Not changing the liturgy, but the liturgy changing us!Koenker again:
"If one takes the formed prayer of the liturgy seriously, he will find he cannot be the same person his selfish interests suggest he remain. In praying with the church he will find his own spiritual life being deepened and his awareness of the needs of others growing... If we take the teaching on the calling seriously, then the worship of God is not something we do at an appointed hour in a certain kind of building, in a narrow, 'spiritual' sense. Christ came to sanctify all of life by His sacrificial life and death; He came to snatch men from their own self-centeredness, in their worship as well as in their living, and to free them for unselfish love of the neighbor; He came to claim our bodies, too, for divine service. So even the prosaic and commonplace tasks of life have acquired a meaning that stems from the Cross. God uses men in bringing the forgiveness of sins to wife, children, fellow worker, or employer. He uses men in the day-to-day callings of machinist, farmer, or storekeeper." *Worship in Word and Sacrament* pp. 104, 105
The photograph is, if I am not mistaken, of St. Bartholomew, Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland -- one of only two Anglo-Catholic parishes in the whole Republic of Ireland (and the other, in remote Co. Kerry, now sadly declined from its "glory days" under Canon Grey-Stack).
ReplyDeleteWhatever its source, thank you for it and the quotation. This blog has become quite important to me for such things.
ReplyDeleteAnd Dr Tighe -- thank you too for the books and articles you sent. I would be happy to respond more fully by email. I can only offer the excuses of Holy Week and sick kids and old cars the week after for not having already done so already!