Last night I was on the phone with a friend who was filling me in on how God has answered our prayers for some things in his life, and he finished off by saying, “God is good.” To which I responded with only a split-second hesitation, “All the time.” I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “All the time…” and I replied, “God is good.”
“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.”
How many times in college did I hear and participate in that call and response? How many times has he? We come from different church backgrounds, yet fell into a pattern of liturgy we hadn’t used in months, if not years, as easily as if we’d both just said it yesterday. And you know, as we paused in conversation after that moment before moving on to other things… I thought, “you know, I feel like I should feel silly just now, but I don’t.” And I didn’t. It was just a really cool moment.
It got me thinking about this passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 —
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Internalizing the Word. Not something I do nearly as much as I should. I remember a pastor friend of mine preaching on a passage, I think from Isaiah, maybe Ezekiel – but whatever it was he was talking about, he said it pretty much meant, to use Eugene Peterson’s phrase, “eat this book.” Ingest it. Digest it. Let it fuel you and become part of you. That’s why God said to raise our kids by His Word, to talk about it all the time, and make it foundational to our homes. When you talk about it all the time, you remember it. It becomes part of you and all you do and say.
That’s one of the things I love about liturgy. Yes, I go to an enormous non-denominational church that resists hymns, much less actual liturgy, but I miss it. I miss the by-line at the top of the program reminding me which season of the liturgical year we’re in. I miss singing the Doxology and the Gloria Patri every week. I miss hymns, and (yes, I am admitting it) organ music. I miss confession every week. Sometimes I forget to confess anything. I miss hearing the reassurance of pardon after I confess. I love the creativity of the movement I’m in, but I miss the rhythm of life that came with the liturgical calendar. I guess that’s why I love the emergent church so much – they’re finding ways and are open to finding more ways of being creative in our worship without throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. I don’t think liturgy has to be spelled out for us – I think we can incorporate it into our worshiping life as the corporate Body of Christ and even as individuals without labeling the elements per se, or even doing everything in the same order every week – but oh, would we be the better for a little more intentionality in our service planning at times? I think so….
And I know I’d be better for making sure that I’m living more liturgically. Moments like that one last night could be a little more normal, rather than the pleasant surprises they are now… tho there’s something to be said for that, too.
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