Liturgy is Not Enough

As my readers know, I love the liturgy a great deal. I believe, in fact, that the liturgical cycle as it came to fruition by the end of the early medieval period is the greatest tool for Christian formation that the Western Church has ever produced. Much of the great writings of the medieval monks, mystics, and others could have only been produced in relationship to this cycle. It is a great and powerful engine for the formation of disciples.

But it is an engine that has largely gone untuned.

At the time of its creation, it was only accessible to a small number—namely those who lived within intentional liturgical communities, had the capacity to become fluent in a language other than their mother tongue, and had the temperament to turn their wonder, creativity, and intellect to its majesties rather than to other arenas.

At the time of the Reformation, the English Church was the only dissenting group that preserved the key elements of the cycle—the Mass and the Office—but even these were severely pared back, breaking, obscuring, and eliminating many of the connections that had bound the cycle into a harmonious whole.

For most of its history, the Episcopal Church has been an either/or body: either Office or Mass. With the coming of the ‘79 BCP and Eucharist becoming the normative Sunday celebration, two hundred years of Office supremacy came to an end—but balance has yet to be achieved. Too, the ‘79 book has recovered more of the classical links with its inclusion of seasonal material than any other BCP with the possible exception of the failed English ‘28 text.

And yet the discipling inherent in, promised by, the liturgy has not appeared.

And it will not appear.

The experience of the liturgy is not enough.

Certainly there will be some who will start to see and make connections. Who will discover a hunger and turn to earlier and other sources to learn of the connections, to recover or recapture the mystery and the power they feel near its surface—but this is not “most”. Nor necessarily even “many”.

If the liturgy were enough, the discipling would be happening.
If it were enough, there would not be people in our churches who have stood, sat, and knelt through decades of liturgies and not been formed by them. If it were enough, there would not be clergy in our churches who have
stood, sat, and knelt through decades of liturgies and not been formed
by them.

The liturgy is not enough. And yet it is an engine of great power. It does not choose to sit idle; we allow it to do so.

What the liturgy needs from us are three things:

1. We must be open to it. This is the first and greatest step. We must open our hearts to its leading in confidence that the Holy Spirit speaks through its ways and its means.
   
2. We must recognize the treasure that we have before us. The liturgy is many things. It is a path, a discipline, a place where aesthetics, intellect, the affections and emotions are all engaged. We must recognize its value and allow it to have its own authority over us. That is, we must live in it before presuming to change it. And I don’t mean existing alongside of it—I mean living in it. Opening ourselves to it and following where it leads. Because this isn’t really about the liturgy. The liturgy is a path and discipline that leads us into the mind of Christ. And that’s what this is really about.
   
3. We must share its riches. Specifically, this means we must testify to its power and capability to transform, and we must educate. The liturgy is not self-evident. You must be open to it—but it also must be opened to you. Preeminently, this means communicating that the liturgy is an embodiment of essential Christian theology. We don’t do a solemn high mass or evensong just because we like it (though we do, of course…) but because of what it communicates about who and what God is and who we are in light of that reality. Liturgy is theology made kinetic and aesthetic. Even when we succeed in our first two tasks, this is where we have failed in the past and are continuing to fail today. The Episcopal Church is moving towards a new prayer book; protesting at its arrival is too little, too late. If we hope to see a prayer book whose liturgies stand in continuity with our Anglican, our catholic, our Benedictine roots, then we need to start learning, talking, and teaching now while it is yet on the horizon and not yet here at our doorsteps.  

All of us who love the liturgy must be intentional about these things if we wish it to exercise even a quarter of its full power within us and within our communities. Through the centuries, I believe the Holy Spirit has crafted this great work as a faithful and true means of guiding humanity into the mysteries of God. But we have to be faithful and true to it as well.

Maundy Thursday Vigil Devotion

I’m theoretical in charge of the vigil over the reserve sacrament between the end of the Maundy Thursday service to Good Friday’s Masses of the Pre-Sanctified at my congregation. Due to my bite I’ve mostly been writing bits for newsletters, announcements, etc. instead of doing real organizing work.

I completed my final task here at the last moment; it’s a booklet of devotions for use at the vigil. Two I borrowed with light adaptations from the St Augustine Prayer Book produced by the Order of the Holy Cross some years back. I also edited one myself out of George Herbert poems and hymns. Since, to the best of my knowledge, these are not under copyright I’ll post them here: Herbert-Hymn Devotion

I noted something interesting in the midst of preparing the other two. The St. Augustine’s Prayer Book is an Anglo-Catholic book that runs in line with current (or current then) Catholicism rather than being the medievalist sort of Anglo-Catholicism. My congregation is not Anglo-Catholic. It’s MOTR to low and very broad. The Maundy Thirsday vigil itself is perceived as being “too Catholic” in some quarters. In any case, I decided to tone down some of the elements that might scandalize and disrupt devotion should a MOTR to low parishoner read through one of these. One item I took out was a concluding prayer after intercessions that was a devotion to the Sacred Heart. I substituted instead the Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions from the BCP.  In reading through the final copy, it stood out like a sore thumb; it has a dignity, poise and spare eloquence that the surrounding prayers lacked. I’m not saying they were bad prayers or anything—I’m just saying that they weren’t the BCP. . .

Weekend Update (aka Big Rant on the RCL)

Here are two things not to be missed from the weekend…

First is the Lutheran Zephyr’s commentary on two postcards he received from local churches inviting him to Easter services. It seems Jesus is going 0 for 2… I understand not wanting to scare people off, but if we don’t seem to take our faith seriously, why would that inspire someone else to join us?

Second, bls points us to the fresh-out version of the RCL made suitable for your local copy of the BCP. This depresses me…

I’m not a huge fan of the RCL. In fact, I’m of the opinion that all of the “new” lectionaries since Vatican II have missed the mark because they’ve lost sight of—or chosen to ignore—the key issue of function in Mass lectionaries. Yes, it’s good that our congregants are getting more Scriptures on Sunday morning (but huge swaths are still missed—especially the more troubling, complicated, and thought-provoking sections). Yes, it’s good that denominations can share resources across traditions (but we don’t necessarily share theology across denominations and, sad to say, many clergy don’t have a strong enough sense of their own traditions to know when an otherwise good resource contradicts it).

The Mass lectionary is not supposed to be the only place where Christian people encounter Scripture. As I’ve ranted before, the Mass lectionary developed in conversation with the Office lectionary; the Office lectionary worked through the entire Bible every year while the Mass lectionary made selective engagement with the Scriptures to highlight the themes and theologies of the mysteries of redemption embodied in the Temporal cycle. We’ve lost that sense that the Mass lectionary is a pointed return to material that we already know and are re-examining from a different perspective…

The RCL is an attempt to meld the continuous reading strategy of the Office lectionaries with the selected reading strategy of the former Mass lectionaruies. It tries to be too many things and ends up—in my eyes at least—not accomplishing its goals.

One of my biggest frustrations with the scheme Church Publishing has put out is that it keeps both first lesson courses of ordinary time. I think this was a big mistake—they needed to choose one or the other. Either go with the typological set that reinforces the whole point of the Mass lectionary or go with the marginally continuous schema that tries to do what the Office does, but worse. (My prejudice isn’t showing through much, is it?)

New Post at the Cafe

I’ve got a new post up at the Cafe. It’s a reflection on Lent, life, and love in light of my spider bite.

Lenten Preparation from M

I thought I’d posted this before but couldn’t find it—here’s a bit from one of M’s sermons that I think captures the proper perspective on Lent:

The season of
Lent is often associated with deprivation or giving something up. Our Prayer
Book reminds us that Lent in the Early Church was about fasting and penitence
and invites us today into a period of prayer, fasting, repentance, and
self-denial. But Lent can also be a time to add things to our lives, especially
holy habits. The Prayer Book also invites us into a period of self-examination,
reading and meditating on God’s Word. If you’re like me, though, the idea of
adding just one more thing to your life is almost unbearable. I mean—life is
hard enough as it is with juggling children, jobs, and relationships. How can
you hope to fit in more spiritual things?

The word Lent
comes from an old word meaning springtime. One way to think about Lent without
stressing yourself out is to think about it like an early springtime garden. In
the early spring last year’s beautiful garden can look like quite a mess. Heaps
of leaves from the fall lay around, dead plants from the previous year poke up,
and maybe some industrious weeds have already gotten a head start on you. If
you want a beautiful garden again this year, then it’s time to begin again. You
have to start by getting rid of the stuff that’s there—maybe even stuff that
once was living, vibrant, and beautiful but isn’t anymore. So you start
raking…what activities in your life seem to just exist to fill space—and don’t
really add anything to your life? And you start pulling up last year’s dead plants…what
are those intentions that you always wanted to do but never got around to and
now feel guilty about? Or those things that you use to do because they gave you
joy and peace, but now don’t? Finally you go after those little weeds…what new
little things are poking up in your life that you’re not terribly proud of?

Once all of the
clutter has been cleared away, it’s time to put in some new plants. Now some
people may just put in fully-grown plants right away but most start with new
plants, with young plants that require care and nurturing or else they will die
right a way. They have to be tended for a while until they can live on their
own without constant watering and care. This is the helpful way to think about
adding things to your life—not piling yet another thing onto an already full
schedule. If you’re going to give something up, give away something that sucks
up your time and energy, and plant something beautiful and life-giving in its
place. Like taking a few minutes to read the Bible with your morning cup of
coffee or reading one or more of the daily devotions in the Prayer Book with
your kids, spouse, or a friend.

So instead of
thinking just about giving things up or piling things on, think of Lent as your
early springtime garden that needs cleaning up the old overgrowth and putting
in some new things. These are the holy habits. Holy habits are the things that
we are called to nurture and, like young plants, habits really do have to be
nurtured before they become natural. These are the holy habits that
discipleship demands and that today’s Gospel tells us to take up during
Lent.  

Discipleship,
taking up our cross, is a life-long process, not just something we do during
Lent. It is a daily task that requires discipline, strength, prayer, and
assistance from God. We as Christians are called to be disciples each day
whether things in our lives are going well or not. Discipleship is not
something to be taken lightly, done only when we feel like it, when it’s
popular, or when it’s convenient. It is living out holy habits, something we do
each day of our lives until we die. The hymn we just sang illustrates this well
when it says in verse 5: “Take up your cross, then follow Christ, nor think
till death to lay it down; for only those who bear the cross may hope to wear
the glorious crown.”

Lent can be a
great time to begin this process, to begin growing the holy habits that will
last a lifetime—and beyond. Jesus calls us to discipleship. Jesus calls us to
take up our cross. Not to be popular or to follow an easy road but follow him
wherever he leads.

New Stuff at the OJN Liturgy Page

I have been alerted through a broken link notice (thanks, bls!) that there is new material that the Order of Julian of Norwich’s Liturgical Publications page. There are three new items: a new set of collects, a 2008 kalendar, and—perhaps most exciting—the order’s hymnal from Advent through Lent. I’d posted Advent bits but did not have the time to get to the rest. Thankfully, they have…

I’m Back…Sort Of

Hope y’all had a good Christmas as the season draws to a close. I’m back but not really “back”. Things are extremely busy and I won’t be online much. (Except to be loading freakin’ Oracle tables row by row through a PHP portal since my SQL*Loader is messed up…)

Speaking of how hacked off I am at Oracle, I’m thinking that SQLite really should be the hot new thing. And yes, I realize that sentence made no sense to anyone other than computer geeks but there’s a practical(?) payoff—I think SQLite (a small-profile database system) will give me functionality to program a method of calculating liturgical dates that can easily be switched back and forth between different sanctoral/temporal cycles. So moving between calculating a date in the modern revised common lectionary and a 10th century Benedictine kalendar would be fast and simple—and just a click away for a web visitor…

I think my feed reader said I had some 500 items to catch up on and I’ve seen some interesting email to which I’ll respond when able and yes, I’m gonna do our buddy Ælfric Bata for the history meme that Jonathan and Michelle both tagged me for.

Ack… More later.

Clint Eastwood as an Anglo-Catholic Liturgist

“I know what yer thinkin’, punk…

“The evening of the 20th by all rights oughtta be the First Vespers of St. Thomas the Apostle, a second class universal double feast. But yer thinkin’ maybe–just maybe–the Second Vespers of a second class feria in Sapentia-tide just might take it…and you can get away with usin’ the ‘O’ antiphon with the Magnificat instead of the one appointed for St. Thomas…

“Ya gotta ask yerself a question: do I feel lucky? Well, do ya–punk?”

(The answer, of course, is that the antiphon for the Magnificat is that appointed for St Thomas [Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; * blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed] However, the “O” antiphons appear on the 20th and 21st as commemorations—after the collect of the day, with their versicle & response [if you're using them] and followed by the collect of the Third Sunday of Advent.)

Advent Goodness from the OJN

Two items for Advent:

• I’ve scanned the hymns used by the Order of Julian of Norwich during the season of Advent and compiled them into a single document (Advent_Hymns). Father John-Julian appointed hymns for First and Second Vespers of the four Sundays of the season and in doing so incorporated the traditional Lauds and Matins hymns as well. For the sake of completness, I also added the Marian Antiphon for Advent (Alma Redemptoris) at the end of the file. The translations are not under copyright (but see the fair use terms on the side-bar) since they were prepared specifically for the Order into contemporary (Rite II) English. The sole exception is the final hymn; it was composed by Fr. John-Julian himself. The hymns contained here in order of appearance by original language incipit are:
  • Vos ante Christi tempora (Paris Breviary, XVIII cent.)
  • Conditor alme siderum [aka Creator alme siderum] (Ascr. St. Ambrose, VII cent.)
  • Verbum supernum prodiens (Unknown, V cent.)
  • In noctis umbra desides (C. Coffin, Paris Breviary, XVIII cent.)
  • Vox clara ecce intonat [aka En clara vox] (Unknown, V cent.)
  • Instantis Adventum Dei (C. Coffin, Paris Breviary, XVIII cent.)
  • Jordanis oras praevia (C. Coffin, Hymni Sacri, XVIII cent.)
  • They knew you not (John-Julian, OJN, 1997)
• Fr. John-Julian has also sent the kalendar and ordo for the 2007-2008 liturgical year (ordo-2007-8.pdf).

The traditional (i.e., Anglo-Saxon/Sarum/Tridentine) Office hymn distributions are:

• Vespers: Conditor alme siderum (Creator alme siderum)
  
• Matins: Verbum supernum prodiens
• Lauds: Vox clara ecce intonat (En clara vox redarguit)

Links go to the Latin and English parallel texts at the wondrous hymn page at Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.

Random Advent Thought

M mentioned something to me the other day and it’s quite stuck in my head now…

Why don’t we ever see pictures/icons/statues of the pregnant Mary? Seems like an ideal Advent image… Even the “pre-Christmas” pictures just tend to have her as a lump on a donkey and don’t really show her as what she was—a pregnant mother.