Many people in the Protestant evangelical world when they hear this word it likely conjures up images of an austere man wearing a funny hat, walking up the center aisle of a cathedral waving a smoking pole. In the background a choir sings in an unknown language.
Liturgy is a “Roman Catholic” word in the minds of many evangelicals.
But Roman Catholics do not have exclusive rights to liturgy. In fact, liturgy is something that every church assembly necessarily has. The word “liturgy” means “work of the people” and simply refers to the things that a gathered assembly of believers do to serve God in a public worship event. In the words of Kevin DeYoung:
Every church has a liturgy. Traditional congregations have a general order to worship. So do contemporary congregations. So do funky, artistic ones. Church leaders do not have time to reinvent their services every week. Congregations are not capable of learning new forms, new songs, and following a new order every week. Even the most spontaneous and creative church will flounder without some predictability and commonality from week to week. Even the most conscientious pastor or worship leader will eventually settle into a basic template for worship. Every church has a liturgy.
www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/is-the-new-evangelical-liturgy-really-an-improvement
In some churches the liturgy is very noticeable and may even feel like the main event. In others, the liturgy is subtle and almost invisible. Most churches are somewhere in the middle. Though different Christian traditions would use different terminology and speak of the role of liturgy differently, rest assured every church worship gathering has a liturgy of one kind or another.
Is Liturgy Good or Bad?
What this means is that liturgy is a value-neutral word. It’s not a “good” or “bad” thing per se. That being said, it is certainly right to say that some liturgies are better than others. Our liturgies are saying something. The content, flow, pace, and structure of our services are themselves communicating something about God, ourselves, and our faith. What are they saying? Are the things that they are saying true and good and beautiful? Are they screaming so loudly that all of the attention is on the liturgy? Alternatively, are they quietly and almost imperceptibly drawing our hearts and minds up to the one we’ve gathered to worship?
Our liturgy should serve the purpose of our worship gatherings. Many churches today seem to be taking their cues from pop culture. Their order of service could be described as “set of music followed by a Ted Talk.” [1] What does such an order tell us about God? What does it say about ourselves? These are significant considerations we must consider as we worship.
What Our Liturgies Should Be “Saying”
The most important question is what sort of liturgy would God desire of his church when they gather? In other words, when the church gathers for public worship, what does God want us to do? What does God want our liturgies to be “saying”? For most Protestants, this is really a question of what does the Bible have to say about this. Is there somewhere in the Scriptures that we can turn and discover a prescribed liturgy?
We will take up this topic soon in another post.
Endnotes
[1] This expression was used by Ligon Duncon on a podcast at The Gospel Coalition called “Why Liturgy Matters.”
