Leading Worship COE style: Liturgy

I have a couple of things in common with the Bishop of Gloucester (who wrote the note that I have called ‘leading worship CofE style’). One of those is that we both belong to the Church of England, and have pursued a calling within that church which has taken a huge amount of commitment and service and devotion to duty. OK so he’s ended up with the bigger house and sexier job title, but I’m in no way bitter about that.

The other thing we both have in common is that we are both liturgists.

Yes really.

I am a self confessed, card carrying liturgust. I have the T shirt, the DVD, the car sticker, I am part of the facebook group. Everything.

I am a liturgist because I write songs for people to sing in church.

And I recon the type of liturgy writing that I am involved with is probably the fasted growing, increasingly influential liturgy in the modern day church today. Far more influential than anything that is in the Anglican prayer book or book of common worship. You don’t believe me? Well, if you ask most worship leaders these days to recite the ‘prayer of humble access’ they will look at you as though you need counselling. Ask them to play ‘heart of worship’ by Matt Redman and they will be able to sing and play it word and note perfect, in the right key, with all the same arrangements and dynamics as any other worship leader in virtually any other country in the world.

Ok so my songs aren’t quite as influential as Matt Redman’s. But then his are pretty good.

But it does lead me to ask this question: what makes good liturgy?

Well let me suggest a few things.

Good liturgy has it’s inspiration in the work of the Holy Spirit, who is always looking to glorify God. He is a creative Spirit and a sign of His activity is in the newness of the things He creates though His people. When liturgy isn’t inspired and anointed by the Holy Spirit, however technically good it is, it will not be full of life and will tend to point to people or things other than the One it is meant to point towards.

Our churches and songbooks are full of liturgy that shouldn’t be there because they were born of man and not the Spirit. One worship leader friend recounts the time when a songwriter came up to him, played some dreadful worship song that he had written, and then declared ‘God has given me this song’. My worship leader friend says how he had this thought: ‘well, if God gave that to you, it was probably because he didn’t want it!’ Yet another time, a songwriter came and played him a song and said, with a hint of false humility ‘it’s not me that wrote this song, but God’. My friend said that his initial reaction was ‘well it’s not that good!’

Joking aside, though, it is very probably true that too much of our liturgy has a little too much of the inspiration of man in it, and probably not enough of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in it. ‘Good and clever’ just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to liturgy. In fact ‘good and clever’ on it’s own is probably more annoying than anointed.

Good liturgy is full of truth. It draws together the truth of God’s gloriousness and the mystery that surrounds Him and entwines itself around the heart of the worshipper, compelling it to praise. Like it or not, liturgy sinks deep into people’s hearts and stays there, stoking passions and driving activity. That’s why any writer of liturgy needs a strong theological framework and preferably a few other theological brains around them to check things out.

Good liturgy gathers a whole bunch of people and voices and hearts into an expression of unity. And as the church recites it’s liturgy it finds a common ground and declares to God and to any human ear that is listening that it is better off being together than apart.

Good liturgy serves the church and it’s mission, packaging the things of God into a form that the world can relate to. It can't sit outside culture, it has to be part of it. Once our liturgy has ceased to be accessible to the outsider, it needs to be revisited, refreshed, enlivened, or discarded. Liturgy is never sacred.

But above all.

Way above all.

Liturgy should sweep up the worshipper into an encounter with God, and then should fade away into the background as a truly divine exchange unravels. Heart to Heart. Deep to Deep. Because the real feast begins where the liturgy ends.