Perhaps it can be useful to you as well on your Lenten journey.

Blessings…

Litany of Penitence

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints 
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault 
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and
 strength.
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We 
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ.
We have grieved
 your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness:
the 
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways,
and our exploitation 
of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration,
and our envy of those
 more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts,
and 
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship,
and our failure to
 commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering,
and our 
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments,
for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors,
and for our prejudice and contempt toward those 
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation,
and our lack of
 concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

St. Peter’s also makes notes available to use while watching. Download notes here. (MOD: With regard to downloading the notes, clicking the link on St. Peter’s page will take you to another link at the bottom of the page. Right click (or Ctrl-click for Mac) to download the PDF file.)

Instructed Eucharist from St. Peter’s Anglican Church on Vimeo.

Today’s post is by guest blogger, Chaplain Mike

Those of you with sensitive ears, cover them for a moment. I’m about to utter a dirty word.

OBLIGATION.

Let me give you another one.

DUTY.

I confess to being partially accountable for the fact that these are dirty words to many today, for I grew up in the American Baby Boomer generation. We came of age in a society of rules and manners, of authority and expected norms of behavior. And we rebelled, hard.

My generation wrote “Question authority” on blackboards across the country. We grew our hair long. We wore jeans with holes and patches and girls cast away their bras. We publicly protested the war. We dug rock ‘n roll and advocated the recreational use of drugs. We promoted free love. “If it feels good, do it,” was another of our slogans.

We didn’t believe in respecting our elders simply because they were elders. After all, most of them were hypocrites, living by somebody’s made-up code on the outside, screwed up on the inside and behind closed doors. And don’t even talk about how messed up their politics were. For us, conformity was the worst crime (at least conformity to the norms of “good” society).

I saw this change happen and I remember when things were different. When I went to junior high, we had a dress code. For boys, no hair below the tops of the ears. Shirts tucked in. Belt required. No blue jeans, no sneakers. You said, “Yes, sir,” and “Yes, ma’am” when addressed by an adult. You asked permission to speak, and when you did you called grown-ups by their last names and appropriate titles.

You also went to church. That’s what good people did. It was your duty. It wasn’t your job to question such things, especially if you were a child or teenager.

But we didn’t like or accept this society of rules and duties. We felt obliged to nothing. Our duty was to be true to ourselves. We didn’t care about appearances; we wanted things to be “real”. We craved “authenticity.” We sought “experience” and when we copped a good high on something, we called it “truth.”

I had a spiritual awakening in 1974, became a pastor in 1978, and for more than three decades now have seen how this thinking has affected the church, particularly in the area of worship.

In most of evangelicalism, the old rules have been simply thrown out. The church has rejected principles of objectivity, tradition, form, repetition, and authority, and has replaced them with notions of subjectivity, spontaneity, freedom, and personal preference. It is no longer “the Divine Service,” it is “my worship.”

With an ever-growing bag of technological tools at our disposal to make it happen, Christians have more and more become a people for whom worship simply is not worship unless it gives me a tangible “high.” As a worshiper, I must have an “awesome experience” of God’s presence and power to feel like I’ve worshiped. God’s “truth” is defined as that which comes home to my heart with powerful emotions and a sense of being somehow “transformed.” The worship music of the past 40 years has by and large unashamedly focused on cultivating an ecstatic intimacy with God. Anything rote or not immediately appealing to the “heart” is cold, formal, and dead.

Pastors have joined the “get real” movement. They no longer wear the robe or hide behind a pulpit, but wander around a stage dressed casually, talking “authentically” about their own lives, dealing with topics that are “relevant” to their target audience.

In every area of the church’s worship—architecture, seating, music and the arts, order of service, sacraments, etc.—we seem intent on reworking and manipulating our practices so that they produce the most bang for the buck. For example, Willow Creek used to say the goal in their services was to create “moments” for people, moments of spiritual breakthrough, “aha!” moments, “wow” moments.

There is a whole lot of theology we could chew on with regard to this subject, but I simply want to introduce one contrarian notion to all this rubbish that says, “What I don’t feel can’t be real.”

Obligation.

Why do I worship God? Why do I attend a worship service and participate in it? The bottom-line answer is simply this: “Because I am obliged to do so.”

I owe it to God. I come to the worship service to give him his due. It is my obligation and duty as one created by God, redeemed in Christ, and baptized in the Holy Spirit to present offerings of worship and thanksgiving to him for who he is and what he has done for me.

Each week in the liturgy, we say:

Leader: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.
Leader: It is indeed right, our duty and delight…

Note the emphasis here. It is “right” to lift up our hearts in worship to the Lord. It is “indeed right.” It is our “duty” to do so. Only when we’ve established that fact do any words of emotion or feeling enter in—“It is our duty and delight…” In fact, it may be that the “delight” only comes as part of fulfilling the “duty”!

We resist this because we do not understand the concept of “obligation” or “duty.” Many of us, when we hear those words, think of something that is required of us that we really don’t want to do. An obligation means a burden of responsibility that is unpleasant and unfulfilling. To fulfill a duty means to perform a tasteless task while gritting my teeth and wishing I were somewhere else. And all because of somebody’s “rules.”

These words need to be redeemed.

I worship God because it is my obligation to do so. But this is not because some cruel taskmaster has laid an unwelcome duty on me. No! It is my obligation because of the very nature of things. It is “right” because it is is congruent with reality.

• Because of who God is and because of who I am.
• Because he is the Creator, and everything in this universe, including me, was made by him.
• Because he sustains me every day of my life, granting me each breath and heartbeat.
• Because he is my Redeemer and Savior.
• Because he took note of my sinfulness and brokenness, took pity on me and gave his Son to die and rise again on my behalf, conquering sin and death for me.
• Because he is my Comforter and Guide.
• Because the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in my life, assuring me of the divine promises and writing God’s laws on my heart so that I may obey them.

Since everything I am and have has come from his hand, I am obliged to say “thank you.” It is my duty to bring my offering of praise. I owe it to him. I am fully aware that I can never repay him, and that is the last thing on my mind. I am simply recognizing my eternal debt to the One who made me and saved me.

Grasping this takes worship completely out of the realm of coming to a service to seek out an “experience” with God. Whether or not I have a “moment” is simply not the point.

The traditional liturgy of the church is designed first of all to enable worshipers to fulfill the obligation of giving thanks to our Creator and Savior for who he is and what he has done.

Whether I feel like it or not, I owe it to God.

Now I know some of you are going to point to the prophets and to Jesus and start throwing verses at me about the danger of going through the motions without putting your heart in it. And you are right. But you are talking about the diminished definition of “obligation” that we all grew up fearing.

The fact that something is a duty or obligation does not require anyone to do it as a mere formality. In fact, to truly recognize our obligation is the most foundational motivation of heartfelt obedience.

COMMENTS NOW CLOSED.

If anyone asks me why I go to church, I am not afraid to tell them: it is my obligation and duty. It’s simply the right thing to do.

Since our posts and comments have referred a lot to liturgy lately, I thought it might be good to revisit a nice little tool to help people understand various aspects of liturgical worship. Our first look at this book can be found here. Today, we have a another look and review from Patrick Kyle of New Reformation Press. Thanks, Kyle!

Over the holidays we threw a party for our friends on New Year’s Day, kind of a post party party. One of my friends walked in with a book that immediately caught my eye.  It is titled the ‘Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship’ authored by Brett Scott Provance and put out by IVP Academic. This volume is one in a series of fourteen Pocket Dictionaries published by IVP.  This series looks to be really promising. You can check it out here.

Being only slightly obsessed with liturgy I quickly prevailed upon my friend to lend it to me.

I am enjoying this little book. True to it’s title it is really a ‘pocket dictionary’ coming in at only 135 pages and sized in such a way as to fit in your pocket if needed. It is arranged alphabetically and has a simple cross reference system and a few pages of bibliography.  The entries are basic and clearly written, giving enough information to point you in the right direction if you want to dig deeper, but still giving a satisfying answer in the event you are just looking to define or clarify a term.

Despite its small size it contains a veritable wealth of information, everything from liturgical and biblical terms, to the church year and all its feasts, important figures in church history, liturgical vestments and their meaning, and of course a breakdown of all the parts of the liturgy.  Pretty impressive for such a small volume. It is not exhaustive, but contains far more about liturgy and worship than most of us could think to ask.

Another outstanding feature is the price. Amazon has it for $8 new and lists it even cheaper used.  This is a great intro to all things liturgical for those interested who come from non liturgical traditions.  Those of us from liturgical traditions will find it to be a handy quick reference guide for educating ourselves  on the finer points of the liturgy and the Church Year.

This is one of those books that you can add to your Amazon order to qualify for free shipping and will turn out to be something you will use.

I will be adding one to my library when my friend wants his copy back. Its a great little book at an outstanding price.

I’ve served at two churches with exceptional pipe organs and organists. Some of my best memories of worship are about the postlude.

The last amen had sounded, the congregation was leaving the worship space and the organist, with the help of Bach, was taking the roof off the building.

I absolutely soaked it in. Could not get enough. If you have this sort of postlude possibility, I am officially envious.

Those postludes sent us out with JOY. Wonderful waves of the majesty of God, going out the doors, out the windows, right through us into that broken world that Jesus loves so much.

It could make up for any number of bad sermons, solos and choir specials. It was, when done well, sensational.

Of course, most churches can’t get close to that and shouldn’t try. A piano or brass postlude may be ambitious. Or in a contemporary setting, the band can simply cut loose.

Whatever you do, go out with joy, if possible. The Gospel, and its very Good News, should be the last Word heard and felt.

Go with God and Go in the music that fills the Trinity, spilling over to the open heart of every person who is thirsty for the Living God.

The Benediction is the “good word” that brings the worship service to a formal close. For many Christians, some form of a scriptural Benediction will form these closing words, such as the Aaronic blessing we have all heard many times.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may He lift up His countenance on you and give you peace. —Numbers 6:22-27 (NIV)

There are many Biblical passages that were either intended as Benedictions or can be easily formed into benedictions.

The minister is speaking the blessing of God over God’s people. This is a special and powerful moment in worship. It shouldn’t be overlooked or understated. Here is the opportunity to send the people of God out with the peace of God and the Gospel over them.

In some traditions, the Benediction is combined with a “charge” to the congregation. Here the minister says “I charge you to…..” and he speaks some application or summary of the Gospel word for that day. Then the Benediction pronounces God’s blessing over all that has been said and assures God’s people of his presence as they go and live out the Gospel.

The Benediction suffered greatly in Protestantism when it was decided it was an opportune moment to call on a congregation member to pronounce a closing prayer. Many of these prayers are disconnected from the Word that has been spoken or are rote recitations of trivial pronouncements.

In my own practice, I enjoy making the sign of the cross and pronouncing the final Benediction as a Trinitarian blessings, pronouncing the blessing of the Trinitarian God over the congregation as they go into the world. (I also pronounce a Trinitarian blessing at the beginning or ending of the sermon.)

The discipline of using a liturgically substantial Benediction conveys a focus and a seriousness about what has happened in worship.

Some churches will be able to use a musical Benediction from time to time. The congregation can be taught musical responses from the Biblical Benedictions or a choir/vocal ensemble may sing the closing blessing.

In the Name of the Father, the Love of Jesus and the Power of the Holy Spirit, go forth into the world as people of hope and servants of the Gospel and all those who need it.

You don’t have to live in this kind of humiliation. IVP has published the Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship by Brett Scott Provance, a wonderfully comprehensive resource that won’t cost you a semester’s tuition and will provide you with all the liturgical information you need to actually know what your Anglican and Lutheran friends are talking about when they say “rubric.”

Just this morning I brought the book with me to breakfast, where my friend Joe asked me what the Ave Maria actually was. Right there in the Pocket Dictionary was a fine article with the lyrics and a complete explanation. Perfect. And that is the case with over 600 terms, persons and pieces of liturgical history.

The Dictionary is balanced between Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox and Protestant/Evangelical traditions. Some of the articles are quite substantial. It’s a superb resource for the IM audience and I highly recommend it for you or as a gift for that person you know who is seeking to get out of their own liturgical box into the broader, deeper, more ancient church.

I’m glad IVP gave me this book to review, because now I’m one of three Baptists who can identify a baldachino.

I am a committed opponent of the use of the public invitation in worship. I have written extensively about this here at Internet Monk in many past essays. Leave Your Seat, Leave Your Sin, parts 1, 2 and 3.

This series, however, is taking a look at the typical Protestant liturgy and the facts are undeniable: most evangelical and many Protestant churches will use some form of a public invitation, therefore the invitation must be addressed in a discussion of liturgy.

For that reason I will not be discussing the Biblical/theological reasons I personally oppose the use of the public invitation.

In every church I have ever served, with the exception of the Presbyterian church where I have supplied many years, a public invitation has been expected. Southern Baptists deeply and closely associate the invitation with Gospel worship, evangelism and the basic message of the church. This association is so deep that most sermons move toward the invitation.

In my SBC experience, a church that stops having a public invitation will be immediately judged by most other Baptists as having abandoned the Gospel and a concern for the lost. The invitation clearly has sacramental overtones as practiced within many evangelical churches. This is a “God moment,” a climatic and highly symbolic microcasm of the Gospel invitation itself.

The standard invitation in our tradition is a move from sermon to an invitation hymn, with the minister standing at the front of the worship space to receive those who may come for whatever the specified reasons. These usually include making a profession of faith, requesting baptism or church membership, or coming for prayer. “Rededications” etc are not consistent reasons for an invitation.

The choice and use of the invitation hymn has been the weakest area of invitational liturgy. Standard hymns of “pleading” and “resolve” have the potential to create an entirely wrong statement at the end of a carefully planned and well-executed worship service. The closing hymn should follow the theme of the service and not address a potential aisle-walker with pleadings, threats and promises.

The instructions for the invitation should be part of the printed order of worship or should be explained in a portion of the pre-service announcements reserved for “orientation.” A minister should not have to spend 2 minutes framing an invitation. His transitional comments should be short and the purpose for his being available at the close of the service should be well-known.

Invitations should not be lengthy. Use of a proper closing song should set the parameters of the invitation.

Responders should be greeted and then moved to an area for more extended conversation following worship. If church polity requires that those who have responded be presented or if the minister wishes to comment about some aspect of the invitation, both should be done with a judicious awareness of the length of the service.

If ministry staff are well-cued in moving to and through the invitation, there is no reason that a public invitation has to be a major distraction from the overall worship experience. If ministers will restrain themselves and musicians will help make the close of the service a fluid movement and not an interrupted and distracting one, an invitation can be done tastefully, quickly and without distracting, extended wanderings in the liturgical wilderness.

The Protestant liturgy has no tradition of silence, but periods of silence have often been incorporated into Protestant worship.

For example, the pastoral prayer is sometimes preceded by silence. Sermons can be followed by silence. Some congregations have announcements well before the prelude, then call for relative silence during the prelude. The basic idea of the prelude and/or postlude may involve silence for some churches.

Silence presents some functional obstacles, especially where there are small children, but keep in mind that we are not trying to achieve some sort of state of absolute silence as a task, but to “be still and know that I am God.”

Perhaps more useful is simply the idea of ceasing conversations and being still and quiet before the Lord as a preparation for worship.

Many evangelicals have little idea how noisy their services are. Bring a visitor from the Catholic or Anglican church and see how they compare the “quiet” portions of your worship to theirs.

I grew up in a tradition where “meditation over music” was common in worship, Many traditional Baptist services continue this practice as part of prayer during worship. Exactly how silence and the sounds of an electronic organ or projected slides of nature accompanied by canned music relate to worship is still a mystery to me. I find such moments of meditation to be anything but meditative.

Silence taken to uncomfortable extremes can be distracting, and occasionally embarassing. Be judicious.

I have used a silent introduction to pastoral prayer for years, and will continue to do so until I actually fall asleep during the silence. Then we’ll have to review the idea.

Protestantism has plenty of tradition in this area, from the lengthy prayers of the Puritans to the published prayers of Charles Spurgeon to the collected prayers of Walter Brueggemann.

It should be obvious by this point that the evangelical liturgy requires more than just an understanding of liturgy. It requires a work ethic; a workmanlike approach to the liturgical aspect of creating a congregational worship experience.

It is in this area of workmanship that many evangelicals have failed, and the evidence is obvious in thousands of lifeless, repetitive, ad libed worship services. If any evangelical can fault liturgical churches as being “repetitive,” they are either in an exceptional situation or they are ignoring the obvious. The needless “sameness” of elements like the pastoral prayer suggest that much improvement can be made in simply taking the time to…

-key pastoral prayer to the overall themes of the Christian year.
-pay attention to the lectionary texts, particularly those that aren’t being used elsewhere.
-creatively address ongoing issues from a pastoral perspective.
-speak tenderly and compassionately to the broken and discouraged.

At the same time, the pastoral prayer should avoid familiar pitfalls:

1) Being entirely too long.
2) Becoming a second sermon.
3) Engaging in argumentation with the congregation.
4) Indulging in cliches and overworn phrases. (There are few places the language of Zion takes over with such unchecked enthusiasm as the pastoral prayer.)
5) Attempting comprehensiveness for the sake of church politics. (Mention one person in the hospital….then I must mention them all.)
6) Phony sentiment, especially the pretense of high spirituality. (You aren’t The Valley of Vision. It’s OK.)

The pastoral prayer should call the pastor to appropriate labor in wordcrafting, but the pastoral prayer should not- with all due respect to the Puritans- become the second service.

I find the pastoral prayer to be an area of liturgy that I have neglected and often offered prayers off the cuff and from much the same template as many before. I would like to do better.

Anyone else?