Doing the Large Catechism to the Congregation

          In the year 1528 Martin Luther visited churches throughout the German territory of Saxony. He listened to the preaching, he interview both pastors and lay folk.

          By the end he was greatly disheartened—he lamented that the parishioners were all like lazy cows that knew nothing of God and worse still that the pastors didn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.

          And so Luther admonished the clergy to take 4 days a year—Ember Days they were called—days when all the people would fast and study the Small and Large Catechism.

          Well, today, prompted by Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, today feels like a good enough day as any, to be an Ember Day—to tell you about our tradition’s instructions about prayer.

          I will begin, as Luther does, by telling you all to pray!

          Sure, you’ve seen Televangelists pray hypocritical prayers

sure, you are sometimes underwhelmed when the pastor or deacon prays a prayer written by the national church.

Sure, you’ve heard plenty of bad praying.

          But that doesn’t mean you boycott prayer.

That would be like having once been to a bad restaurant that served you rancid pasta and thus deciding to upturn your nose at all food and starve yourself to death.

         

          No—we pray because God has commanded it of us! God tells us to pray and therefore it is right to do so.

          Not only that—we pray, because God promises to hear our prayer. God not only commands “ask” but also promises “receive” “it will be given” and “I will deliver you.”

         

          Yet, you might say, “who am I to go before God and talk to Him—am I holy enough to do such a thing? I’m no Peter or Paul, no Pastor or a long time church lady.”

You might not feel good enough to pray to God.

          And it’s questions like that—feelings like that—that bring a core of the Lutheran insight to the forefront

--you see, even something as practical as prayer is fortified with a theology of grace. It’s not our goodness, nor our initiative, but always God’s loving actions for us—God’s gracious yes.

          In fact, it’s not you who prays, but the Spirit which intercedes within you with sighs too deep for words. Your prayers are God’s prayers.

Your prayers express God’s deep loving concern for your needs.

          And that last thing—says something about how we pray.

It’s not all about saying things, let alone saying them loudly or ecstatically. Prayer involves time in reflection—reflecting on where we are at in the world and what abiding needs we have—that we are to bring forward to our loving Father.

          Let us pray

Our Father Who Is In Heaven

          We begin by stating the relationship. It is one of genuine trust—God as a good, loving, compassionate, parent.

That’s who we are addressing. We can come before God with a genuine trust—come before God as God’s beloved child—Jesus himself before the Almighty.

“Dear Father, your will be done.”

“Yes, dear Child, it shall be done.”

A father will not give a scorpion when an egg is needed—nor will a mother give a snake when we are in need of a fish.

          We can trust God.

May You Name Be Hallowed

          One of the great insights Luther borrows from the Augustinian tradition is that prayer is not about making sure something happens,

it is about pleading that we ourselves—the petitioners—the prayers—are involved in it.

          We have no power to make God’s name holy—it is by its very nature Holy.

That is why it is said by Isaiah that God’s throne is surrounded by angels singing continually “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Affirming that which cannot be false—the truth about God’s name is that it is Holy.

          Yet, in our prayer we ask that this Holiness will dwell in our own words and deeds. That our trust in God’s Word, and our living out God’s Promises-for-us, will point to that holiness that already is. That we will be a part of the Holiness of God.

May Your Kingdom Come

          You’re going to get tired of me saying it—but just as prayer doesn’t make God’s name Holy—neither does it make God’s Kingdom come. The rule of the Gospel, the message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection—is irresistible. The Kingdom already comes, without our praying for it.

          So we pray that it might come for us as well. That our faith will be in God’s faithfulness, that God’s Kingdom might intersect with our actions—That the Spirit might flow through our whole life and that our destiny might be enwrapped in God’s promises. That the Kingdom will come for us.

         

May Your Will Come About On Earth As In Heaven

          God’s will, as you might expect by now, is done, yet we pray that it might be done amongst us.

          We hope, we pray, that God’s glory and salvation—that is the Holiness of His Name and the Kingdom of God—those first two things we pray for—might be defended against wills that are not of God—including our own.

          This petition suggests that the Christian life will be one filled with challenge. We can expect misfortune and grief—and for that reason we pray for God’s will to be done among us, that his Holiness and Rule might be preserved among us with steadfast patience.

Thy will, not my will.

Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

          We pray for Bread—but in doing so we pray for much more than simply physical bread, but in fact for all things necessary and nourishing for our bodies, from food and shoes to money and good government, good weather and good friends.

          God provides for every need of the body, provides it to both the just and the unjust, the Christian and the Atheist, Democrat or Republican. It is all here for us, with or without our prayer.

          In fact, since it is all here for us, it would be fitting for all organizations that spend time distributing these things—especially those who govern countries, cities, towns, neighborhoods—it would be good for them, to brand the image of bread upon their bottoms, to remind them that alone is their lot in life—their purpose—and also to remind everyone of that good thing they do, so that we might pray for good to befall our civil leaders.

          We pray for this bread, however—in order that we might realize we receive it from God’s hands, and recognize in every meal, and every good thing, that it comes from the goodness of God. All bread is in a sense, bread from heaven.

And Remit our debt, as we remit what our debtors owe.

          Again, our sins, our debts, are forgiven while we are yet sinners, while we still owe much—released before we pray to God for our forgiveness. It’s always God’s initiative—God’s grace. Prayer isn’t pulling one over on God.

          Yet if you get up the gumption to think that you are without sin—just pause and reflect—for as long as we live in this world we will be caught in conflict with what is right and what is right—many good things competing with one another.

So we constantly need the reminder that God forgives us.

          And one of those reminders comes about when we live out this portion of the Lord’s prayer—when we forgive! When we remit the debts that are owed to us.

          In fact, forgiving those who sin against us, is like a 3^rd sacrament—it strengthens and gladdens our conscience; we enter into God’s promise of forgiveness when we forgive! We know we are forgiven by God when we forgive!

And Lead Us Not Into Temptation

          We are never tempted by God, but we are tempted in many ways.

We are tempted by the tenuous nature of our lives, so vicious things can bubble up from within us.

We are tempted by a world in which everyone wants to get ahead of everyone else—and it can drive us mad—that which is outside us can oppress us!

Finally, we are tempted to the very core of our being—despair, blasphemy and worse can enter into our soul.

          And we pray that we might resist these assaults.

But Deliver Us From Evil

          There is such a wideness to the misfortunes that haunt humanity that it is incomprehensible—it can be like an abyss.

Cancer, Suicide, Starvation, Racism, Insanity, Abuse, Addiction, War, Poverty, Despair, Disgrace, and Death.

          But know this, none of these take us beyond the limits of God’s love.

We can, and should, lift up any and all affliction—all needs—to God. God is with us in them all.

Amen.

Amen—yes is how we finish this prayer—

believing with certainty

that God hears it—

trusting God’s promise to do so.

Look!

Be confident God hears your prayers—

call on God in every need.

A+A

A reminder—The ELCA has a statement on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

            So, you may have heard about the president’s speech on his experience of racism and how most of the African American community has heard the Travyon Martin verdict.

            One line in his speech that particularly caught my attention was:

             “There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race.  I haven't seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations.  They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the positions they already have.  On the other hand, in families and churches and workplaces, there's the possibility that people are a little bit more honest, and at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can?  Am I judging people as much as I can, based on not the color of their skin, but the content of their character?  That would, I think, be an appropriate exercise in the wake of this tragedy.”

            With the president’s call to church communities and to families in mind, now would be a fine time to review the ELCA’s 1993 statement on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. To view this document click here.

Martha and Mary Sermon

97 words in the Greek, 116 in the English, Five verses, three characters, Mary, Martha, and the Lord. Yet, many layers of meaning.

          This single moment in the Gospel of Luke is like a net cast in a well stocked stream—it hauls in much meat—a multitude of fish, shiny and attractive, each important and interesting in their own right.

          These five verses tell us something about Church Work, something about Gender Roles, something about Family Relationships, and something about Ultimate Value.

          Church Work, Gender Roles, Family Relationships, and Ultimate Value.

          Let us pray.

          Church Work, is a funny term—it indicates there is a particular job to do—that things must be done in a churchy way—in fact, there is always a danger that we can focus on being churchy—focus on doing church work, to the point that we forget to do the work of the church.

          Consider Pastor Martha.

          Pastor Martha was driving to the local nursing home to visit a parishioner—she was doing church work—and it was mighty hot out—and she saw a car stalled out in the middle of the road—a very tired and hot looking couple pushing the car to the side of the road—and she passed by because she was busy and had to do church work.

          Then, at the nursing home she passed by a family crying, as she hurried to her parishioner’s room to administer communion—to do church work.

          She rushed to the elevator, because she had to get back to church to be at office hours—to do church work—but was stopped by the wife of the family who was crying, and asked to say prayers with the family and stay with them a while—to do the Work of the Church—being the Body of Christ for another in a time of need.

That was the better part.

         

          Gender Roles are something some churches talk about a lot.

          For example, focusing not only on if women can preach and preside, but if women can serve communion or carry a cross—I don’t think that would work very well here—without women doing those things I’d end up juggling chalices most Sundays.

          But if you engage with fellow Christians for any length of time, you’ll end up running into people who see the faith as being fixated on genders doing fixed tasks, strict roles for men and women both inside and outside of church.

         

          For that reason, it’s important to hear what’s going on in today’s gospel.

          Martha invites Jesus into her home. A great honor upon her household I’m sure—the Lord taking time to be with them—it probably brought all the eyes of her neighbors toward her house, and her management of her household.

          And then there is Mary—who plops down in front of Jesus—sits at the Lord’s feet.

          Think of that phrase for a second.

The Apostle Paul sat at Rabbi Gamaliel’s feet—in other words was his student—he learned from him—he justified his religious understanding based on that time at Gamaliel’s feet.

          And Mary does the same with Jesus.

          When the disciple Levi ends up sitting at Jesus’ feet at the start of the Gospel of John it’s because he was already sitting down and Jesus showed up—but Mary—she takes the initiative and sits there and learns from Jesus.

          What A Scandal.

          Think what the neighbors would say? Think what Jesus—this upright Rabbi—this respected teacher—must secretly be thinking but politely not saying!

          If Martha was thinking in modern terms, she’d likely be saying “hold on now, don’t Lean In, Mary—don’t take the lead, Mary. Let the system work itself out, Mary—don’t make a place for yourself at the table, Mary, be let in, Mary—don’t rock the boat, Mary.”

          And yet Jesus, none to politely—weighs in on this matter—saying Mary had done nothing wrong.

          Family Relationships are curious things—each one different. Some families share everything—there are no secrets

/some families share nothing.

          Some families fight in public,

/ some families don’t even fight openly in private—instead passively punishing one another and pushing one each other’s buttons.

          Other families use third parties to push their agenda. This is called triangulation—there is a dispute between two people and you bring in a third who you believe will side with you and use them as an ally so you won’t need to get your own hands dirty.

          That last one is true of Martha—while she is pulled in a plethora of directions, she pulls Jesus in to punish, or at least control, her sister.

         

          Listen to it again—Martha wants Mary to act a certain way, so she forces Jesus into her argument. She embarrasses her guest by forcing him—the Lord—to be party to a private dispute. “Do you not care Lord?” Clearly you aren’t foolish enough to not side with me, Lord. Clearly if you’re a real Rabbi, a Good Lord you’ll agree with me.

          She wants Jesus to side with her—she wants to force Mary from Jesus’ feet in order to be on her feet alongside Martha.

          But Jesus sides with Mary.

          I guess what I’m saying is, if you try to triangulate Jesus, you might end up on the far side of the Isosceles.

          Church Work, Gender Roles, and Family Relationships are all important—they are sharp edges of scripture that goad us toward love of God and love of neighbor.

          But the central message of today’s reading from Luke is pretty simple. There is need of only one thing.

          The thing of Ultimate Value—is Jesus Christ.

          We will turn ‘round and ‘round in this life, chasing after squirrels and shiny things.

          We will worry and be anxious.

          It is in our nature, and our foolish affections, to “seek and strive for many things, but we will not attain them—and if we do—we will not enjoy the possession of them, but instead will find only sorrow and harm.”

          Because the one possession that matters—the only one for us to turn to—turn to again and again, repenting daily and remembering our Baptism—is Jesus Christ.

          Jesus Christ who possesses us and will not be taken away from us. A+A

What does it mean to be Missional?

What does it mean to be Missional?

            When I was first looking at Seminaries I checked out Luther in Minneapolis Minnesota. It was a nice place—the biggest and most well funded of the ELCA Seminaries. I was thinking of going there—then a student stopped me in the hallway and backed me into a corner by some soda machines.

            He then asked me a very important question, “I’m Orthodox, how about you? Are you Orthodox or Missional?

            I responded, “What do those terms mean?”

            Later I had a similar experience with a “Missional” student.

            After several conversations I gathered that at Luther being Orthodox meant you understood and believed in Lutheran theology but either didn’t want to, or couldn’t, communicate your faith to other people.

            Being Missional on the other hand, meant you didn’t understand or believe Lutheran theology, but you did know how to communicate your faith to other people.

          As you likely remember—I ended up going to Seminary in Philadelphia.

           

            But that’s not my point—instead I would like us to think for a second about the good aspects of being Missional—so not so much the throwing out Lutheranism bit,

but the communicating your faith to other people bit,

the being relevant to the world around you bit,

the outward focused, missionary inclined,  spreading the good news through a variety of ways, bit.

           

            Today I would like to throw out some examples of not being missional and of being missional, all to frame the following questions: “What did being Missional look like? What does being Missional look like? What will being Missional look like?”

Prayer

            What did, what does, and what will being Missional look like?

           

            In today’s gospel, we read of Jesus appointing 70 followers of his to go out ahead of him, as he travels toward Jerusalem.

            They are to do this task with utter humility, and in utter haste. They are told to carry no money, no bag, and to wear no sandals—so they can’t help but rely on the generosity and hospitality of strangers. They are told to greet no one on the road, because there are particular places they are going to prepare the way for Jesus.

            They go to these cities and towns declaring the peace of Jesus to them during a time of social, political, and cultural upheaval. Staying in the midst of these towns, eating and drinking just as the people of these towns eat and drink, all the while declaring the healing and comfort of the message, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

           

            So far so good—

but it’s worth remembering this is Jesus’ second try. This is proclamation of the Gospel-fest 2.0. This is the sequel.

            Remember last week’s gospel lesson. Jesus first sent his disciples out—the 12—to proclaim the kingdom

          and once they got to a Samaritan village they realized they had different religious practices than the Samaritans—

the Samaritans worshipped at Mt. Gerizim instead of Mt. Zion.

          So, instead of simply casting the mud of defeat off their feet—as Jesus commands the 70, the Disciples ask if they might “command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samartians.”

           

            So back to my question, “What did being Missional look like?”

            Asking God to fire-bomb the Samaritans… wasn’t very missional.

          Sharing peace and the kingdom, space and meals… the very lives of the people you are among… being salt and light for the community you reside with… is missional.

            Or think of Paul’s struggle for the heart and soul of the Christian community in Galatia, which we’ve been reading about for the entire month of June.

          There they have a community of gentiles who love Jesus deeply—who have become a Christian community, a Church. Then, they are told:

          “nah—you’re not really a church—you need to become fully Jewish first, before you can become fully Christian. In addition to being saved by Jesus, you need to give up your ethnicity and culture and become a whole other ethnicity and culture…”

  

          And to this community Paul writes:

           “No! You are already beloved Children of God caught up in God’s mysterious working out of the salvation of the world—just as you are!”

“What did being Missional look like?”

            Well, pardon me for putting this bluntly, but cutting off the tips of male convert’s penis…was not very missional

          Focusing on the new creation … is missional—more than that, it is everything.

          What about here and now though? What does being Missional look like?

          Remember the last two Sundays we invited people in to bless them and their vocation—two weeks ago road workers, last week food preparers and servers—

and in both cases no one showed.

          Road workers are so busy in the summer they work on Sundays—ditto Food Prepares and Servers.

          Yet, an amazing thing happened a few Tuesdays back at the Omega Diner on US 1.

          I was passing out those invitation cards we’d been putting in the bulletins to the wait staff there—and one of them said, “I work on Sunday, but I wish there was a Priest or Pastor here to pray for me, I could really use it.”

          One detail I failed to mention—Tuesday afternoons are when the local Lutheran clergy get together over a meal to study the upcoming scripture for Sunday.

          So she was surrounded—lifted up in prayer by the lot of us.

The church, and prayers for blessing of her vocation and her life situations—came to her there at Omega Diner.

           Inviting people to church for a blessing at a time when they have to work—isn’t very missional

blessing a food server right there where she is serving—that is missional.

Finally, and briefly, what will being Missional look like?

         

          It will be more about doing than joining, more about going out than coming in, and more about creativity than good order.

          The younger generation—one I consider myself a part of—is not known as joiners—we simply don’t see value in being part of an organization for the sake of the organization existing

we do see value, however, in doing things that matter, things that we can see the concrete effects of.

Being missional will involve focusing less on maintenance and more on mission.

          Secondly, It’s not enough any more—

if it every was—

to simply open the doors and be friendly—thought if we don’t do even that we’re sorely in trouble—our task is to be church in church and outside of church.

We have an amazing message of the grace and love of God, unearned and yet ours—truly Good News—not something to hide under a bucket, but a light to dispel the darkness—a cool drink of water given on a hot day.

Being missional is living that out for our neighbors and more importantly living that out WITH our neighbors.

          Thirdly, the only constant is change—the best way to cope with change is creativity.

If we fear the future, we’ll end up like a turtle hiding in it’s shell next to a four lane highway.

Being missional is seeing changes as opportunities, trusting that the One who holds us fast, also holds the future.

          So, being Missional?...

 It’s definitely not scaring folk away from your seminary by insisting they fit into particular categories they don’t even understand.

          It is-- brining the good news about Jesus to your neighbor in a way that makes sense to them.

          It is-- focusing on the new creation that God is bringing into being.

          It is-- being a blessing to people where they are. 

A+A

A "dynamic" translation of Galatians Chapter Five

With both thanks and apologies to J. Louis Martyn:

A reading from Galatians:

            It was to bring us into the realm of freedom that Christ set us free. So stand y’all’s ground, and don’t get locked up again!

            My Siblings, y’all were called to freedom! But don’t let that freedom be turned into a place the Flesh will ambush y’all from!

            Instead, be captured by love of one another. After all, the whole of the Law was spoken in the sentence: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself!”

            You know the other option don’t you? Acting like two rabid dogs, snapping at one another, threatening to devour one another—It seems like y’all are going that route—good luck with that—you’ll swallow one another whole.

           

            Look, here’s how I’d teach you if I was there in person: Lead y’all’s daily lives guided by the Spirit—in that way, y’all won’t end up acting all impulsive and be tricked by the Flesh into doing It’s desire.

            Because the Flesh is actively inclined against the Spirit, and the Spirit again the Flesh.

            Check it out, these two Powers, the Flesh and the Spirit—are opposites sides, at war with one another—and in the confusion of that war y’all don’t actually do what you wish to do!

            But if, in the daily life of your community, y’all are being consistently led by the Spirit, then y’all don’t need the Law to fight your battle against the Flesh.

            When the Flesh claims you as an occupied territory it’s really obvious.

            The effects are sexual—for example: fornication, vicious immorality, and uncontrolled debauchery.

            They are spiritual—for example: the worship of idols and belief in magic.

            They are publicly embarrassing: bouts of drunkenness, nights of carousing, and the like.

            Most worrying they are destructive to community: instances of irreconcilable hatred, strife, resentment, outbursts of rage, mercenary ambition, dissensions, separation into divisive cliques, and grudging envy of the neighbor’s success.

            In this regard, I warn y’all now, just as I warned y’all before: those who practice the like will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

            By contrast, when you are rightfully claimed by the realm of the Spirit it’s obvious too—because you bear the fruits of the Spirit. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith, gentleness, self-control. The Law, the other option in this fight against the Flesh—even the Law which oppresses y’all as much as the Flesh, doesn’t forbid these kinds of things! And remember, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the Flesh, together with its passions and desires.

            If we live in the Spirit—and we do!—let us carry out our daily lives under the guidance of the Spirit.”

Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God.

Worship, Everywhere!

            As some of you know I created a prayer book, Read, Reflect, Pray for the church to use during the season of Lent. Well, a version of that prayer book is now sitting on an editor’s desk at Augsburg Fortress Press. I don’t know if it’ll end up being published or not, but I’m hoping.

            That should tell you something—I’m pretty serious about the contents of that book. Its main point is to move the 7 central things of worship[1] out into the rest of the world, stretching Sunday out into the whole week.

            Imagine becoming a group of people who focus their lives on being community, fostering forgiveness, reflecting on their vocations in light of God’s love for us declared in our Baptism, rooting themselves in God’s Word, cultivating a thankful heart, sharing Christ’s grace at table, and being people sent into the world to be salt and light for the sake of the world.

            That’s why we worship as we do, not because the hymnal tells us to, not because we’ve all got the order of service memorized and it would be a shame to do something new, but because we are practicing being who we are—we are being shaped to be little Christs in the world.

            And I truly believe the world needs cross shaped people, it is in need of people who live out our liturgy[2]—our worship—every day and in many ways.

            Public Policy expert Robert D. Putnam has spent the last 18 years cataloging the variety of ways community is collapsing in America—check out his famous book Bowling Alone sometime… yet church is a place, and a group of people, that goes out of its way to be community. For that matter, where else in American life can you find a multi-generational and/or multi-ethnic gathering of people? Nowhere, that’s where!

            Think of the Reality TV phenomena, some of the shows actually have booths where the contestants/actors “confess” to the audience—and we eat it up as entertainment. Yet, we offer compassionate confession in which sinner speaks to sinner about the forgiveness we find in God.

            There is so much talk about self-esteem—and rightly so to a point, the world can be very tough and soul crushing—but so much of it becomes children getting giant trophies for participation and parents brow-beat teachers for B’s because their children will feel bad if grade inflation isn’t endemic. Here however, in this community, we remember we’re Children of God! God has named us and claimed us and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If you need a morale boost just go to a sink and make the sign of the cross, remembering your Baptism!

            Think of all the stories we hear, see, and allow to shape our lives. The nightly news makes us afraid of our neighbors. Romantic comedies make single people believe there is something wrong with them. Disney movies make little girls think they’re nothing until their prince comes. And stereotypes of all sorts strip untold numbers of people of their dignity. Yet, we have a different story that shapes our lives—one about God’s continued involvement in His creation, which He loves. A story of liberation from slavery, one of wisdom enhancing what is good and prophets tearing down what is evil, one of God-with-us living, dying, and rising for our sake, one of the Church, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, telling our story to the ends of the earth.

            It’s easy to go negative—to think of all that is wrong with life. In fact, much of advertizing and our economic system is based on training us to feel anxious because we don’t have a particular good or service, but that if we did we would be satisfied and whole. Keeping up with the Joneses not only crushes our credit-cards, but also stifles our soul. But imagine if we took time to say thank you, to reflect upon all the good that is in our lives. We do that every week at Christ’s table as we begin the meal.

            Speaking of eating together, some sociologists say we’re doing that both less frequently and less well. More often we now eat alone instead of together, and even when we eat together we are often separated from one another by a variety of screens. We eat less nutritious food, we eat while distracted—which means we actually taste the food less fully. In short, we aren’t eating right. Yet… yet The Faith centers around abundant meals—those we read about: manna in the desert, the LORD swallowing up Death, Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors—those we experience weekly: the body and blood of Jesus, God’s grace caught in our teeth and poured down our gullet—and those we share together outside of service: coffee hour, picnics, gathering food for those in need, Lenten Soup Suppers, etc.

             One of the most interesting things about the millennial generation (’85-present…BTW in this scheme I'm a Generation Xer) is they care more about meaningful action than belonging to an institution—they often take up the mantel “spiritual but not religious.” They don’t always want to join a group, but if the group is doing something that matters they will join in. Well, we’re called out of the church, sent to act as Christ’s body in the world—I can’t imagine that concrete meaningful work for the sake of the Gospel wouldn’t attract these spiritual seekers. We just need to make sure we’re actually being sent out!

            And that last bit might be the whole enchilada. The greatest danger of this wonderful gift we possess, the liturgy, is that worshiping each Sunday can immunize us from its importance. Liturgy can become simply what we do on Sunday and forget it until the next week. Liturgy should be the people of God’s work for the week, it should shape who we are and what we do.

---

[1] Gathering, Confession and Forgiveness, Remembrance of Baptism, Word, Thanksgiving, Meal, and Sending.

[2] By the way Liturgy is essentially “the work of the people”… more on that in a moment.