Liturgy: Liturgy comes from the Greek word liturgia which means “the work of the people.” Originally, it referred to the community service required of citizens in ancient Greece, much like the Peace Corps or Vista. Early Christians borrowed the term and applied it to their weekly community celebration of the Spirit’s presence among them. This is also how a worship gathering came to be called a church “service.”
Liturgy refers to everything we do from beginning to end during a worship service, as well as to the seasonal cycle and special celebrations during the liturgical year. Various liturgical traditions have developed through the thousands of years of Jewish and Christian history, and new liturgical forms are always emerging as humans find new ways of expressing the Spirit’s presence among us.
Good liturgy celebrates the present, enables us to reflect on the meaning of our past, and empowers us to live more fully in the future.
