Friday, October 24, 2008

Symbolism of a Heart in Action

Every second Sunday my church holds a special service so that things are kept interesting and the congregation can participate more fully. Often the sermon is presented by a member of the body with music, images, and stories from their life's lessons. Last Sunday my church held an "Instructed Eucharist." Obviously this is one in which the congregation is instructed on something. In this case it was the Eucharist itself and what all different parts of it mean and how they work together. It was an exquisite service, full of symbolism and love for the meaning behind and in the things we use during it and what our actions represent. Even better it enabled the congregation to participate more closely in the Eucharist as we were gathered around the Lord's table during the meal's preparation.

The writer of this excellent teaching was our new Assistant Rector, Matt Wise. Last summer, he was our "summer seminarian" and the young man who gave me guitar lessons. He recently graduated from seminary and is now doing his internship as a deacon until he is officially ordained as a priest on December 13th. Matt has a real love of liturgy and is responsible for many of the changes that are occurring in ours. I think his heart thinks in visuals of what something means and how it can play out.

I walked in late, just after the service started, and sat down in my early service front pew. Matt was sitting right in front of me on a tall stool with his notes on a podium. That was kind of cool. I've always liked sitting at the front of the class near the teacher. I hadn't missed much because the words that caught my attention were at almost the very beginning of the running commentary that continued throughout the entire service. They were:

In some ways, our liturgy is a drama enacted each time we gather with the hopes of drawing us all closer to one another as we together encounter the presence of the risen Christ among us. To help us experience this co-union or communion, we use many symbols. Symbols are signs that participate in the reality that they represent. A symbol works on us at a visceral level and the symbols we use in the Eucharist follow a pattern and form a ritual. Rituals help us experience and express things that cannot be easily verbalized.

After that my attention was pretty much locked to the explanations, my curiosity peaked. Fascinated I followed through the entire service every word that was spoken by either Matt or our Rector, Robert. I'd like to share this sermon with you so I invite you to go here and read the entire service teaching. It has a lot of good things in it.

8 comments:

david mcmahon said...

There are so many life messages in liturgy, aren't there, Lee .....

murat11 said...

The service was nicely done indeed, Lee. For me, this has been a year of gaining a continually deepening appreciation of how centuries of Jewish tradition continue to live and breathe in our own liturgy and literature. This service added to that process nicely.

Lee said...

Tons of them, David. Community, service, meditation, balance, sacrifice, and many, many more.

Cheers!

Lee said...

That tradition is something that I've long felt made our services richer and more meaningful. Wouldn't that be an interesting subject for a Sunday School class?

Joy!

Sandi McBride said...

I've enjoyed hearing you tell me about the service this week. You've seemed so involved and excited about the concept and execution of it. You've been so involved and I've been so proud of you! I'm glad you're sharing it with everyone! BY the way...I've tagged you at my place...
hugs
Sandi

Lee said...

Okay, Sandi hon, but it'll take me a while to get around to that meme. You know what just happened. But I'll definitely get to it.

Glad you liked my post! (G)

Hugs!

San said...

"Symbols are signs that participate in the reality that they represent. A symbol works on us at a visceral level and the symbols we use in the Eucharist follow a pattern and form a ritual. Rituals help us experience and express things that cannot be easily verbalized."

With those words Mr. Wise lives up to his name. It seems that with the repetition of rituals, there is an exponential power arising from the accumulation of generations of experience. Powerful indeed.

Lee said...

San, you could feel the love Matt has for the liturgy all through that service. That kind of emotion has a power of its own, but when combined with the power of our rituals it becomes something more. It was an amazing Sunday!

Hugs!