4 Reasons Liturgy Is Essential to Worship
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As a cradle Anglican, liturgy informs how I worship. Sunday morning worship is routine and orderly. Everyone knows what to say, and when to say it. After the priestly pronouncement, “The Lord be with you,” the congregation responds, “And also with you!” The same words are spoken week after week.
It is this sense of routine that cause some to question the role of liturgy for Christian devotion. The concern is that liturgy leads to a passionless devotion, a life with God lived by memory rather than heart. Doesn’t repeating the same phrases each week strip those declarations of meaning? Doesn’t worship become dry and lifeless if it is the same way time after time? And what of the role of the Spirit? Doesn’t worship via books and written prayers contradict our call to be led by the Spirit?
As appropriate as these concerns are, they are based on a misunderstanding of liturgy’s purpose and function. Liturgy is a template – a guide and aid for our worship of the Lord. Rather than hindering our connection to God, the right use of liturgy strengthens our prayer lives and deepens our faith. Below are four reasons liturgy is essential to authentic Christian worship.
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1. Liturgy Connects Us to Others
The word “liturgy” is derived from the Greek word leitourgia which means “the work of the people.” Liturgy is the church acting as one. Take congregational singing as an example. Hymns are not sung by the lone individuals within the church, but by the church itself. The congregation sings with one voice to praise the Lord. Christian worship is not intended to occur in isolation. Liturgy, therefore, brings the community of faith together.
Whenever people act together to pray, sing, confess, or hold silence, liturgy is experienced. In this way, there can be no such thing as “non-liturgical churches,” for it is the essential nature of Christian worship to be united to the wider community. Liturgical texts, therefore, are often written in the plural form. The Anglican rite of Morning Prayer, for example, begins “O Lord open our lips; and our mouths shall show forth thy praise.” Liturgy assumes one’s connection to the wider church.
In fact, this is the very model of worship that we see in Scripture. The Psalms are a case in point. The psalms were used in the context of Israel’s communal worship. The community recited the psalms as they journeyed to the temple, lamented tragedies, and rejoiced in God’s goodness. The Psalms were spoken (or sung) by the community at large. Psalm 118, with its recurring refrain of “His love endures forever,” is a typical call/response form of worship.
The very presence of liturgy in worship testifies that our Christian lives are never meant to be lived for ourselves. As Christians, we are part of a larger body, united in Christ. As Paul writes “In Christ we, though many, form one body, and we all belong to one another” (Romans 12:5). Liturgy is simply the way we live out this reality.
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2. Liturgy Challenges Self-Focused Worship
The concern that liturgy promotes dry and lifeless worship is not altogether unwarranted. It is true that liturgy can be used in a dry and lifeless way. The fault here, however, is more with the intent of our hearts then with the liturgy itself. After all, extemporaneous prayer can be just as routine as liturgical prayers. In fact, liturgy, when rightly observed, helps us break out of any ruts in which we find ourselves.
The fact is it can be easy to fall into a routine in our spiritual lives. We may pray for the same things time and again, only being concerned with our individual comforts and wants. Similarly, we may read only our favorite passages in Scripture, and thus never be challenged by the divine word. Liturgy forces us outside of ourselves and teaches us to embrace a robust spiritual life.
Liturgy opens new avenues of prayer and worship. It presents us with new items to hold in prayer, or new ways to pray altogether. Similarly, a liturgy may ask us to read difficult passages of Scripture, and wrestle with what the Lord may be saying to us. In each of these ways, liturgy pushes us beyond the comforts of a self-managed spiritual life. What seems overly formulaic at first frees us to meet the Lord in new and fresh ways. Rather than hindering our spiritual lives, liturgy opens us to a wider experience of God’s presence.
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3. Liturgy Deepens Our Worship
Perhaps the biggest advantage of liturgy is the way in which it deepens our experience of relationship with the Lord. The purpose of liturgy, with its recurring rhythms and movements, is to draw us into a deeper experience of God. Liturgy removes the concern about “what to say” or “what to do,” thereby allowing us to focus more on Christ’s presence with us.
Have you ever had the experience of being asked to pray, but not knowing what to say? Have you ever struggled to find the appropriate words to describe the deep things of your heart and soul? Have you ever wanted to confess your sins, but were not sure of what words to say? These experiences are natural in the Christian life. All of us, from time to time, find that words escape us. These types of experiences are not only frustrating for our spiritual lives, but they distract us from the presence of Christ.
When we find ourselves in such a time, we can turn to liturgy for help. The words of the liturgy can be taken as our own. When we don’t know what to say, we can allow a liturgy to form our words. In this way, rather than limiting our personality or voice in prayer, our voice becomes strengthened. The use of structure and form guides our prayers, giving us the language needed to articulate the fullness of our spiritual lives. Liturgy allows us to be ourselves before the Lord, presenting to him that which is fully on our hearts and souls.
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4. Liturgy Keeps Us in the Spirit
The purpose of the liturgy is not the liturgy itself. Instead, liturgy serves to unite us to the Holy Spirit. Liturgy never requires us to be bound by the words and structures of the liturgical form. Rather, through the liturgy, we open ourselves to work of the Holy Spirit. This may occur through hearing the Scripture, through praying for others, or through a traditional form of confession and absolution. Ultimately, it is our connection to the Spirit that is most important in worship.
For this reason, liturgy encourages us to step outside the liturgical form. In other words, the purpose of the liturgy is to move beyond the liturgy. The 18-century spiritual writer William Law has a great description of this dynamic. In his classic book "A Serious call to the Devout and Holy Life” Law writes:
“It seems right for everyone to begin with a form of prayer; and if, in the midst of his [sic] devotions, he finds his heart ready to break forth into new and higher strains of devotion, he should leave his form for a while and follow those fervors of his heart.”
Law encourages all believers to be “under the direction of some form, but not so tied down to it.” It is the precise structure of the liturgy that allows for an extemporaneous following of the Spirit. There is comfort in knowing that we can always return to the form of worship if we need help in our prayers or our spiritual articulations. Liturgy, therefore, connects us to the presence of the Holy Spirit and deepens our experience of the Spirit’s work.
Conclusion
When engaged rightly, liturgy is a powerful aid in our life with God. It serves to strengthen our prayers and deepen our awareness of Christ. It gives us the words to describe the deep things of our hearts, and it reminds us that our worship is always experienced in the company of others.
So, if you are struggling in your prayer life, or would like a richer experience of the Spirit, I invite you to explore the use of liturgy. Pick up a copy of “The Book of Common Prayer” or use the liturgy from the Northumbrian community. There are many resources available to you. Try a variety and see what seems to connect with you. Who knows, you just find your heart warmed, and your spirit inspired.
Source
William Law “A Serious Call to the Devout and Holy Life”, Chapter 14.
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