By Robin G. Jordan
Has the liturgy become a substitute for discipleship in Anglican churches?
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against liturgical worship. But a couple of articles to which I posted links on this blog and my own experiences prompt me to ask this question.
The articles in question were not about liturgy or even worship. The focus of these articles was the Bible.
The first article was about how young people are questioning the transforming power of the Holy Scriptures because they observe no evidence of transformation in the churchgoers with whom they are acquainted. These churchgoers are no different from the rest of the population except that one day a week (and increasingly less often) they go to church.
The second article was about how self-identified Christians, while claiming to accept the authority of the Bible as a reliable witness to our Lord’s teaching and example, avoid patterning their lives after his teaching and example by misinterpreting the Holy Scriptures.
A number of older Anglicans believe that they have discharged their religious obligations to God if they go to church every week, sing three or four hymns, take part in the liturgy, listen to the Scripture readings and the sermons, give to the church, and receive communion.
While Jesus attended various synagogues during his earthly ministry as well as went to the Temple in Jerusalem, nowhere in the Bible does he suggest that going to the synagogue and the Temple are the sum of a disciple’s religious obligations to God. Rather he echoes the prophet Isaiah. What God desires is not sacrifice but mercy. In other words, what God desires is not the performance of ceremonies and rites but the living of our lives his way. This means living our lives with Jesus as our Lord and Master.
Too often people go to church not out of a desire to offer God thanks for what he has done for us but out of a desire to receive some kind of blessing from him. They are not satisfied that God gave his only Son that we might be put right with him. They are not satisfied to show their gratitude through lives of obedience and service.
They may see the Holy Communion as akin to the fire berry that bird of the sun brought the fallen star in C. S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Each fire berry gradually rejuvenated the star so that he could once more tread the heavens again. They may believe that the Holy Communion heals and restores a soul wounded by sin.
Their view of the sacrament may be simpler than that. They have been taught frequent communion is good for them. They may have only the vaguest idea of why, if they have any idea at all. The priest who taught them may have neglected to mention that those who are devoid of vital faith may as well drink purple Kool Aide laced with poison for what good eating the bread and drinking the cup will do for them. Yet they come to the communion rail, unrepentant and at enmity with their neighbor, expecting a blessing from the Lord.
The blessing they are seeking may be more mundane. They want a new car, a better job, a larger paycheck, a bigger apartment. They see God as kind of celestial slot machine. Drop in some coins, pull the lever, and you’ll get three cherries in a row and the Big Payout.
The fault is not the liturgy’s. The purpose of the liturgy is first and foremost to honor and revere God. It also serves to turn our hearts to God, keep our lives centered on him, to edify us, to encourage us, and to strengthen us so that we can live the lives of radical discipleship to which Jesus calls us.
Human sinfulness may seek to make the liturgy a substitute for discipleship, a good work by which we can win God’s favor. Human sinfulness chooses the broad road, not the narrow path.
Discipleship means taking up our cross and following Jesus. Liturgy requires only the sacrifice of one morning a week and is far less demanding than radical discipleship—loving God with kokoro love, with our whole being—heart, mind, body, and soul; loving our neighbors as ourselves, loving our fellow disciples as Jesus loved us, returning good for evil, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, treating others as we would be treated, forgiving the wrong that others do us, praying for those who wish us harm, going into the world and sharing the good news of Jesus the Messiah, making disciples and instructing them, and serving Jesus in "the last and the least."
Whether we are a pastor or a lay preacher, God has called us to be a watchman on the wall as he did the prophet Ezekiel. We are to warn the city of approaching danger. Substituting liturgy for discipleship is such a danger. Liturgy has a place in the life of the disciple. But it should never be allowed to overshadow discipleship.
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