I got home from my
trip at 11:45 last night and was nearly asleep already, so I didn’t
post. This post counts for Sunday. J
My family became Lutherans a few years ago as a sort of
theological compromise between the spouses.
Since then, we’ve been experiencing a more liturgical service than
either Kasey or I had experienced up until then.
The liturgy dictates certain parts of the service to be devoted
to different things, like Confession and Absolution, the Scripture Readings,
and the Eucharist. The liturgical calendar
sets out the feast days and celebration days for the year as well, along with
the Scripture readings for each week.
What I love about this is the sense of community it brings
to the family of God. Many branches of
Christianity follow the same liturgical calendar, which means that around the
world, church-goers are likely to be reading the same Scriptures each Sunday,
praying similar prayers, and reciting the same creeds.
This past Sunday I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s
Catholic parish, and although some of the liturgy was unfamiliar to me, the
overall structure and progression of the service was familiar. Some of the prayers and creeds were the same. The pastor and deacons were wearing green
vestments just like my pastor was, marking this as a Sunday in Ordinary Time. It felt like home. And when the Pastor read that day’s Gospel
reading about Zacchaeus, I remembered that Eden and Isaac were singing about
that “wee little man” with the kids’ choir in front of the church back home
that same morning.
I felt connected to my brother’s church family, to my home
church family, and to the whole family of God.
There is comfort and grace and strength in millions of
people around the world bearing witness to the same God through the same liturgy,
and that is why I love it.
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