Liturgy from “Literature, Liturgy, Language and Leisure”
by Rea Berg
“For many Christians who have grown up in the United States, liturgy and the attention to a liturgical calendar have not been prominent emphases in religious experience. However, in spite of the fact that empty forms and religious exercises are often associated with notions of liturgy, the liturgical calendar can offer a way to mark the days of the year with special attention to the vibrant history of the Church and the men and the women who have gone before us. This discipline can add another level to our appreciation for the Body of Christ universal and for the profound legacy we enjoy as members of that Body.
Our family currently lives in different geographic regions due to marriage, work, and study abroad. This Easter we enjoyed a unique sense of richness as we worshiped in a number of uniquely different parts of the Church. Our eldest son attended a Good Friday service at City Church in San Francisco, and our daughter and her husband enjoyed the same at Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon. My husband and I were in a Good Friday service at Park Street Church in Boston, and our eldest daughter and her husband enjoyed the Easter celebration at Westminster Cathedral in London. In our home church, our youngest children attended a Passover celebration that marked the profound symbolism foreshadowing Christ’s passion and redemption of mankind. In a beautiful way we were all united—despite the thousands of miles between us.
Following a liturgical calendar by noting the special days in the year and marking them with specific Scripture readings or establishing family traditions around them can give rhythm and beauty to the passage of time. It also connects us to the historical Body of Christ by transcending our present time and space and helping us to recognize the sublime relationship we have with those who have gone before us and also those who will come after. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life speaks to this notion:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Intentionally connecting ourselves to the history of the Church universal requires a humility that recognizes how myopic our grasp of truth can be when we view it only through our own cultural lens. Books such as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Real Christianity by William Wilberforce, or Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans connect us to the broader expression of Christ through the limitless diversity of his Body. In this way, our own faith is enlarged, stretched, and enriched.”
Copyright 2009, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
3 comments
No one has anything to say about liturgy? 🙂
I think this is really true and often forgotten: “Intentionally connecting ourselves to the history of the Church universal requires a humility that recognizes how myopic our grasp of truth can be when we view it only through our own cultural lens.”
I forgot to add that the history of the Church also starts before the 19th century or even the Protestant Reformation, and isn’t just in Western Europe! 🙂
[…] » Liturgy and Mason's Educational Philosophy, Part 3 […]