Liturgy Keeps Our Love Alive
In her book Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes, “the crucible of our formation is in the anonymous monotony of our daily routines.”
She contends that if we cannot live out the Gospel in the small moments making our beds, losing our keys, and answering emails, then we cannot hope to act on Christ’s Word when the big moments arrive. It is practices of everyday faithfulness – like liturgies – that make us into carriers of the Gospel.
Liturgy is a formalised practice of prayer or worship. It can be private or communal. It can involve a script of words and songs that are written down ahead of time, or even structured, silent contemplation. Some of our Christian liturgies are ancient (e.g., the Lord’s Prayer), while others are more contemporary. Its purpose is to create repetitive habits that form and support us as Christians.
I have lived for many years steeped in liturgy. When I came to know Christ as an adult, these liturgies helped me feel at peace in my new home – Blueprint Church in Wellington. I experienced many kinds of liturgy: evening prayers read from A New Zealand Prayer Book, house blessings, night prayers alone in my home, lectio divina meditation, and many more. These rhythms of communal liturgical prayer imprinted me with God’s Word and formed me in the image of the people of God.
I came to know these practices - what Tish Harrison speaks of - intimately during my time in Blueprint’s Second Order, a group of people committed to the same rhythms of prayer and mission as the church’s live-in communities, while not living in residential community. At that time, I was working with the Ministry of Social Development to help understand what barriers people on the benefit face. This involved conducting and compiling hundreds of interviews with people experiencing all the ills of poverty. It was gruelling, soul-destroying work, and involved a lot of late nights at the office. And yet, I would leave for half an hour almost everyday to join my community in praying the evening prayer liturgy at St Peter’s church.
Evening prayers held me together through that time. Each day in the evening prayer liturgy is themed after a line in the Lord’s prayer and uses scripture as the basis for words we say. Every day I sank beneath the despair in the stories I heard, and every day I was buoyed by the chanting voices of my fellow worshippers – give us today our daily bread… be with those who have no love… be with us through this night which waits for us… Come to Jesus, all those whose work is hard, whose load is heavy, and you will be renewed.
Evening prayers gave me time to process what I had heard, to pray for the people I had listened to, and to remember that God is working to redeem all things, even if our government was not. These daily, repetitive liturgies shaped my work and set me apart from my colleagues. Where they lost hope, I held it. Where they became numb, I became attuned. Ultimately, the work became as steeped in God’s generosity and grace as I myself was. Through me, God’s Word touched the world and changed it.
It is tempting to rely on ‘believing correctly’ as the method by which we change ourselves and the world around us. However, most of our actions are precognitive – driven by our gut, our loves.2 Doing is what changes us at this level, not conscious believing. This is why liturgical practice matters; it is in doing that we believe, and in repeated doing that we help our unbelief.
References:
1 Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary, Kindle. (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2016), 34.
2 Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor, ed. Sally Fitzgerald (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979), 229.
Further reading for inspiration:
Augustine, 354-430 and John K. 1897-1981, Ryan, The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York: Doubleday, 1960.
Galli, Mark. Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2008.
Norris, Kathleen. The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work.” Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1998.
O’Connor, Flannery. The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor. Edited by Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979.
Smith, James K. A. Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2009.
Warren, Tish Harrison. Liturgy of the Ordinary. Kindle. Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2016.
Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. New York: Harper Collins, 1998.
Charlotte Dawson
Charlotte first met Jesus while on a silent retreat in 2018. Since then she has lived in intentional community, led contemplative retreats, and perfected her own brand of discipleship - a long conversation over a cup of tea on the couch. Charlotte is currently completing a Bachelor of Theology at Laidlaw College, Christchurch.