| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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| THE 20TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 2 October, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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Last week, rather than preaching about the meaning of the Cross, as I’d intended, I went
in a direction I hadn’t planned – based on a remark someone had made earlier in the
week. I began with an apology for having neglected – in all of my preaching about Liturgy
– neglected to speak to you about certain aspects of the Liturgy as Sacred Drama.
After going over the roots and the beginnings both of drama and of liturgy, as SACRED
Drama, and I then made two important points. I said that our liturgy – our worship – is not
an individual exercise – not about “me!” or “you”, but is, by it’s very nature and intent, a
corporate exercise – that it’s always about US – about all the Church and the
congregation!
And I said that our worship is not primarily an intellectual enterprise – not primarily about
the WORDS of the Service, or about the ideas, or the theology! Instead it is an all-
encompassing exercise – it involves body, mind and spirit! Every part of who and what
we are!
This morning, I just want to add a couple of observations about how we need to perform
our sacred drama – how we need to “do” our Liturgy!
First, we ought always to remember that – just as the liturgy is not individualistic – not
about “me” -- it’s not a passive exercise!
That’s part of the rap against the liturgical developments of the Middle Ages, that I’ve so
often griped about. It involved a change that came about during the centuries when the
Liturgy was read in Latin, exclusively, though Latin had already come to be a dead
language! With the Priest at the altar, his back to the people, mumbling words that no one
could understand, the worshippers became completely passive spectators, sitting or
kneeling silently, their eyes downcast, saying their beads, and generally not even invited
to come forward for communion – present but totally uninvolved in the Liturgy!
Even the invention of the printing press and the change from Latin to the vernacular for
most non-Roman Catholics following the Reformation, didn’t change the level of
participation, much. If the liturgy became slightly less passive, with understanding, it also
became more intellectual – more about words and ideas than about activity and
involvement! So now the worshippers sat and listened, sometimes for hours (!), with the
sermon becoming paramount.
But liturgy – sacred drama – is, as I said last week, intended to be totally involving –
intended to involve body, mind and soul, and intended to include all the senses. The
colors of worship, the sounds, the textures, the aromas, the tastes and the feels all
should be allowed to impact the experience.
And the emotions!
It’s always amazed me that a religion based on the events from which the Christian faith
grew – the story of a man from his birth in a stable, of all places, to his death on the
cross, with, in between, all sorts and conditions of men and women, with wine and bread
and fish, with storms on a lake, and walking on water, with cripples and lepers and blind
men – always amazed me that worship in such a faith should tend to be so staid, and tend
to be so intellectual – and so restrained!
Now I’m not saying we need to become like those congregations we’ve all seen on TV,
with screaming and jumping up and down and swooning! Heaven forbid! But I am saying
that Christian worship is at its best when the worshippers are fully involved!
There is a thing in our worship, for instance, that is called “the great Amen!” The word,
“amen, “ means roughly, as you know, “so be it!”, and in Liturgy or public prayer, it’s the
assent of the worshippers to a prayer that’s been said on their behalf – the way in which
we participate in the prayer; the way we affirm it as our own.
The Prayer called The Great Thanksgiving is the central prayer in the Eucharist. In it, the
whole of salvation history is summed up, the last supper recalled, and the crucifixion,
resurrection and ascension. It’s a beautiful and powerful prayer in all its forms, and it
ends in a great crescendo of praise:
By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be unto thee,
O Father Almighty, world without end. AMEN.
That Amen is called, “The Great Amen.” And it’s called that because worshippers, hearing
the prayer that has gone before, and being caught up in its power, join in the assent with
a great cry, “Amen!”
Except, we never do! It’s always more like
By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be unto thee,
O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.
And, quite frankly, it’s discouraging.
Now, all this comes from a comment that was made, recently in a discussion of worship,
when someone called the things we do, and the way we do things in worship, “just
ceremony; not really important.”
But I would hope that we can begin to learn that these things we do and the way we do
them, are absolutely central to worship, and every bit as important as the words!
That it really does matter whether we stand or kneel in worship – and when we stand and
kneel. That standing actually helps to produce a particular kind of feeling that then
becomes a part of our worship, and that kneeling helps to produce a different kind of
feeling.
That there are times and seasons when one is more appropriate; and times and seasons
when the other is!
And that distinguishing between the times and the seasons can add immeasurably to our
worship, and to the experience we share in worshipping.
In fact, there is a technique that actors learn very soon after they take up actors. In fact,
they learn it early, or they don’t remain actors for long. They learn that the connection
between the human body and human emotion is a two-way street! They learn that if they
DO the things associated with a particular emotion, the emotion, itself, will soon follow. If
I’m playing a scene in which a joke is told, that livens up a scene, and it’s the hundred-
thirty-fifth time I’ve done the scene, and the joke is neither new nor funny any more – if I
laugh at the joke, the feeling of being amused will follow – and I can go on with the scene
legitimately!
So it is in worship! If I get down on my knees and bow my head, in a pose of repentance, I
WILL begin to feel the remorse and the sadness appropriate to the season or the rite!
If I stand, however, and speak up and speak out the words of praise in another season or
another rite, I will begin to experience the joy of being a redeemed child of God, my
father.
Both emotions are appropriate, in their place and in their time – and both actions and the
emotions that go with them are especially appropriate to the various seasons and feasts!
Christian worship is one of the great gifts the Church gives us – a rich experience and
resource, developed and refined, corrected and refined, again, grown, pruned and
cultivated through the Centuries, to help us in our call to be who God Calls us to be, and
to serve God and God’s people as we are called.
And Christian worship is one of the great gifts we have to offer others! To offer those
who may walk in the door, hungry for the experience of praising God in the beauty of
holiness, and growing in the knowledge and Love of God, as God Calls them!
The word, “liturgy” means, “the work of the people! And it’s important enough that we
need to Work at it, and get it right – our offering to our God, and to God’s people – in
Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
in a direction I hadn’t planned – based on a remark someone had made earlier in the
week. I began with an apology for having neglected – in all of my preaching about Liturgy
– neglected to speak to you about certain aspects of the Liturgy as Sacred Drama.
After going over the roots and the beginnings both of drama and of liturgy, as SACRED
Drama, and I then made two important points. I said that our liturgy – our worship – is not
an individual exercise – not about “me!” or “you”, but is, by it’s very nature and intent, a
corporate exercise – that it’s always about US – about all the Church and the
congregation!
And I said that our worship is not primarily an intellectual enterprise – not primarily about
the WORDS of the Service, or about the ideas, or the theology! Instead it is an all-
encompassing exercise – it involves body, mind and spirit! Every part of who and what
we are!
This morning, I just want to add a couple of observations about how we need to perform
our sacred drama – how we need to “do” our Liturgy!
First, we ought always to remember that – just as the liturgy is not individualistic – not
about “me” -- it’s not a passive exercise!
That’s part of the rap against the liturgical developments of the Middle Ages, that I’ve so
often griped about. It involved a change that came about during the centuries when the
Liturgy was read in Latin, exclusively, though Latin had already come to be a dead
language! With the Priest at the altar, his back to the people, mumbling words that no one
could understand, the worshippers became completely passive spectators, sitting or
kneeling silently, their eyes downcast, saying their beads, and generally not even invited
to come forward for communion – present but totally uninvolved in the Liturgy!
Even the invention of the printing press and the change from Latin to the vernacular for
most non-Roman Catholics following the Reformation, didn’t change the level of
participation, much. If the liturgy became slightly less passive, with understanding, it also
became more intellectual – more about words and ideas than about activity and
involvement! So now the worshippers sat and listened, sometimes for hours (!), with the
sermon becoming paramount.
But liturgy – sacred drama – is, as I said last week, intended to be totally involving –
intended to involve body, mind and soul, and intended to include all the senses. The
colors of worship, the sounds, the textures, the aromas, the tastes and the feels all
should be allowed to impact the experience.
And the emotions!
It’s always amazed me that a religion based on the events from which the Christian faith
grew – the story of a man from his birth in a stable, of all places, to his death on the
cross, with, in between, all sorts and conditions of men and women, with wine and bread
and fish, with storms on a lake, and walking on water, with cripples and lepers and blind
men – always amazed me that worship in such a faith should tend to be so staid, and tend
to be so intellectual – and so restrained!
Now I’m not saying we need to become like those congregations we’ve all seen on TV,
with screaming and jumping up and down and swooning! Heaven forbid! But I am saying
that Christian worship is at its best when the worshippers are fully involved!
There is a thing in our worship, for instance, that is called “the great Amen!” The word,
“amen, “ means roughly, as you know, “so be it!”, and in Liturgy or public prayer, it’s the
assent of the worshippers to a prayer that’s been said on their behalf – the way in which
we participate in the prayer; the way we affirm it as our own.
The Prayer called The Great Thanksgiving is the central prayer in the Eucharist. In it, the
whole of salvation history is summed up, the last supper recalled, and the crucifixion,
resurrection and ascension. It’s a beautiful and powerful prayer in all its forms, and it
ends in a great crescendo of praise:
By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be unto thee,
O Father Almighty, world without end. AMEN.
That Amen is called, “The Great Amen.” And it’s called that because worshippers, hearing
the prayer that has gone before, and being caught up in its power, join in the assent with
a great cry, “Amen!”
Except, we never do! It’s always more like
By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be unto thee,
O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.
And, quite frankly, it’s discouraging.
Now, all this comes from a comment that was made, recently in a discussion of worship,
when someone called the things we do, and the way we do things in worship, “just
ceremony; not really important.”
But I would hope that we can begin to learn that these things we do and the way we do
them, are absolutely central to worship, and every bit as important as the words!
That it really does matter whether we stand or kneel in worship – and when we stand and
kneel. That standing actually helps to produce a particular kind of feeling that then
becomes a part of our worship, and that kneeling helps to produce a different kind of
feeling.
That there are times and seasons when one is more appropriate; and times and seasons
when the other is!
And that distinguishing between the times and the seasons can add immeasurably to our
worship, and to the experience we share in worshipping.
In fact, there is a technique that actors learn very soon after they take up actors. In fact,
they learn it early, or they don’t remain actors for long. They learn that the connection
between the human body and human emotion is a two-way street! They learn that if they
DO the things associated with a particular emotion, the emotion, itself, will soon follow. If
I’m playing a scene in which a joke is told, that livens up a scene, and it’s the hundred-
thirty-fifth time I’ve done the scene, and the joke is neither new nor funny any more – if I
laugh at the joke, the feeling of being amused will follow – and I can go on with the scene
legitimately!
So it is in worship! If I get down on my knees and bow my head, in a pose of repentance, I
WILL begin to feel the remorse and the sadness appropriate to the season or the rite!
If I stand, however, and speak up and speak out the words of praise in another season or
another rite, I will begin to experience the joy of being a redeemed child of God, my
father.
Both emotions are appropriate, in their place and in their time – and both actions and the
emotions that go with them are especially appropriate to the various seasons and feasts!
Christian worship is one of the great gifts the Church gives us – a rich experience and
resource, developed and refined, corrected and refined, again, grown, pruned and
cultivated through the Centuries, to help us in our call to be who God Calls us to be, and
to serve God and God’s people as we are called.
And Christian worship is one of the great gifts we have to offer others! To offer those
who may walk in the door, hungry for the experience of praising God in the beauty of
holiness, and growing in the knowledge and Love of God, as God Calls them!
The word, “liturgy” means, “the work of the people! And it’s important enough that we
need to Work at it, and get it right – our offering to our God, and to God’s people – in
Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
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