Corporate
Worship
Some say that we must take up the
most comfortable position when we pray. Taking this advice to its limit, as the
proposition warrants, we lie flat on foam or water mattresses for prayer! But
the real point is that the different postures we assume should be done without
much inconvenience, whether kneeling, standing, sitting or bowing. Kneeling and
deep bowing are traditionally accepted as symbols of adoration, penitence and
earnest petition. Standing is necessary for a solemn delivery and the reception
of a message from God. Sitting is for contemplation and listening. Praise,
invocation and yearning are expressed by the raising of hands. In Afro-Asian
cultures, the dance, with all its detailed movements of head, shoulders, torso,
hands, legs and feet, conveys a multiplicity of messages and expresses a
kaleidoscope of feelings. A community that does not make use of the available
nuances of corporal expressions is sadly lacking in spiritual wholesomeness and
the appreciation of the very gift of the body. The gestures of prayer are not
meant to be circus contortions or exhibitions of organs, but the realisation of
prayerful self-composure and serenity.
Since
man is a social being and religion has to do with community, the latter is
necessary for an integral prayer life. Corporate worship is demanded by the
very essence of religion and by man in his complete nature, corporal, spiritual
and social. Hence, cult is not only external and personal, but also social. The
merit of communitarian cult is that it complements and corrects private
worship, adds richness and equilibrium, and keeps the members of the community
in contact. In instituting the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, Baptism,
Marriage and Anointing of the sick, Jesus Christ answered the needs of human
nature as human and social. The liturgy is by nature communitarian; even more,
it is a call and protest to an unreconciled humanity. We may safely assume that
the sacraments are anticipatory, mediating signs of salvation, i.e., signs of a
healed and reconciled life. And given our historical situation, they are, at
the same time, symbols of protest, serving to unmask the true face of
unreconciled humanity in specific areas of our world and history. The liturgy,
apart from its prophetic vision of “Shalom”, also has a concrete accusatory
function of scathing critique.
A practical conclusion can be that
proper performance of the liturgical ceremonies according to the laws of cult
is demanded by the virtue of religion. Personal likes and dislikes cannot be
made the criterion for community ceremonial and common study. Adaptations
cannot dispense with certain order. A well-conducted liturgy calls for a
measure of conformity from the individual worshippers. Participation in worship
is obligatory, independently of one’s feelings, since the obligation of
worshipping God is primary and individual edification is secondary. There is a
corresponding obligation of the part of pastors to ensure proper accommodation,
ventilation and clear acoustics. “The house of prayer …ought to be in good
taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial…Priests ought to go
to the trouble of properly cultivating liturgical knowledge and art so that by
means of their liturgical ministry God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit may be daily
more perfectly praised by the Christian communities entrusted to their care” (P
O 5, last paragraph).
Adoration is not an option of moral
life; it is the heart and strength of that life. It is the highest expression
of that faithful commitment to God, the source of creative freedom. Faith, Hope
and Love are the adoring response to God’s self revelation-bestowal. Adoration
is dialogical and expresses the highest freedom.
God’s revelation and the experience
of his glory and of salvation teach us that freedom becomes significant only
through love. We acquire our true stature and freedom by acknowledging humbly,
joyously and gratefully that both our freedom and our capacity to love are
gifts coming from God’s sovereign freedom.
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