Baptist Liturgy [Part III] December 4, 2007
Posted by Gordon in Worship.trackback
When I first started using liturgy in our services, particularly in communion there were a few raised eyebrows. A number of people made it clear that if they ‘wanted to go to an Anglican church they would have’. However, I think most were won over by the beauty and simplicity of the words which have come to be a welcome addition to our communion experience.
In the only book I’ve ever laid my hands on to help Baptists with orders of service [Patterns & Prayers of Christian Worship - a guidebook for worship leaders. Baptist Union of Great Britain], I found a profound invitation to Communion which continues to strike a chord:
Come to this table not because you must, but because you may, not because you are strong, but because you are weak. Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you right to come, but because you need mercy and help. Come because you love the Lord a little and would like to love him more. Come, because He loved you and gave Himself for you. Come and meet the Risen Christ, for we are His Body.
I have since given it a rewrite to make it express our unity more through the constant use of the word ‘we’:
We come to this table, not because we must but because we may, not because we are strong, but because we are weak. We come, not because of any goodness of our own gives us a right to come, but because we need mercy and help. We come because we love the Lord a little and would like to love him more. We come, because He loved us and gave Himself for us. We come to meet the Risen Christ, for we are His Body.
Communion was never meant to be what it has become in our churches. I’m sure the early believers would roll around laughing when they saw our solemn faces as we receive the tiny squares of leavened bread and the matching tiny cups. Communion originated in the shared experience of a meal.
The size of our churches now means that this is an impractical means of sharing communion in a context that matches how it originated. There are a number of ways to circumvent the downside of our large congregational sizes. Meals in home groups are a good way of recapturing the fellowship of the shared meal. Building a greater sense of connectivity and interaction into our communion services is another. I have found that centering an entire worship service around communion [no sermon] is greatly appreciated.
Another useful change has been to get people out of their seats and coming forward to receive and share communion. Having got people out of their seats there are other elements they can participate in. One Sunday I placed a shredder at the front of the church so that people could shred the sins they had confessed to during the reflection time. In what was a truly memorable moment the shredder held up for almost the entire congregation until the wife of the chair of the elders placed her sins in the shredder. It made a sharp jarring noise and shuddered to a halt, her sins only half shredded. The noise the machine made was loud enough for the whole congregation to notice that her sins were to many for the poor little shredder. A priceless moment.
Feel free to share meaningful communion experiences.
Greetings
I have just completed reading your 3 excellent reflections on liturgy.
As an Anglican priest it fascinates me that, when we are open, there is a new way of moving beyond the old conflicts which mean little in our new context and arrive at similar perspectives.
My website on spirituality and liturgy: http://www.liturgy.co.nz tries to do just what you are describing here. And also translate Northern Hemisphere traditions into our Southern Hemisphere context.
Advent blessings
Bosco Peters
http://www.liturgy.co.nz
Thanks for dropping by Bosco, I’ll add your link to our sidebar. I look forward to a fair bit of reading by the looks of your site!
I’d be interested to know if you have any interaction with Baptists in terms of liturgy and the sharing of ideas and resources in NZ?
Greetings again.
The strongest sharing I’ve had in NZ most recently with Baptists & liturgy has been a shared interest in emergent and missional approaches, particularly with Steve Taylor http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/
More strongly, however, we have a shared love of film
and have lectured together at Bible College.
You may be interested in my post today:
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/worship/matters_files/monasticism20080208.html
Thanks in anticipating for placing a link to my site on your blogroll.
Blessings on your Lenten journey
Bosco
http://www.liturgy.co.nz
If liturgy glorifies God and edifies the church, it has a place. Responsive reading if careful attention is paid to it, is helpful in worship. When liturgy becomes heartless repitition, it is of no value. God doesn’t want us to play church.
If liturgy glorifies God and edifies the church, it has a place. Responsive reading if careful attention is paid to it, is helpful in worship. When liturgy becomes heartless repitition, it is of no value. Christ taught us to worship in Spirit and Truth. He doesn’t want us to play church.
I agree Glen. I find I have to preface any responsive reading element in a service by encouraging people to give full voice and expression to the words they are saying.
Liturgy in monotone is a dirge worse than that of a badly sung hymn. It doesn’t really edify anyone.
Another thing I need to combat is the defensive posture Baptists have against liturgy “why are you trying to turn us into an Anglican church?”.
“If I wanted liturgy I could have stayed a Catholic!”.
However, a well led liturgy often awakens people to new possibilities in worship [and even the English language!].
We have a new minister at our United Methodist Church. He seems to think that the liturgy we are accustomed to doing for the Eucharist and repeating the Apostles’ Creed are not necessary. He says that it is just a ritual; blah blah blah. He instead paraphrases the whole ceremony himself; no one else speaks but him. Hmphh! Why does he think that we get more out of listening to HIM say the paraphrased words than we would get out of saying the words OURSELVES? Even if there are a FEW people not listening to their own selves, repeating in a monotone voice, etc, I think those same people are not really listening to every word HE says, either. I don’t think there’s a significant difference. Who can say? I find it insulting to me and highly arrogant on his part that he presumes to know what is best for us, denies us the opportunity to say the words/prayers ourselves, and goes against our tradition in the Methodist Church! I am about ready to change churches! In addition to that, he constantly tries to get the congregation to say “AMEN” to acknowledge agreement with every little thing he says in his sermon. He wants us to speak THEN. But he’s not keen on a congregational “Thanks be to God” after a scripture reading because it’s a ritual!
You may want to buy him a copy of “How to win friends and influence people’ for Christmas and inscribe the word ‘Amen to that!’ inside.
Sounds like he may have a short lived ministry at your church?