The Beauty of Normal Boring Liturgy

I may have missed the point of Stephen McAlpine's article, "The Beauty of Normal Boring Liturgy." In my estimation a repeated pattern of worship, which is fundamentally what a liturgy is, is not intrinsically beautiful or edifying. A well-planned, well-executed liturgy that employs traditional worship elements such as a confession of sin, Scripture readings, a sermon, prayer, congregational singing, and a weekly celebration of Holy Communion; which has well-chosen hymns, worship songs, and service music; and which balances the use of set forms with an openness to the Holy Spirit, may be described as "beautiful." However, such a description is subjective.

Such a liturgy may also be edifying to first-time guests as well as to those who regularly attend the church. The presence of the aforementioned traditional worship elements, however, do not guarantee that it will be edifying.

A weekly liturgy can cause boredom, leaving first-time guests weary and restless through its inability to hold their attention. These guests may not walk out of the service but their mind are likely to wander elsewhere. They may not stay for the after-service coffee hour. This is likely to happen when the service consists of long, unbroken blocks of text recited by the congregation or read by the minister. It is not the only factor that may have this effect upon first-time guests. Poorly-chosen hymns, worship songs and service music; poorly-read Scripture readings; a poorly-prepared and poorly-delivered sermon; and poorly-offered prayers can have the same effect. The service may be overly-long and contain too may redundant elements that could have been omitted.

Stephen appears to want to blame first-time guests' unfamiliarity with the various traditional worship elements of the liturgy for their boredom, rather than taking a hard look at the liturgy itself and how it is being done. While it may not have been Stephen's intention, he appears to champion a low standard for our Sunday worship.

Our weekly liturgy may be compared to Sunday dinner. We may eat spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday. In preparing Sunday dinner we may use the same recipe from week to week. However, we use fresh ingredients each time and we may make small changes in the dish. As long as the dish is palatable and appetizing (and not too expensive), the family will also keep eating it from week to week. However, if it is unpalatable and unappetizing, those sitting down to Sunday dinner may taste it but leave the rest on their plate. They may choose to find somewhere else to be at dinnertime the next Sunday.

Our weekly liturgy may have high nutritional value but unless it is palatable and appetizing, it will, like Sunday dinner, go uneaten. Our first-time guests are not going to choke down something that is unpalatable and unappetizing simply because that is what we are accustomed to serving up on Sunday. It may be good for them. But so is cod liver oil. Only a few people, however, will take a spoonful of cod liver oil without mixing it with orange juice.