What’s Your Liturgy?

If you come from an unchurched or even an evangelical background, the notion of liturgy may be foreign to you. It was to me throughout most of my childhood and young adulthood. And for many years, I thought liturgy was a negative thing until I realized that God is all about liturgy when that liturgy is engaged with the whole heart.

Liturgy is “a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship,” or “a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances.” In turn, a rite is “a religious or other solemn ceremony or act,” but also simply “a social custom, practice, or conventional act.” The Bible is filled with liturgy.

I mistakenly thought that liturgy was bad because it is by nature repetitive; I assumed somehow that where spiritual living is concerned, everything needs to be organic and spontaneous. I used to like to use the word “fresh.” I knew people who never recited the Lord’s Prayer because they considered it useful only as a model for how to pray, one that provides a formula that goes something like honor + thanksgiving + repentance +petitioning = prayer. It occurred to me at some point that perhaps it’s simply okay to pray the Lord’s Prayer word-for-word if you want to. God doesn’t need all our worship to be original and different from moment to moment. As Scripture says, “The Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV).

I couldn’t tell you when my view of liturgy began to change, but I think it had something to do with experiencing a lack of sacraments in church. I began to recognize that there can be comfort in repeating familiar pieces of worship, from observing the Lord’s Supper to singing well-loved worship songs to reciting psalms. I don’t want the Eucharist once a year–I want it weekly. And I don’t want to learn a new worship song every Sunday–I want to sing familiar words that stir my soul.

Even my five-year-old recognizes that there is great peace and comfort in being able to recite the Lord’s Prayer before she goes to sleep on nights when the words necessary to form her own unique prayer don’t come easily. One night, after a weeklong string of Lord’s Prayer bedtime recitations, I asked her why it seemed to be her preference lately. She yawned and said, “Because it says it all, Mom. I can’t do better than the Our Father.”

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