The Season of Creation: A Preaching Commentary

2. A Theology of Liturgy in a New Key

16 Two A Theology of Liturgy in a New Key worshiping with Creation Worship is the central recurring event in the life of a Christian community . Christian worship is a ritual in which God sets us in right relationship with Godself, with ourselves, and with our fellow creatures. Now it is time to integrate God’s creation explicitly and comprehensively into the dynamics of worship so that we can be much more aware of how God sets us in right relationship with the natural world. Worship is a symbiotic relationship between God and the worshiping community. God is giving and acting, and worshipers are responding in faith. Although the word worship implies that it is predominantly about what we do, worship is really preeminently about what God is doing.1 God is actively present in all of God’s trinitarian fullness—forgiving; offering God’s self in the proclamation of the Word through Scripture and preaching ; healing and restoring through the sacramental bread and wine; blessing the community; and commissioning worshipers to carry out God’s work in the world. In the past, our worship has focused mainly on the relationship between God and humans. In recent years, however, we have become more attuned to the extraordinary number of references throughout our worship traditions to God as the Creator and to a concern for the wellbeing of other creatures. We have begun to lift up these traditions and to give them prominence. In addition, new editions of hymnals and weekly A Theology of Liturgy in a New Key 17 resources for worship in many denominations are bringing to the fore God’s relationship with all creation and our relationship with the rest of creation.We now are on the cusp of articulating theologies of worship that fully integrate creation and of developing even more liturgical resources to bring fundamental change to the worshipers’ relationship with God and with the rest of nature. The Season of Creation is intended to highlight and strengthen this movement. It offers us an opportunity to turn our full attention toward God the Creator and toward our relationship with the whole creation. The experience of worship during the Season of Creation has been exhilarating for many congregations. However, God’s relationship with creation and our relationship with the rest of creation must become integral and common to all worship, not just the Season of Creation. Hence, this theological reflection on worship is meant for more than the Season of Creation. It is an expression of theology in a new key for our worship in every time and place. Worship as Reorientation Worship is about being reinstated to our proper place in relation to God, ourselves, our fellow humans, and all other creatures. It is like being lost in the woods and stopping to orient ourselves by means of a compass, and then finding our way home. It is like being lost at sea and stopping to locate ourselves by means of the constellations in the sky, and then returning to solid ground. It is like using a global positioning locator to know just where we are in relation to everything else. Worship is a matter of getting our godly bearings and being situated in our true and rightful place in the universe. In this process, it is not we who set ourselves right, however. Rather, when we worship we put ourselves in a position to allow God to give us our bearings, to reorient us, to restore us to our rightful relationships.2 We find our relationships restored through the specific portions of the liturgy. For example, by praising God, we restore God to God’s rightful place in our lives as the one who creates and sustains us. By thanksgiving , we recognize our human dependence on God for life and health. By confession and forgiveness, we position ourselves to overcome our selfalienation and the brokenness of our relationships with one another and all creation. By hearing the word, we rediscover a proper sense of direction and purpose in life. Through the offering, we dedicate ourselves and our 18 Theology, Liturgy, Bible resources as gifts of God to this renewed vocation. Through prayer, we express a longing for all who are lost or broken to be restored to a place of wholeness in relationship. By communing together, we return from alienation to a harmonious connection with others of the human community and the rest...