Category Archives: LitBits – Commentary

LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’s Prayer 4

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LitBit: The Lord’s Prayer has been so central to Christian practice that it may be taken as a symbol to stand for all of the assembly’s liturgy. It is one of the summary gifts of Baptism, a central pillar of the catechism handed over to us as we come to join the Christian assembly or as we rehearse, lifelong, the meaning of our participation. It recurs in every Eucharist, as the table prayer of the community, as the final text of the thanksgiving at table. It is as if we come to the end of a presider’s best effort—”praying and giving thanks as well as she or he can,” as Justin would say—and we stutter out again “Lord, teach us to pray,” using that beginner’s prayer as the best conclusion we can give to our common thanksgiving at this holy meal.

Gordon Lathrop, The Pastor, p.23f

 

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LitBit Commentary – The Eucharist (UIW2) 2

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LitBits Logo - 2LitBit: The various names given to this meal by our traditions show something of its meaning: it is the Lord’s Supper, instituted by Christ on the night of his betrayal; it is the Holy Communion, a sacrament of union between Christ and believers, and of the union of the believers themselves; it is the Eucharist, from the Greek word meaning ‘thanksgiving’. Indeed, its primary note is thanksgiving – honouring God for all that God is, and giving thanks for all that God has done in the work of creation and salvation.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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LitBit Commentary – Worship (UIW2) 2

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LitBit: In worship, we speak to God in a direct way, in praise and adoration, intercession and thanksgiving, confession and lament. It is the primary speech of the community to God, rather than speech about God, the secondary speech of reflection and discussion. It is also God’s speech to us – for example, in the word of grace at the declaration of forgiveness, in the proclamation of the Scriptures, in the blessing that rings in our ears as we leave. …the speech of worship is nonverbal as well as verbal, including such things as gesture and movement, colour and sacrament, silence and music.               Uniting in Worship 2

 

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LitBit Commentary – Worship (UIW2) 1

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LitBit: When we cross the threshold into a service of worship, we bring with us the concerns and joys of our lives. In other words, we bring the concerns and joys of the mission field in which we live. The Sunday service does not provide ‘time out’ from our daily mission; liturgy and mission are integrally related. The word ‘liturgy’ (in Greek, leitourgia) literally means ‘the work of the people’; yet it is primarily the work of God, in which God graciously enables us to participate. It is our graced response to God’s gracious acts; through it we are brought into relationship with the triune God, and we offer worship as the body of Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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LitBit Commentary – Gordon Lathrop on the Lord’ Prayer 1

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Bread and forgiveness, the matters alive at the centre of the Lord’s Prayer, are “practices.” They involve us in enacting the things that we believe God is doing. That enacting is first of all ritual, communal, repetitive: in the prayer itself, but also in ritual acts of mutual forgiveness and in the ritual meal. But then our hearts and lives are invited to follow—in forgiving others, in exercising hospitality at all of our meals, in sending “portions …to those for whom nothing is prepared,” as Nehemiah 8:10 has it. Such practices are nondistancing, nondistinguishing. They still do not separate us from the rest of humanity, the condition of which the prayer so eloquently articulates. On the contrary. They connect us, in bread and forgiveness.

From Gordon Lathrop, The pastor: a spirituality, p.33f

 

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LitBit Commentary – The Eucharist (UIW2) 1

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The centrepiece of this part of the liturgy is The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. The origins of this central Christian prayer lie in Jewish prayer at Passover and in the grace at every meal. Jesus built on these at the Last Supper. Our present sacrament also derives meaning from other meals hosted by Jesus – e.g. after the resurrection at Emmaus (Luke 24), or by the seashore (John 21). Its essence is thanksgiving for the mighty acts of God. It is a ‘Great’ Prayer because it is the expression of all the gifts of God for our salvation, above all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Uniting in Worship 2

 

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