Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Real Deal
The final part of our liturgy is the "Sending Out". The gathered believers are commissioned to go out into the world and take the presence of Christ to the people. This is the work that communion empowers us for. The latest Anglican Messenger has a story about a church in San Fransisco that distributes food to 800 families a week. The food is distributed in the sanctuary, around the altar! that's liturgy meeting real life! Whenever we feed the hungry, visit the sick or imprisoned, empower the powerless, or stand up against injustice, we take liturgy to the world, and the Kingdom of God is revealed. Check out the article entitled True Communion on page 24 of the Messenger.
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Of course, when we "go in peace to love and serve the Lord" we take the liturgy to the world. The church is made from people, and the way we act in our day to day lives takes that message out into the world.
ReplyDeleteAlan Raycraft
Fascinating article. We touched on liturgy and other things in this blog, and this episcopal church in San Francisco seems to serve its purpose in a very different way, but yet very relevant to the people in its community. This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean that we need to stock up on food in our church and copy their church, but it is good to have inspiring stories so that us as a community can pray about and think about not only what we're grateful for in our parish, but also keeping an open mind and heart to what could be in our parish to grow its ministry and mission relevant to our community.
ReplyDeleteAlan, extending from your comment, when I was in the Philippines we were leaving one of the churches in one of the major villages and they had a sign as you exit the church grounds saying 'Go in peace to love and serve the Lord'. I thought that it is a very inspiring way to leave a church with such a great visual (as well as the verbal)!
Stanley Dunwell, St Mary's