Creative Liturgy

For the last three or four weeks in our Gospel readings, we have been hearing from John. These passages from John’s Gospel are about the bread of life, the eternal life that Jesus offers as the bread of life. They are about the implications of Jesus’ life, ministry and death. So they are very important for us, as "on-going" Christians. These passages are about the implications of Jesus’ life, ministry and death for us, as Christians today. For the last couple of Sundays, these readings have prompted me to preach about liturgy, what we as "on-going" Christians do together when we come to worship. Liturgy is a word you are probably generally familiar with. It is the form, the architecture, and the substance of what we do together when we, as a community of faith, gather together for worship. You may not know that the word liturgy comes from a Greek root that means "the work of the people". This is our work.

For most of the last two days I’ve been at a conference. Donica Van Voorhees, our new Director of Christian Formation, and I have been at a conference called "Whose Church is It, Anyway?" It was a conference on Christian Formation, particularly focused on Christian Formation for children and youth, but also addressing broader issues of Christian Formation.

One thing that always seems to happen at this sort of conference is what is often called "Creative Liturgy." It just seems to be inevitable in this sort of gathering. Creative Liturgy. In the midst of the first liturgy we shared at the conference the rhetorical question was asked, "What is creative liturgy?" The question they were asking was, "What are the elements of innovative liturgy? What are some of the new ways of doing liturgy that are out there? What are some liturgical ideas or practices that no one has thought of before?" Innovative liturgy is what tends to characterize these sorts of conferences.

But the question I found myself answering was a different one. I’d like to draw a distinction between innovative liturgy and creative liturgy. Innovative liturgy is new; it is a way of exploring things we may have never done before. For me, creativity equals growth. Creativity means participating in creation’s blossoming and flourishing. Creativity is about blossoming, flourishing. Creative liturgy is liturgy that enables the Holy Spirit to grow in the midst of the hearts and lives of those who gather for a particular worship service. Creative liturgy is liturgy that empowers us to grow as Christians, to be created more and more into the image God has for us (whether or not it has any innovative elements). All liturgy should be creative liturgy. Innovative liturgy can be creative, but it isn’t always. All liturgy should be about creating the living presence of God in our midst; about creating us more fully into God’s image; about Christian formation.

I think it’s a helpful distinction, between innovative liturgy and creative liturgy. Part of that distinction: Innovative liturgy is something that I would impose, undoubtedly with some resistance. I do think that much of what is new in liturgical study is very good. But creative liturgy is something we do together. All of us, working together. Creative liturgy is ours. Not the church’s. Not mine. Ours. Creative liturgy. Liturgy that creates the living presence of God in the midst of this worshipping congregation.

I’m reminded of some words from Psalm 51, words that seem to capture the essence of creative liturgy.

"Open my lips, O Lord
And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me.
(That’s creative liturgy!!)
Cast me not away from your presence
And take not your holy Spirit from me
Give me the joy of your saving help again
And sustain me with your bountiful Spirit."

"Create in me a clean heart, O Lord; and renew a right spirit within me." That’s creative liturgy.

For liturgy to have this creative power in our lives, I think it must have several components. (1) It must be rooted in our lives, in the reality of our experiences and the situations we face. It must grow, be created, out of the roots of who we are, as individuals and as this community. (2) It must encompass and enfold our needs and concerns. (3) It must inspire and reassure our hopes and yearnings. Some innovative liturgy will have these components; some will not. All liturgy should have this potential to be creative.

To explore this creative potential for liturgy, I want to look at several elements of our liturgy, the liturgy that we do together on Sundays.

The beginning. If I were to ask, "When did this liturgy begin?" how would you answer? With the first words I spoke, the opening acclamation? When the candles were lit? When Jeff began the prelude? When the procession began? When you got up this morning? In all of the events and situations of your daily lives throughout the week? That’s really the best answer. This liturgy began in the events and places of your daily lives. We start each celebration of the Eucharist with a procession, sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate. We don’t do the procession just for the sake of the ritual, but to symbolize our gathering. We have all come here, gathered here from somewhere else. Where have you come from this morning? What place of need, or of celebration and joy? What family or personal situation? Where you have come from is the beginning point for this liturgy’s creative potential. You must bring the situations and experiences of your lives throughout the week to this liturgy. Do not leave them at the door; bring them in. For this liturgy to create the living presence of God in our lives, we must begin by bringing those lives to the liturgy. We gather for creative liturgy.

Second. We break open God’s word. Every time we, as a community of faith gather for worship, we speak and hear the Word of God in Holy Scripture. We break open God’s word. You do not come to hear the lessons read. We gather to break open God’s living word together. When we Episcopalians speak of Scripture as inspired, we are not so focused on whether or not it was inspired with some inerrant truth when it was written. We focus on it being inspired now. It breathes and speaks with the living presence of God today.

What would it take for you to hear God’s word as inspired? As more than just old words on a page? As the creative, living voice of God in your life today? Different people will answer that question differently. For me it helps not to look at the written inserts. To close my eyes and imagine and listen. For other people, the visual focus helps… perhaps to concentrate on a particular word or a word that repeats. Typically, because of my job, I have read the Scriptures before the service begins. Think about coming early enough to read the lessons through before the formal liturgy begins. For all of us, if these holy words are to speak to us with creative power, we must give them our full attention. This is not the time to be rummaging for your check book. There is a piece of relatively "innovative" liturgy that I like with respect to reading and hearing the lessons from Scripture. After the lessons are read, instead of saying "The Word of the Lord," the reader says "Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people." Present tense. Hear. Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Another piece of liturgy. The Creed. We say it every Sunday. You probably think of it as a statement of belief and affirmation of faith. It is that. But there is another way it can have creative potential for us. These are the words of the Christian community, the Body of Christ. The words of the creeds were written by our Christian ancestors, they are the way they described their experience of the living God in their lives. And the Body of Christ has been saying these words for thousands of years. When we say them on Sunday, we know that hundreds upon thousands of other Christians are saying them to. These words tell us that we are never alone. As Christians, we are never alone. Other voices, other people, across time and across space are united with us as the Body of Christ. And on those days when we do not have the faith or the strength to say the words of the creed, others will say them for us. We will be carried and supported by the community of faith. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The Prayers. The Prayers of the people. The Prayer Book offers us a number of rich and wonderful ways that we, in this community, can offer our own prayers. One of the potential liabilities of scripted, liturgical worship is that the words become just routine. The prayers of the people are a powerful opportunity for real connection, real conversation, real creative growth in our relationship with God. But only if we bring our prayers, our needs, our joys into those prayers. Bring the specific intentions of your hearts and lives to our prayers.

The sharing of Holy Communion is, of course, the focal point of our Sunday worship. It was also the focal point of last week’s sermon, so I’m not going to say much about it today. As we break bread at the Lord’s Table, we share in the very life of the risen Christ. Nothing can be more creative, more life-giving, more inspiring that this liturgical experience. But remember it can not, it does not, happen in isolation from the rest of the liturgy. All of the pieces are important. We do not come just to "receive" communion, to acquire a bit of consecrated bread and wine. It is participating in Eucharist, the whole service, that has the power to create clean hearts within us… to renew a right spirit within our souls.

And then, finally we are sent. You may think you are dismissed at the end of the service. No. You are sent. Sent out. Sent back into the world. As we say in one of the post-communion prayers, "Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart." You are sent. You cannot stay. You cannot stay here even if you wanted to. Your Christian life is not here. You need to come here in worship to sustain your Christian life. But your Christian life is not here.

We gather here so that this liturgy that we share… this liturgy of Holy Eucharist in which we participate… we gather so that this liturgy can create clean hearts in us and renew our spirits with the living presence of God. And then we are sent out. Sent out to love and serve the Lord.