What kind of people are we called to be? We are called to be a liturgical people. Typically, these questions about liturgy entail the type or style of worship we are engaged in, but by liturgical people I have something else in mind. The term leitourgia, composed of the Greek words ergon (work) and laos (people) actually means “the work of the people.”[1] To be liturgical in a church culture refers to the activity of the laity; of the parishioner.
So, when you hear people say, I don’t like liturgy, technically what they are saying is I don’t like to participate in the activities of the kingdom. It is not a matter of being liturgical, because to be liturgical is inescapable, but the question is what kind of liturgy you want to embrace. Ultimately, there are three choices: a liturgy of life, a nominalistic liturgy, or a liturgy of death. Those are the options.
In Malachi 3 Yahweh’s Messenger is going to offer himself as an offering pleasing to Yahweh. Jesus became an offering because he wanted a liturgy of life for the world. He wanted to be life in a world of death.
I met with someone recently who said his experience growing up as a Christian was a very nominal experience. The pastor may have seen him on Sunday morning, but there was no expectation to see him participate in the life of the body. In other words, he was satisfied with a nominal liturgy. Fortunately, he began to see that this was not producing the type of human being he wanted to be, so he decided to engage more and he found life as he began to immerse himself in the Bible and his community.
A dead type of liturgy simply indicates someone who has no inclination towards truth or righteousness. C.S. Lewis talked about this when he said that we don’t go to church to be entertained, we go to church to work through the structure of acts and words as we receive the sacrament, repent, supplicate and adore. Dead liturgy is pure entertainment; passive worship.
Liturgy, then, the work of the people, is sanctifying work. Hebrews 2:11 says that “for the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.” So, as we approach the season of Lent, how does a liturgical life look like?
First, the liturgical man or the liturgical woman need to be aware of his role in the community. Every time I hear people say, “I love this community,” I think to myself: “This community was not created ex nihilo.” It takes your initiation and actions to make this a community where people are loved and desire to participate. It is incumbent upon those who are older in the community to set an example for those who are younger of what it means to live in community; what it means to live in a place where hospitality is second-nature and where encouragement and edification is a part of who we are.
Secondly, liturgical life is theological. It is hard to work, to act, to participate in the kingdom of God. to be liturgically theological means that we need to practice the means of grace. They include, but are not technically limited to, prayer, which is contemplation of the Triune God; Scripture reading, which is discovering more about the Triune God, and worship, which is adoration of the triune God. These things are given to you so that you will become more like Jesus. How do you become theological? Far from an isolated academic exercise, a liturgical man is theologically communal. He seeks theology from the mouth of babes and the wisdom of the Church.
Finally, a liturgical person, it is obvious, is a person who treasures Jesus as his most precious treasure. Hebrews 2 says:
For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
Our Lord is not ashamed to be engaged in our family neither should we be ashamed to carry His name wherever we go. To be more precise, we should not be ashamed to proclaim his name in the assembly. You can’t be liturgical and not participate in the liturgy. As we near the Lenten Season, prepare your hearts to be with one another, to sing with one another, to join one another in this congregation praise. We are brothers and sisters. We are a family in the most biblical of ways. While the biological family will no longer exist in eternity, the church family endures forever. So, treasure worship, desire it, work in it, add your voices to it, help the visitor find his place in the service, help the mommy with three or ten little kids, show up, call, e-mail, text, pray, facebook, love, appreciate, and seek the well-being of your community.
This is how we become liturgical people. This is how we work well as liturgical beings and by doing so we become a liturgy of life to the world.
