Doing some study this week on how best to order our weekly worship services (our liturgy) and feeling the tension of “what to leave in and what to leave out” (gratuitous Bob Seger quote provided for both of you fans).
My prayer has been that years from now we will be able to look back and say of our liturgy:
- God was glorified.
- The church was edified.
- The lost were saved.
- It was a great rehearsal for heaven.
- We experienced something of God’s glory.
- There was always room for fervent expressions of devotion.
It’s this last one that has me scratching my head today. How can we be ordered yet leave room for Mary’s spontaneous act of worship in John 12? Mary broke from the liturgy…
Snap went the bottleneck! Out poured a fortune of perfume! And down came her hair as she use it humbly, worshipfully, to wipe her Savior’s feet. It was a spontaneous outpouring of her love, and so very extravagant – scandalously so in the eyes of Jesus’ disciples (Worship by the Book, D. A. Carson)
The disciples protested and Jesus said “Leave her alone.”
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Good Question. Maybe not having the answer and always being ready for it, allowing time for it is right where we need to be…
I appreciate liturgy. In some cases it is simply the order of the service. in other cases it is almost what is worshiped…Selah…. And somewhere in the middle are the many different expressions of worship that we the church offer up.
Whatever the structure or liturgy looks like, the body needs to understand why they do what they do.
The liturgy should include a time of spiritual freedom and waiting…structured non structure if you will. frankly, some times it is more than appropriate to just drop the structure and let God do something else based on the needs or circumstances.
For God to be glorified, the church to be edified, the lost to be saved, or at least ministered to for starters, we have to be sure we don’t just fall into routine.
I cant help but think of Jon Foreman’s song, “Instead of a show”. He unpacks Isaiah 1:1-20 in a quite sobering way.
Sorry for the ramble, just my thoughts.
RC
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