Simply put, Liturgy is our common worship structure. Every church, and every believer has some sort of structure for worship. Pentecostals tend to an emotional structure, while Catholics and Orthodox tend toward a ritual structure. We all choose our structures and they help discipline us, but in the end, they're all temporal.
Liturgy, the discipline I've chosen, is intended to draw us into God. But again, to focus on our liturgy, is to focus on form and not substance. To focus on our liturgy is to put another separation between us and God. A religious shadow, instead of the reality of God. We end up worshiping our religious creation, instead of our Creator.
So, use the form. Use it to shape the cup that is your life, so that you might better hold the waters of life. Use it as a tool in the hands of the Master Sculpturer, to sculpt and shape you. Use it where it works, and abandon it where it doesn't. But remember, Liturgy is a tool, and not the thing itself. We worship the living God.
Photo Credit Lawrence OP
