LET US
Liturgy
is defined as "the work of the people". The Divine Liturgy is not the
work of the priest of which the people are simply spectators. Nor is the
Divine Liturgy a performance that is to be enjoyed by an audience. What
is the Divine Liturgy? It is the manifestation of the "royal
priesthood". It is the actions of the people of God concelebrating with
the lead priest (the one priest ordained to lead) to offer up the
"Thanksgiving" (Eucharistic) celebration. According to the Scriptures
Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father (Revelation 1:5,6;5:10).
And it is written that we are "...being built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ." And, "you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
(1 Peter 2:5,9)
Take
note as you participate in the Divine Liturgy that continually the text
reads, "Let us...". "Let us attend...Let us love one another...Let us
give thanks...Let us lift up...Let us give thanks worthily...Let us
depart in peace...Let us bow are heads..." Especially take note
that "Let us pray/ask..." is stated at least 30 times. So, let us
realize that it is us, the people of God, the messianic royal
priesthood that St Basil refers to in his Anaphora, that are the
concelebrants of the Divine Liturgy offering up "the sacrifices of
praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His
name." (Hebrews 13:15)
THE BIBLE IN THE LITURGY
Liturgy
is defined as "the work of the people". The Divine Liturgy is not the
work of the priest of which the people are simply spectators. Nor is the
Divine Liturgy a performance that is to be enjoyed by an audience. What
is the Divine Liturgy? It is the manifestation of the "royal
priesthood". It is the actions of the people of God concelebrating with
the lead priest (the one priest ordained to lead) to offer up the
"Thanksgiving" (Eucharistic) celebration. According to the Scriptures
Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father (Revelation 1:5,6;5:10).
And it is written that we are "...being built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ." And, "you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
(1 Peter 2:5,9)
Take
note as you participate in the Divine Liturgy that continually the text
reads, "Let us...". "Let us attend...Let us love one another...Let us
give thanks...Let us lift up...Let us give thanks worthily...Let us
depart in peace...Let us bow are heads..." Especially take note
that "Let us pray/ask..." is stated at least 30 times. So, let us
realize that it is us, the people of God, the messianic royal
priesthood that St Basil refers to in his Anaphora, that are the
concelebrants of the Divine Liturgy offering up "the sacrifices of
praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His
name." (Hebrews 13:15)
THE CALL TO COMMIT OUR LIVES TO CHRIST
Four times
throughout the Divine Liturgy we prayerfully sing, "Calling to
remembrance our all-holy, immaculate, most blessed, and glorious Lady
Theotokos, and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend
ourselves and each other and all our life unto Christ, our God." FOUR
TIMES! We are called four times throughout the Divine Liturgy to commend
ourselves...to Christ our God. What does this mean? The word commend
means "to entrust; to commit to one's care." So each and every time we
come to this prayer in the Divine Liturgy we are to renew afresh our
trust in Jesus Christ our God. At this point, all four times, we
consciously and concretely commit our life to Christ in a personal way.
But we not only entrust ourselves to Christ as an individual, but as the
prayer more fully reads, "We commend ourselves and each other and all
our life unto Christ our God." This means that besides committing our
own life to Christ, we as the body of Christ commit "our" lives,
corporately, to Jesus Christ our God. And thirdly we are to commend "all
our life unto Christ, our God."; our talents, our treasures, our time,
our families, our work, every aspect of our lives we commit to Jesus
Christ our God. We, remembering Mary's example of humility, faith, and
obedience, as well as the lives of all the saints, we follow their
example by giving our whole life to Christ. Four times during the Divine
Liturgy we are challenged to dedicate and rededicate our entire
existence to Jesus Christ our God.