Holy Eucharist Rite I, Sunday 8:30

Holy Eucharist Rite II, Sunday 10:30

Holy Eucharist Rite III, Thursday 12:15

LITURGICAL LIFE

            The word liturgy, translated literally, means the work of the people.  As Christians in the Reformed Catholic tradition our lives as individuals and as a parish, our work is centered upon the sacraments.  The word sacrament, from a Latin word meaning public pledge or fidelity, is perhaps best understood in its Greek translation Mysterion, meaning a hidden reality made present.  The Book of Common Prayer defines Sacraments as outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.  The Sacraments then are intensely personal yet highly communal manifestations of the relationship between God and humanity revealing the hidden nature of reality by making present the Grace of God in time and space as experienced by the human senses.

The Sacraments

            In this way Jesus is the sacrament of God, the Church is the sacrament of Jesus and the Church herself has sacraments by which she seeks to redeem the entire human race, both its institutions and its individuals, and the whole human person, a process commonly referred to as salvation.  Although each and every moment and action has the potential of being and in some ways is sacramental, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican Christians have centered their liturgical lives, their worship upon seven very important means by which that salvation, or redemption, is effected, namely Holy Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of the Penitent (Confession) and Unction (Anointing of the Sick and Dying).

Sacraments as Life

            Just as the Church seeks to redeem the entire human race and the whole human person, so too does the Church seek, through her sacraments, to sacramentalize every stage of human existence and development.  Life begins at birth.  Our lives as Christians begin at Baptism, the sacramental rite by which through water and in the name of the Holy Trinity, God adopts us as children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. In nearly every culture and civilization family and community are celebrated and solidified by the breaking of bread, the sharing of a meal.  This is no different in the Christian family, for the source and summit of our life as a worshiping people is centered upon the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, the Holy Eucharist, in which we receive and are nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ by which we are made one with Christ and one another. 

            Confirmation, the rite by which the mature Christian expresses an adult commitment to Christ in the Episcopal Church and receives the grace of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands by a Bishop, is a bit like graduation or, in some cultures, coming of age.  Ordination, the rite by which God gives authority and grace of the Holy Spirit to those being made bishops, priests and deacons is not unlike finding one's calling or place in life.  Holy Matrimony, of course, is the means by which God through the Church blesses human relationships of love and commitment while Reconciliation of the Penitent, commonly known as Confession, is simply a sacrament by which we ritually repent of our sins in the presence of a priest and receive the assurance of God's pardon and the grace of absolution.  Some consider it to be a combination of liturgical therapy and spiritual guidance counseling.  Finally, Unction, or the anointing of the sick and dying, is the rite by which God's grace is given to us for the healing of body, mind and spirit. So from birth to death, there is a sacrament for every stage in human life and for the gamut of human experience.  A life in the sacraments is truly life in its fullest.

Our Worship

            So what does a Sunday look like?  What can a visitor expect to experience within the Episcopal Church?  Our liturgies, the ways we pray and worship, range from Low Church or Evangelical, resembling Methodist worship and its emphasis on preaching, hymnody and  Privatized Spirituality, to High Church or Anglo-Catholic, resembling traditional Catholic worship with its emphasis on liturgical pageantry, sacramental words and gestures and Incarnation Spirituality and everything in between, or Broad Church.  Regardless of orientation, most Episcopal worship centers upon Book of Common Prayer or other approved liturgies, the Hymnal of 1982 and its supplements and the original canon of the Bible.  The Eucharistic Rite, the liturgy celebrated most commonly, is divided into the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrament.  In the Liturgy of the Word the people gather in the Lord's name, proclaim and respond to the Word of God in readings, songs, the sermon and the creed, pray for the church and the world and exchange the Peace.  In the Liturgy of the Sacrament we offer the Great Thanksgiving, receive Holy Communion in bread and cup and receive God's blessing through the priest to be the Body and Blood of Christ in the world. 

The Christian Year, Sanctoral Cycle and Lectionary

            Another important facet of our liturgical life is our observance of the Christian year.  By observing the Liturgical year with its cycle of feasts and fasts we commemorate the entire life of Christ, from his pre-existence in Advent to his birth in Christmas, from his coming of age and ministry in Epiphany to his suffering and death in Lent and Holy Week, from his glorious resurrection in Easter to the sending of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost, even his continued work in the Church and his eternal reign in heaven is remembered in Commontide, each step relived in color and story, word and deed.  We, in the Episcopal Church, also use the Sanctoral cycle, a calendar of days dedicated to remembering the life and work of the Saints, people whose lives the Church finds exceedingly holy and worthy of honor and emulation.  We also use the Revised Common Lectionary to select our readings.  The lectionary follows the Church year and is considerate of the Sanctoral cycle.  In this way our hymns, our readings, our sermons, our prayers, our entire liturgy unites to tell one story, the story of God and God's people.

Living Liturgy

            The liturgy is our work, the work of the people of God.  And it is this liturgy, this celebration of the sacraments that is at the very core of who we are as individuals and it is the very source and summit of our life as a community of faith.  We live the liturgy.  At random times during the day it words float through our minds and its melodies slip from our lips.  We find ourselves seeking to make everything beautiful and "just right" in our homes and offices, much like our worship.  We seek the Peace not only before receiving the Holy Eucharist but in all our relationships and we find ourselves constantly moved by everyday moments that can only be described as sacramental.  We find and are found by God in our liturgy.  We find and are found by each other in our liturgy.  We find, see and know ourselves in our liturgy.  And in small and often quiet ways, we find that our life is slowly becoming a living liturgy in which we show forth God's praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, making beautiful and transcendent the passing moments of our existence.  Come worship with us, with an open mind and open heart.  Your life will never be the same.