My liturgical taste could be described as low-church, almost Quaker. I have a fairly strong dislike for pageantry, constant singing, and other fol-de-rol in parish worship. I can’t help but think, let’s get down to business, get it done, and get back to work. Probably a bad attitude, but that’s my reaction.
Last night, though, my wife and I attended our daughter’s baccalaureate service at Episcopal High School. The procession — graduates in their caps and gowns, sanctuary party in vestments — was led by a verger. The student choir, also vested, sang much of the liturgy, which was straight-up Evening Prayer right out of the BCP. (They did a fabulous job.)
To my surprise, I was strangely pleased by the moderately-high-church tone. It wasn’t ostentatious, just … traditional.
Then a possible reason dawned on me. We were sitting next to old friends whose son is also graduating. They’re Jewish. I realized I was glad they were getting to see a traditional Episcopal liturgy, of the kind I’m sure they’d seen before on TV during presidential funerals. Even more so, I was glad they could participate in much of the service, given that large portions of Evening Prayer are taken straight from the Hebrew Bible a.k.a. the Old Testament.
I very much like that about the Episcopal Church: Its liturgy asserts the congregation’s claim to being an integral part of the people of God, present and past; at the same time, the liturgy serves as the verbal equivalent of the famous street sign, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.
Leave a Reply