Liturgy and Community

As a former Catholic, with a theological aversion to liturgy, I’ve found my journey into Protestantism complicated by the ‘liturgical turn’. It seems like every serious Protestant church, at least in the Boston area, has lost anything resembling a ‘low church’ mentality.

For different (but related) reasons, then, I was pleased to read Eric Speece’s recent post on the ‘liturgical turn’ as an opportunity to rethink ‘the theory and practice of Christian worship’, which Eric promises to do in subsequent posts. I look forward to the discussion.

Some quick thoughts on liturgy and community.

I've found that the liturgical turn isn't so much a product of a renewed sense of community, as it is an attempt to create that sense of community in the first place. There's a difference.

Sociologically, I'm skeptical about introducing liturgical elements because, in my experience, liturgy works precisely because there's no choice about it, much like growing up with a native tongue. The lack of consciousness is what creates a strong sense of community within the group.

Self-made liturgies always seem futile to me; rather than community, they usually engender an acute sense of self-consciousness.

Theologically, I question the value of trying to create a sense of community within a church, apart from small groups prayerfully discussing the Bible. I don't say that as a fundamentalist; I'm inspired in this by Kanzo Uchimura and his Non-Church movement.

I agree (philosophically and theologically) that we receive our subjectivity from and that we're defined by others. For those reasons, I can't think of a better way for Christians to encounter God together than wrestling with the Scriptures.

In reading the Scriptures with other believers, we're compelled to grapple with first-hand testimonies to the facts of revelation, as well as with the present-day testimonies of Spirit-filled friends. You may not feel like you're sitting in Fenway Park when the Sox are playing the Yankees, but the sense of community is real.

Our model for creating community should be more like an Oprah book group and less like Red Sox Nation.