Since the Anglican
Foundations course is going on, the following is the second in a two-part
series on the Anglican Communion and why I believe it is such a unique church
to be a part of.
One of the features that makes us unique as a Protestant
denomination is that we have not gone all the way in rejecting our Catholic
roots, and one of the features of this part of our history is that we are a
liturgical church. That means that, instead
of turning our worship into a free-for-all, we follow a prescribed pattern of
worship. What does this mean, and why is
it important?
Liturgical Worship
is Covenantal, and therefore Biblical
Throughout the Scriptural witness, we see much evidence of
liturgical worship. This begins in the
Old Testament, when God makes the Covenant with His people, Israel. If you look in the Bible at the Old Testament
law, you will see that God gave Moses very specific instructions for worship,
all the way down to the exact dimensions of the temple itself. He also gave him exact details about
vestments. These scripture passages may
be found in many place in both Exodus and Leviticus.
In the New Testament, specifically Matthew and Luke, the
disciples asked Jesus exactly how they should pray, and Jesus gave them a
specific formula. We call it the Lord’s
Prayer, and it is a regular part of almost every liturgical service that we
have in Anglicanism (Matthew 6:9-15, Luke 11:2-4). Sure, there is certainly a time for free-form
prayers, and I love to pray them, but in our worship it is clear that we are to
do so in an orderly fashion that includes liturgy.
Finally, Jesus gave us the ultimate form of worship in the
Holy Eucharist (Luke 22:15-20). He gave
us specific words to use, which we call the Words of Institution. It should follow a specific format.
Practical Aspects
of Liturgical Worship
There are several things that, as a priest, I love about
liturgical worship. First and foremost,
it ties us to something that is so much bigger than just our local congregation. It ties us into the one holy catholic and
apostolic church. Second, I love the
fact that worship is something that is given to me by the church, as one who is
under authority. Because of this, I do
not take license and liberty in changing the Prayer Book. That is clearly an un-Anglican practice.
The final, and perhaps most important, thing about
liturgical worship is that it is very difficult to change. I love the fact that our liturgy, in and of
itself, is a sign of Unity in the way that it is formulated. It indicates a unity that we have with each
other, in the fact that it has to be generally agreed upon to be accepted. It is also a symbol of unity with the Apostolic
Church, in that the order and basic format dates back throughout history.
In summary, in this day and age where people often pride
themselves in seeing who can be most creative with their worship services, we
should celebrate our Anglican heritage that keeps our liturgy as more than
“what the pastor feels like today.” We
should celebrate the fact that we worship in a way that connects us, not only
with each other, but also to the church throughout history.
