One of the classic books on worship on my bookshelf is Lee Mitchell’s, Praying Shapes Believing.  Its title is a summation of how influential our worship is on us as individual Christians.  As Episcopalians, we have a unique interface between us and our worship in that we have, follow, and lift up The Book of Common Prayer.  The realization that the prayers we offer when we gather, the sorts of actions we engage in together, and the breadth of the scope of our forms of prayer and worship shape us and what we do daily is an important one.  It’s not just important that we engage in worship, but it also matters how we worship and what we do.

One of the hallmarks of worship for Episcopalians is the common nature – our prayer book is The Book of Common Prayer (BCP).  This is the foundation upon which our life of worship is based, even though the title itself might be a bit subtle.   Much of our worship, particularly as it is laid out in the 1979 BCP is centered on community.  The Eucharist takes place in community.  Baptism, weddings, funerals – all take place in community.  Even the Daily Office, while it is often a personal devotion said alone, is prayed in a global context that means we are praying the prayers of the church gathered, even as the church is gathered in various places and times.  It would be rare for us to read Morning Prayer, for example, and be the only human on the planet praying it at the same time.   The Office is communal in more ways than one.

This week’s theme in The Way of Love was worship.  Worship, which is often prayer done in community, is an essential part of being a follower of Jesus Christ and living according to his example.  We had prayer the week before.  Prayer and worship are certainly closely linked, and yet worship moves us beyond the conversational and relational aspects of prayer to forms and actions that build community and

communion.  Worship also involves remembering and reenacting certain important moments in our faith tradition, like the way the Eucharist recalls the Last Supper. 

When we gather and engage in the liturgy of the church, historic and contemporary, it naturally places us within a community and a context of relationship.  It is hard to be self-centered when we worship with others.  We naturally blend our voices with others, we take our turn in receiving sacrament, we pledge our own support to others during rites of passage.  Worship puts us shoulder to shoulder with others, reminding us that because God is so important, our individuality and our personal needs are not the primary way of going through this life. 

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating again; most of us are not called to the vocation of hermit.  We are not meant to live or worship alone.  We can have a relationship with God through Christ that is personal, but at some point, we express our faithfulness to Christ by being a part of his body gathered, as he calls all his disciples into relationship with one another.  This is why sacrament cannot be conveyed by a single individual.  Priests cannot (or at the very least should not) celebrate the Eucharist alone; it requires community.  We remember that “wherever two are three are gathered” God is in the midst.  Worship is one of the ways we remember and embody this truth. 

Tom+

O Almighty God, who pourest out on all who desire it the
spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw
near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind,
that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may
worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.