Categories: orthodox-life
Date: 12 July 2004 03:40:00
Church was wonderful yesterday: a much needed boost to my depleted spiritual batteries, and a challenging sermon on vocation being all we do, at every moment in our lives. I was also introduced to the lives of Greatmartyr Euphemia the All-praised and Blessed Olga the Princess of Russia. We have an Olga, in our congregation, but no Euphemia interestingly enough!
The liturgy of Orthodoxy is breathtaking. The repetitions of “Lord have mercy”, the responses to the Psalms (for me “Save us, O Son of God, risen from the dead, we who sing to You: Alleluia” especially), the Trisagion hymn ("Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us") and more. Tears well in my eyes now just thinking about it.
Formalised liturgies have always had great appeal to me, and have greatly aided me in my praise and worship of God. They are often seen as "old-fashioned" and "not relevant" to people today, though. I found this when I was looking for a new Anglican church in Sydney (which generally has very informal services by Anglican standards). The only "Prayer Book" services seemed to be on at 7.30am, and were only there because those "of a more mature age" [65+] liked them -- and they were the only ones in attendance. They were often quite dull affairs, as it seemed to me the priest did not want to be there and was not comfortable with this form of worship -- the aim seemed to be to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Priest after priest told me, "You should come to our funky 5pm service -- we have guitars and drums and modern songs." When I responded that I didn't like that sort of thing at all, they had no answer, or were puzzled, or else they tried to convince me I would and that "liturgy" was dead. Being in my mid-20s, I imagine they thought that was where I was supposed to fit -- but I couldn't. And wouldn't.
I fled my other church [which I loved dearly -- that is, I loved the people] because it truly sapped me of any joy I had and I always came out more depressed than when I went in. Oddly enough, one reason was that the "happy clappy" songs depressed me -- I was never as happy as the words seemed to express I should be; I was never that joyful as those around me; I appreciated quiet: high volume praise was often order of the day. I wanted to be honest with God, and those songs -- and that setting -- did not allow it.
I am not saying there is no room for such music or non-Prayer Book services -- we all have different needs. I saw many of my friends greatly aided by the services there, and it is a wondrous thing to see them growing in the knowledge and love of God: but to me, it was soul-sapping. After discovering the High Church tradition in Ireland [I'll have to bore you with details of that one day! ;-)], I could not return to where I was: the entire "package" of a "catholic" faith was what I needed. Thanks be to God for St Mark's, Granville, a church that showed Prayer Book liturgy was definitely not dull and not dead, and where I spent two very happy years. Anglican liturgy has plenty to be proud of in my humble and lay-person's opinion: it can be exceedingly beautiful.
I'll end with a quote about liturgy from Pope Paul IV that I quite like:
"Liturgy is like a strong tree whose beauty is derived from the continuous renewal of its leaves, but whose strength comes from the old trunk, with solid roots in the ground."