What's the Year of Living Liturgically about?

"We confess that we have often lost the fullness of our Christian heritage, too readily assuming that the Scripture and the Spirit make us independent of the past. In so doing, we have become theologically shallow, spiritually weak, blind to the work of God in others and married to our cultures. … We dare not move beyond the biblical limits of the gospel; but we cannot be fully evangelical without recognizing our need to learn from other times and movements concerning the whole meaning of that gospel." (from "The Chicago Call: An Appeal to Evangelicals", 1977)

What does it mean to know God deeply and to be part of the 'holy catholic church' that we affirm our participation in whenever we say the Creed? Is spiritual discipline something you want to grow in? Do you want to explore and meditate on God's word in a way that connects passages throughout the Scriptures and that connects you with the cloud of witnesses through the last three hundred years (give or take a few revisions =p)? Do you sometimes feel like your 'spirituality', such as it is, could be richer, fuller and more steeped in the wisdom of the saints, both dead and alive? Have you ever thought that a more contemplative and reflective approach to your faith could help you to live as Jesus' lights in a less culturally-straitjacketed and bordering-on-superficial way (maybe not in those words)?

Let me invite you to join me in the Year of Living Liturgically. Starting with the first Sunday of Advent (four Sundays before Christmas) this year, Nov 30 AD 2008, this community will start observing the liturgical calendar, to a greater or lesser extent, but at least consisting of meditatively completing the lectionary readings each Sunday (conveniently available from http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/). I suggest that we reflect on our liturgical explorations on this blog.

I suggest that we observe Advent, Lent and other times and major feasts in the Christian calendar, and that we use this year to read and otherwise explore traditions of liturgical worship through church history and among modern evangelicals (see article links at the end of this email). We could use collects (prayers) from the Australian Prayer Book (1978). We could read reflections on the lectionary readings by people from various traditions within the church and from various historical eras and cultures and share our engagement with these ideas on the blog. All these are suggestions: the only thing you're committing to if you choose to be part of this exploration is to read through the lectionary and to try to live according to the rhythms and structure of the basic Christian calendar.

Obviously there are congregational aspects to the liturgy which we cannot adopt, but I am suggesting this year as a spiritual discipline to practice on top of, not instead of, our active participation in the life of our local congregation, however liturgical or non-liturgical such a congregation might be.

My aim is for us to grow to know God better together, as we try to avoid the predilection of evangelicalism at its worst to assume the superiority of the modern and the culturally 'relevant'. Sure we want to be relevant to our community and we can thank God for the freedom we have in the modern church to worship in various ways; sure we want to avoid legalism and mindless ritual and routine; sure we want to keep the gospel central and not get sidetracked into a 'different gospel'. But I think we can do all these things - and I strongly suspect, do all of them better - by drawing on the spiritual resources of the wider church, starting with a foray into liturgical living.

I am very far from an expert on the liturgy, incidentally, so we will all be learning this together. My personal story is that for years, I have loved saying the various Creeds and knowing that by doing so, we are acting out the spiritual reality of the universal church - it awes me to know that God's people through the ages have said and believed those same things! I have grown to increasingly appreciate the liturgy that my church, St Jude's, weaves into our otherwise low-church, contemporary services - such as reading Confession prayers off the Data Projector and our Holy Communion service. I am passionate about discovering a way for us to be Christians who know God deeply and worship him in every way possible, and who are connected with our heads, our hearts, and our history and heritage.

I discovered that there is nothing new under the sun in this case either, and that other evangelical Christians have similar desires and perspectives. So this Year of Living Liturgically is a chance for me - and you, if you will join me - to participate in the 'ancient-future church' movement within the Evangelical tradition. =)

Let the blogging begin!