In many ways, the contemporary worship movement has been a reaction to "old church" function and form. For good reason, pioneers have sought to make worship personal and relevant, but it hasn't come without any cost. One thing that I believe we've lost out on is comprehensive liturgy. Many traditional churches follow the three year cycle of Common Texts that assist in creating seasons for the church as well as covering stories and theology from varied sections of the Bible, to keep the material covered in worship diverse and varied. Very few contemporary churches that I know of stick to the three year cycle.
As "application" has taken a more prominent role in modern preaching, we instead build sermon series' around felt-needs of the congregation and community. This does have many benefits, but it can allow a church to stick to some of its favorite themes in the Bible rather than push the church leaders to continue learning and searching for deeper truths and a more dynamic understanding of who God is.
Churches that have a defined liturgical calendar have a great opportunity to grow the spirituality and biblical knowledge of their congregation. Beyond the benefits of a varied biblical learning experience, it creates an environment of integrated learning for every age of attendee, lays a strong foundation for other worship elements and gives parishioners material for personal devotions.
Learning about liturgy, the Consultation on Common Texts and the Book of Common Prayer has been an exciting experience for me - I have a lot to learn yet on the topic though. I invite you to engage the ideas I present and contribute some thoughts from your own experience in your church by commenting below. I'll attach links and commentary to help you if (like me) you did not have the privilege of experiencing this type of liturgy first-hand in the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment