LITURGY
Part One
St Cyprian’s 2/28/16
The Rev. Deena Galantowicz
 
Every Sunday when we gather to worship together, we participate in the LITURGY of the Episcopal Church…our way of worship.  So Fr. Ted and I thought it would be helpful to have some time today and next Sunday to consider why we do what we do in our worship.  Actually, the word liturgy means “the work of the people.” It’s what we do when we come to church. Our work, our worship, our service, as the people of God, is to offer ourselves and our substance and our praises as an offering in great thanksgiving for our gift of God’s Love made known to us in the life and death of Jesus.  We are called a Liturgical church, and so is the Lutheran church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, because our offering, the sacrifice of the Eucharist or the Mass is central to our worship life.  In more Protestant churches, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc., this is not the case. The Eucharist is relegated to a sometimes meal of remembrance and the Bible is central. 

I first heard this story 20 or 30 years ago, and I know have used it in sermons before, but I’m not sure if I have used it here at St. Cyprian’s.  The story is about a college professor who showed up for class one day with a large glass jar.  He placed the glass jar on the lab table in front of him, and without saying a word he pulled out a box from under the table and began moving stones about the size of his fist from the box to the jar.  When he had moved enough stones into the jar that they reached the top he turned to the class and, in the first words he had spoken to them, he asked, “Is the jar full?”  The class, slightly confused, looked at each other until someone said, “Yes, the jar is full.”