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Thomas G. Long, in his sermon "Whispering the Lyrics," tells the following story of the power of liturgy...
A friend who is a minister reported her experience in taking communion to a woman in a nursing home who had Alzheimer's disease. When she arrived in the woman's room, she attempted to carry on a conversation with her. Even though she was a member of this minister's church and the minister had known her for years, meaningful communication was nearly impossible. The woman was confused and disoriented. She simply could not remember anything, including who she was or who the minister was.
When the minister set up the communion elements, the woman's confusion increased. Seeing the bread and the cup on her hospital table, she furrowed her brow and tried to sweep them off with her hand, "What's this? What ...?"
But when the minister began the familiar communion liturgy, the woman grew calm. The Holy Spirit irrigated furrows in her memory deeper than any disease, more profound than any confusion. "On the night that our Lord was betrayed ...," the minister said, and the woman began to repeat the words silently with her lips. "This is my body, for you," the woman was now quietly speaking the words along with the minister, the Spirit whispering the lyrics in her ear. When the bread and the wine were offered, the woman eagerly, hungrily, took them in her hands~the gifts of God for this daughter of God.
*www.sermons.com
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Liturgy (leitourgia) is a Greek term meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state by a citizen. It us formed from leitos (from leos = laos, people) meaning public, and ergo, to do. From this arises leitourgos, "a man who performs a public duty", "a public servant," then, we have leitourgeo, "to do such a duty" leitourgema, its performance, and leitourgia, the public duty itself. Liturgy is literally the work of the people. (www.newadvent.org: Catholic Encyclopedia). Liturgy is the service that the People of Divine Presence offer up as citizens of Heaven~for Heaven is God, and God is Heaven.
Liturgy introduces us into sacred time, sacred space. We join in effecting a sense of transcendence, a sense of the Sacred, not as a matter of physical geography but heartography. Liturgy is a taste of Heaven, Now.
Jesus speaks of the sacredness of liturgy as pertaining to the heart. In his conversation with a Samaritan woman, we read in John 4 (NCV)...
19 The woman said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship."
21 Jesus said, "Believe me, woman. The time is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will you actually worship the Father. 22 You Samaritans worship something you don't understand. We understand what we worship, because salvation comes from the Jews.23 The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and that time is here already. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Liturgy, as in the story of Long with the woman suffering from Alzheimer's, reflects and confirms something deeply true within each of us. The remembrance transcends natural limitations, for spirit and truth embraces each of us in an all-inclusive Grace.
I shared Eucharist with a woman of my congregation. She is home-bound. We talked a while before the Holy Communion. I could tell she was deeply in love with Christ. Then, we began the liturgy. As I read Scripture and blessed, lifted, and served the Elements, this lady cried throughout. This impressed upon me the power of liturgy to speak to the heart of a Sacredness that places our lives, with their finite limitations, within a Story of infinite Proportions.
This woman partook of the Eucharist in spirit and truth. What is this "in spirit and truth"? "Spirit" indicates that true worship arises from the spirit in us. This "spirit" is the Center of you and me, the Sacred Core where the Spirit and spirit are one in Eternity. "Truth" is another indicator of the inner disposition for worship. "Truth" means we are to worship with sincerity, with honesty, by being authentic and open to the Divine.
Liturgy is not religious magic. Liturgy is worship that opens us to Grace when we meet the conditions of two inner qualities: spirit and truth. When doing this, we are graced by awareness, even if slight, of another Presence, and we are reminded of our true Home.
Lastly, when worshipping alone, we still engage liturgy with the whole Body of Christ. We are engaging in the work of the People. We are being the Body of Christ. Respect for and a sense of kinship with the Body and awareness of our union in Christ with the People transcending time and space is needful for spiritual liturgy, whether in private or public.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Southwest Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper, increasingly-fulfilling relationship with the Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus on the Church toward prioritizing seeking to meet the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions.
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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