LITURGY SPOTLIGHTS

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.