Missing the Liturgy
So why are we missing the Liturgy? Why, because of science of course. Because of the social distancing and self-isolation and quarantine required to fight the coronavirus pandemic. *
At the direction of our Archbishop, and in adherence to public health directives, our Church services are only attended by the priest, the chanter, the verger (altar assistant), and/or sexton (custodian).
Now that we’re removed from regular Church attendance, many of us are taking extra care in practicing our faith at home, utilizing our prayer corners (with icons; small incense burner; candles; a Bible; prayer books; a bottle of Holy Water; a prayer rope). Just as we are preserving our physical health during this pandemic, we want to be preserving our spiritual health as well. In the process, we are finding out how much we miss the Liturgy.
Yet some may not really miss the Liturgy. For them, prayer need not be confined to a specific location, with others, and with a set order of hymns. For some, the way we Orthodox do “church” seems ancient and out-of-step with today’s digital world of instant consumption, communication and entertainment. People today are looking for something “fresh, attractive, relevant, and accessible.” It’s easy to see their point of view, with everyone being constantly online – on the grid. But instead of coming up with something new, maybe we can reappraise the old things and do them well.
Our Church calls us to be authentic with how God made us. Counsellors tell us to make time to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world; to be at peace, and to be still. As we withdraw from the ways of the world, the Holy Spirit can make the Liturgy accessible and relevant, fresh and attractive. Moreover, we open ourselves to the Story of God unfolding in the Liturgy. We come before the altar and lay down our brokenness and self-destructive stories and allow God to re-author our stories.
How important is it to participate in Liturgy? In his Mystagogy, St. Maximus the Confessor (580-662) writes:
It is “necessary for every Christian…to spend time in the Holy Church of God, and never to miss the sacred service there…for the sake of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is always invisibly present, but in a distinctly special way during the hours of the Holy Liturgy. Each person who is found present there, grace transforms, remolds, and truly remodels into a more divine image, conformed to the Spirit Himself.”
So, what is the Divine Liturgy? It is us gathering in common and offering ourselves and our gifts – the bread and wine – to God in Christ. As we worship in the Liturgy, we call the Holy Spirit to come upon us and upon our gifts and make them into the true Body and Blood of Christ. When we receive Holy Communion, Christ comes to live in us so that we can live like Him in the world.
St. Cyprian (200-258) writes, “When we call God Father, we ought to act as God’s children.”
Thus, in union with Christ, we join in the Story of His life, His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection, His Ascension into Heaven, His enthronement at the right hand of God the Father, and His second and glorious coming. As we depart in peace to live in the world, we continue to live His Story.
NT Wright has said, “Tell someone to do something, and you change their life –for a day; tell someone a story and you change their life – for a lifetime.” We live more by stories than we do by rules. When we hear the parables, like the Good Samaritan, we are moved to reach out to strangers and foreigners. When we hear how Christ made lame beggars walk and blind men see, we develop compassion for the poor and disabled. When we hear how Christ befriended tax-collectors, we learn not to judge people. When we hear Christ forgiving the adulteress, we become more merciful and accepting. When we hear how Christ delivered someone from demon possession, we learn to avoid evil and seek God’s protection from the Enemy. We learn and pray these stories, and enact them during Liturgy. They lodge deep within our hearts, and become our habits of thinking and behaving.
Our Bible study, though a place of scripture reading and teaching, does not live the Bible as the Liturgy does. Only during worship does the Bible become the Bible. The truth of the Bible seeps into us unconsciously, yet in a transformative way. During the shared singing of a hymn, for example, we praise God and are filled with joy and devotion, with a heightened desire to love and serve Him.
During the next Liturgy you participate in, even if online, try singing along to this hymn and see what happens: “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are filled with Thy glory! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Hymn based on St. Matthew 21, St. Mark 11, St. Luke 19, St. John 12)
When we join in the Divine Liturgy with others, we participate in these many stories throughout the liturgical year: of the Saints, of Holy feasts and events, and of Christians who are examples of faith in action. We all start by embodying our faith in Church, through venerating crosses and icons, reading scriptures and singing in worship, following the priest in processions, crossing ourselves, raising up our hands, bowing and kneeling, and receiving the sacraments.
The Divine Liturgy is not just about actors up front and audience members in the back. We are all participants and actors at the same time in the ritual re-enactment of the Story of God. We all join in prayer, and unite with one another. Our minds sync with our bodies and we surrender to the stories unfolding in the Liturgy. St. Prosper of Aquitaine writes that “the law of praying establishes the law of believing.” In this way, “our Christian formation is more caught than taught.”
What about all the repetition and the length of the Liturgy? We Orthodox believe that the Holy Spirit has shaped our Divine Liturgy over the past 2000 years. It’s designed for our maximum benefit – of mind and body – and for our ultimate salvation. If our body is in Church yet our mind is somewhere else, the repeating will only seem tedious and boring. But if we are in the moment, fully engaged, our perception is sanctified and the Kingdom of Heaven opens before us. We come to our senses, and clearly see ourselves – our identity, our goodness and sin. We see God as He really is. We see life as it really is. We see humanity as it really is.
Pascha is coming, and we take up our crosses as we continue our fasting and praying during this Great Lent. We cannot be in Church, but we pray from home and we livestream the services if we can.
We recall other Orthodox faithful who couldn’t be in their Churches because of wars and persecutions, and we learn from their example on how to be patient and faithful. The greatest celebration of the year is coming and our hope is that we celebrate side by side, as God allows. Before the great dawn there is darkness. Before the resurrection there is the cross. Christ said to His disciples (St. John 16:32–33):
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things [about my Father’s love and care], so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We too are scattered in our homes. But we know the Lord is with us. He knows our difficulties. No longer able to attend Church, we now take the Liturgy of the Church and live it in the Liturgy of the world - starting within our homes, online networks, and essential work in our communities (for now). May we take heart and live as sons and daughters of God.
We trust in God’s goodness and know that He hears our prayers and will help us through. These are extraordinary times, and we pray that once this pandemic passes, we will have new insights and new ways of living, in public service to Him. Liturgy= “litos ergos” or “public service.”
* At the risk of “information overload,” here are some details: The coronavirus is highly contagious, the fatality rate is higher than the seasonal flu, the symptoms may appear 2 or 14 days after exposure, 99% of the patients develop a high temperature, more than half experience fatigue and a dry cough, a third also experience muscle pain and difficulty breathing, and other symptoms include bone or joint pain, headache, and chills. As of this writing, COVID-19 has reached 198 countries, with over 500,000 people infected and just over 25,000 deaths worldwide. (In Canada, we have over 4000 people infected and 39 deaths). From virusncov.com