Monday, January 11, 2010

Christ the beginning and end of our worship

A challenge for Anglicans (and Catholics and orthodox and ...) worshipping via prayer book services is to lead-and-participate in such a manner that Christ is the beginning, centre, and end of our worship. What is the eucharist but obedience to Chrst's command to 'do this in remembrance'? Why do we gather together rather than (say) worship individually in the privacy of our own homes? We do so to give real expression to the body of Christ on earth, emboldened by the promise that where two or three gather in Christ's name he will be in our midst. Why is the Gospel read and preached in the course of the service? So that, like the disciples of old, we can sit at the feet of Jesus to learn from him. Why is the Lord's Prayer obligatory? Again, it is an obedience to Christ's own command (see Luke 11, 'when you pray, say').

You get the drift!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great teaching as we today enter into Ordinary Time. I did have to check that it was Peter writing and that he was not quoting one of my other friends.
Barry Smithson

Peter Carrell said...

Twas me!

Doug said...

Peter, I've added this to my new Jubilate blogroll too!