As Lutherans we engage in a Liturgical form of worship. This means we are part of a very ancient movement that dates to the time of Christ and ties us to the Jewish faith in a number of ways as well. The word Liturgy is from a Greek word that literally means “the work of the people.” So the primary element of liturgical worship is the active involvement of the worshipers.

Liturgical worship is an ancient-future event. This is because of the transcendent nature of the Body of Christ. We are tied through Christ our head not only to Christians who have gone before us, but to those who will come after us as well. One way we use to remind ourselves of this transcendent presence is to include in our services prayers and practices that date all the way back to the earliest expressions of not Just the Christian faith but humanities earliest awareness of the living God. Two examples of this are the blessing we often use at the end of the service and the dedication prayer used in communion. The first, which begins “may the Lord bless us and keep us,” was first spoken during the Exodus by Aaron, the High Priest who was the brother of Moses. The second is from the early Christian Church and was preserved for us in Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians. Though we are not bound by tradition connecting to the deep faith of the disciples who have gone before us is an important part of recognizing that our faith transcends time and space.

Including future saints in our worship is more difficult. We cannot see beyond our own experience, our own time and space. Yet the future is with us already in the person of our young people. The next generation may seem like a limited scope compared to eternity yet if even one generation is lost for Christ the chain is broken and the future is lost. The Gospel is a treasure that must be nurtured; it must be spoken in a way that each new generation can grasp it. We are “servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.”
(1st Cor 4:1)

Our connection to the future in Liturgical worship means we must conduct our worship in a way that our future can hear the Gospel and find faith in their generation as well. That is not always easy. The language and music that speaks to younger people does not always speak to us in the same way. This is however the promise we make every time we baptize a child. That we will bring up our children presenting them with the Good News of Jesus in a way that they can hear and respond to it just like each generation has since the time of the Apostles.

As individuals we cannot experience the fullness that God has for us in Liturgical worship unless we make the “Work of the People” our personal work as well. To truly worship is to be engaged. In true Liturgical worship, the prayers of the people should be our prayers; the voices lifted in prayer should be our voices singing our songs. The readings need to be spoken clearly with meaning and emotion as our voices give life to the Word of God. There are a many ways to involve yourself in worship. You can serve as Eucharistic Ministers, Greeters, Hospitality Providers, Acolytes, Ushers and Altar Guild. Each of these is a way to deepen not only your own experience of God in worship but others as well.

Every fall on rally day we hold a ministry fair. It is an opportunity to engage. You can find a class or small group where you can grow in faith and love and sign up to serve you God and our community in worship or to get your children involved in Sunday school or the youth group. It is an opportunity to discover the fullness of worship which is truly the work of the people, a place where God meets us as an engaged people of God.

Pastor Jim Bliss
September 2006