formed rubric; it is the result of a well formed heart.

 

Everything in the liturgy flows from the Word of God which leads to sacrament. It’s a two part action; Word or scripture are the stories about Jesus to teach us by example, and the Living Word which is God's voice in our lives, which also makes Jesus real and present to us as participants.

 

Liturgy is not a history test; it is the stories, pictures, sayings, and standards that are required for us to make Jesus real and present. These stories are our stories because this is what God did and this is what we are to do. The whole body of Christ is participating in the Liturgy of worship.

 

Catholics may not be able to quote Bible verses from memory, but they can tell the stories: like Jesus at the Jordon, The Prodigal Son, and Jesus healing the blind man. God's Word has an effect, it just doesn't sit there. Every time God speaks something happens; it creates community and brings us closer to God.

 

Ongoing transformation is what happens in the Sacrament that takes place during the liturgy. It's a living word that matters and the people need to hear it in such a way that it makes sense, so that we can understand it and so that we are transformed by it.

 

Learning how to ski is complicated, but once you do actually skiing is fairly easy. Learning how to paint might be complicated, but once you do something beautiful is created. Learning to do liturgy correctly may seem complicated too, but once we learn it will come naturally. If people with a basic understanding don’t get it, then it's too complicated.

 

Our instructor quoted someone who was trying to explain what we're doing when we try to do liturgy. His idea was that Liturgy leads us to the edge of chaos, and from this regular flirt with doom we comes a theology that is different from others (non-Catholic). Coming to the edge of chaos brings us closer to God by teaching us something we would not have otherwise understood.

 

Participating in liturgy changes us. Our understanding of God is the result of participating in liturgy. Our Theology is the result of liturgy because it causes a deep change in our lives. To detect that change is to discover where theology has passed us. Participation in liturgy changes us because the next time we participate in liturgy we are different then before and looking back at who we were tells us something about who God is.

 

The Road to Emmaus may be a good example of this. The two people walking with Jesus did not recognize him until later, after looking back at their journey. In both physics and liturgy there is a collision, something happens. Sometimes that collision is a violent force that causes us to change. This adjustment causes the next liturgy to be different. It's the adjustment that is develops the theology in us.

 

Liturgy should be the first place where we go to learn theology because it's in church that we first meet and come to know God. All theology is a reflection of what happens in liturgy where we see God. What the founding fathers said about God is second hand theology, what the Catechism says about God is third hand theology, but in liturgy we not only experience the reflection of God, it is the most power full source of who God is.

My post to the class website:

I have always had a sense of ongoing transformation in my life, which may be one of the reasons I am Catholic today. When I was growing up my Mom referred to something she called progressive revelation, suggesting that you would “hear” something different each time you heard or read a Bible passage because you would be a different person than you were before. This made sense to me at the time, but today I realize that the reason we are different is because of our exposure to the Word and to the Sacraments.

I also like the idea that Liturgy leads us to the edge of chaos, and from this regular flirt with doom comes a theology that is different from others (non-Catholic). This seems similar to stress, as applied to bio-organisms including humans, that causes adaptation and transformation of behavior.

Participation in liturgy has transformed my understanding of whom I am, which in turn has transformed my understanding of who God is. Coming to the edge of chaos in the liturgy brings me closer to God because each time I learn something new. Today my Theology is the result of my participation in the Liturgy because it has caused deep changes in my life.