A Thoughtful Liturgy

—Chris Krycho

Every church has a liturgy—most of us just don't realize it. Of course, many evangelicals would blanch at the thought that they have a liturgy. They often think of liturgies as an aspect of dead traditionalism (something we try to avoid here at Pillar on the Rock). Thus, evangelicals have historically moved away from the conscious use of a traditional liturgical format for their services.

You might be surprised what we find if we stack evangelical practice up against the definition of liturgy at Dictionary.com, though:

1. a form of public worship; ritual.
   Every church service everywhere fits into this broad definition: every church has a form of public worship. Otherwise, it would not be a church. While ritual may have negative connotations to many evangelicals, the concept itself is rather neutral. Moreover, we all have quite a few rituals—from closing our eyes when we pray to rites like baptism.
   
2. a collection of formularies for public worship.
   Most evangelical churches do not have books including the full order of service. Many churches do have programs that lay out the basics, but few have all the hymns and texts for the day printed in them. Fewer still follow the liturgical calendar, as most formularies do.
   
3. a particular arrangement of services.
   I have yet to see a church that does not have a fairly standard approach to service. The amount of time spent on each part of the service varies little from week to week. Even the flow of songs in a service tends to follow a particular musical and lyrical arc.
4. a particular form or type of the Eucharistic service.
   Most churches I've been to have a pretty standard way of going about their Communion Sundays. The sermon is usually abbreviated, and the pastor usually preaches either on one of the communion passages or a related topic. The worship team may play a shorter set or prepare special songs to accompany the reception of the Eucharist by the congregation. Even the way in which the congregation receives the elements in usually the same each time.
   
5. the service of the Eucharist, esp. this service (Divine Liturgy) in the Eastern Church.
   Mainstream evangelicals obviously don't fit into the narrower category, seeing as they're not Eastern Orthodox! That said, the broader definition fits for any service in which Communion is taken.

In other words, we all have a liturgy1. That's not a bad thing! Liturgies in and of themselves are neutral. Implementation matters: form, content, and thoughtfulness determine whether our liturgy is a good one.

Since so few evangelicals are aware they even have liturgies, I think it's safe to say that many evangelical liturgies lack thoughtfulness. Most people attending a service have no idea why the sermon follows the songs, or why the songs are arranged in a particular order. For that matter, I find it rare for leaders to spend much time thinking about their liturgy. The order of service is simply assumed. This needs to change.

Preaching pastors and worship leaders should think through the theology of their services; this is where form and content come in. Does each song proceed toward a particular goal? Is that goal the same as the one in the preacher's message? Do both songs and sermon ultimately point to Christ's death and resurrection—the center of everything the church does? After setting a vision for how all services should aim toward that goal, pastors and song leaders then need to diligently think the liturgy through for each week. Admittedly, this is a lot of work, but it's worth it.

There have been a few times when I've been particularly struck by the greatness of God's glory and really moved to worship him with my life. Each time, it has been because I've understood the gospel more clearly. Churches can help make the gospel come alive by thinking about how the flow of content can illustrate the gospel. For some churches, that may mean keeping their current order of service. For others, it might involve completely changing it to do a better job of guiding the congregation to the cross. Either way, altering the liturgy will accomplish little without clear teaching. Church members need to know why the church does what it does.

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1Though all churches have a liturgy, they may not have a litany—"a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession" (Dictionary.com). I think this is actually what most evangelicals mean when they say liturgy. Whether litanies are good or bad is a topic for a future post!