What is Christianity? Why is it necessary to come to Church each week, especially when we can pray on our own at home?
Yet when we come together there is something different that’s supposed to happen than what happens when we pray alone.
1 Corinthians 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
There has been group worship of God since there were enough people to be called a group in the Old Testament. When we pray and worship God in a group something occurs which is much more than we may even be able to talk about. Why is that?
We grow in faith and strength!
Coming to Church to worship isn’t just “nice” to do, it’s a MUST!
Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.
The way we do this in the Orthodox Church is the Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy isn’t just an interesting part of the Church, it shows us the truth of why we come, how we can grow in Christ. When we gather in the Church for Liturgy we actually become one body! (1 Cor 12:12 “..all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”).
The Liturgy has been celebrated in much the same form that we do it today. We know this from records as early as 95 A.D. There is one event in the life of Christ which shows us the Divine Liturgy; can anyone guess what it is?
The Last Supper!
· He took:: Great Entrance: Symbolizes Jesus' greatest sacrifice, the Kiss of Peace and the Creed.
· He gave thanks: Anaphora, which means “lifting up”. “Let us lift up our hearts..” and “..it is right to hymn Thee, to bless Thee, to praise thee, to give thanks to Thee..”
· He broke bread: Lord’s Prayer, Holy things for the Holy, Fractions of the bread into the cup for unity through Communion
· He gave Communion: “With fear of God, faith and love draw near…”
The gathering for Liturgy is a lot more than herding everyone into one room. Just as people being gathered into Heaven isn’t just as simple as everyone just walking in. When we come together as Christians there is much more to it than just “hanging out together”. We are the assembled Body of Christ doing what, if we obey God, hope to do forever in Heaven; worship God. What happens to us before we get to Heaven? Preparation and life.
Just as we need to prepare to get to Heaven, we should also prepare for the Divine Liturgy. This means more than a simple thought or two about Church while we grab the paper off the porch.
Once the Church has been brought together, the Priest raises the Gospel, making the sign of the Cross over the altar and says:
“Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever unto ages of ages”
This single line in the Liturgy tells us why we do this and what it really being pointed to. (Q: Ask the class if they can think of what it is. A: The Kingdom of God)
The Kingdom of God is being shown to us in the Eucharistic celebration. This one blessing sets us off in the direction of that goal. If we are celebrating in truth, we are now considered to have already left behind the earthly cares of this life, starting the journey to follow Christ from this world to the Father.
Now we begin the Prayer of the Church. This series of “litanies” express a great deal of our true values as Christians.
“In peace let us pray to the Lord”
This prayer is only made possible by the peace Christ gave to us. Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.
“For the peace from above and for the salvation of our souls”
There is no lasting peace we can get in or from this world. This could be used to discuss with the class how and why this is so. Talk about how the world in all the efforts to achieve peace without God have failed. We pray for God’s peace and the ultimate thing we might ever get Salvation.
[Note: if you have the CDROM “Divine Liturgy” play the “Great Litany” track now]
In the initial blessing and the litany, we learn to pray with the Church and to make the prayers of the Church our own. We truly come to Church not to pray as individuals but as the “body”. After all, Scripture tells us that in Heavenly worship, they pray together!