Bold Liturgies Offer Leaven for Our Communities
In January, I was glad to be asked to teach at Kanuga’s Church Leadership Conference along with Rachel Held Evans, whose book Searching for Sunday was the Lenten study for the Diocese last year. Rachel advocated for keeping the church weird. As she put it, “You can get a cup of coffee with your friends anywhere, but church is the only place you can get ashes smudged on your forehead as a reminder of your mortality.”
Taking the Passion to the Streets
I think we are better served by doing liturgies that are authentic, but in ways that don’t try to tame the counter-cultural nature of our words and actions. On Good Friday, my wife, Victoria, and I processed around Madison Square in Savannah’s Historic District as a part of the Stations of the Cross (shown at left). Police shut down Abercorn Street as we moved from stations to station, genuflecting in the street. The Rev. Craig O’Brien loudly proclaimed, “We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee,” as we perched on one knee, the congregation responded, “Because by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.” As we made our way through the public devotions, some tourists took pictures, a few joined in and found themselves with us in the church as the liturgy ended. This is the sort of action my friend Scott Gunn encouraged in a blog post Holy Week: Kick it up a notch!
Go Weird or Go Home
As Jonathan Mitchican writes in a post for The Living Church, Evangelism of the Weird, even “something as simple as making the sign of the cross in a public space, offering a blessing over a meal” can stand out. In that article, he concludes, “Go weird or go home.” While we shouldn’t try to be strange for the sake of standing out, we should be bold in keeping to traditions that have long nurtured Christians, even if they might seem out of step with the times.
Praying Beside a Dumpster
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In starting King of Peace, Kingsland, I found that teaching spiritual practices and using the fullness of the prayer book was refreshing to young families looking for a place to raise their children in the faith. There is nothing quite so memorable as lighting new fire in the darkness for the Easter Vigil or joyfully proclaiming “Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia” at the graveside of a loved one. One May night, a 13-year old girl’s body was left in a dumpster at an apartment complex in St. Marys. I somewhat hastily organized a vigil two nights later. More than 100 people turned out to sing by candlelight alongside that dumpster (see photo below) as we prayed for the girl, her family, and our community.
Yes, we want to stay true to our Episcopal tradition, but that would not tame the strangeness of our liturgical actions. With Easter behind us, we look toward the fall, Advent, and beyond. How might your congregation create liturgies that are bit bolder? Can your liturgies become leaven for your community?
Frank
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
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