Liturgy

I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I like to watch Catholic services on EWTN. One reason is that I like liturgy. I like that they say things every week and have these responsive parts of the service. Another reason is because there are not many other church services on TV that I care to watch because it's not always done with integrity. A lot of church services on TV are at best highly schmaltzy, even cheesy, and at worst manipulative attempts to get money. Finally, it's handy that EWTN shows a church service every day, not just Sunday.

Regarding the authenticity of the daily mass on EWTN, it's a worship service held every day by a Franciscan community of brothers in Alabama. So the purpose is not to make a TV show but for a monastic community to have a worship service, and they also film and broadcast it. It seems to be a small sanctuary with about six rows of pews, and people from the outside the monastery attend.

And it's great that they worship every day. I can only go to church on Sunday, but I can watch this service any day, if I happen to be available to have my TV on at one of the broadcast times.

Then, the liturgy. The priests and helpers process in, there are incense and candles. I've started to know some of the responses. I know when to say, "Amen," or "And also with you." I like that, giving the blessing back to the the clergyman when he blesses the congregation: "You, too. Back at you."

I partially know the prayer of confession, but not fully. I searched it on the web and this is how it goes:

I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord, our God.

I like that the congregants ask each other to pray for them in their struggle with sin.

I also know the responses to the priest's words before communion:

Priest: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
Priest: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
All: It is right to give him thanks and praise.

When I was a little girl, attending Protestant chapel on Air Force bases, I knew the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, and the Gloria Patri by heart even before I could read, because we said or sang them every week. And if not before I could read, at least very close to it, I also knew the Apostles' Creed by heart.

I still know them all because anything you learn by heart when you are a little child you remember all your life. But I don't know what the next generation will know by heart. I can't imagine the looks of astonishment if I went to my church's worship community and suggested we use certain worship elements every week. Well, I do them an injustice. When the children go to children's worship, they exchange blessings with the congregation every week, although there are at least two different blessings they use, depending on the season. And when the pastor finishes reading the Scripture passage on which he is going to preach, he says, "The very words of God," and the congregation repeats, "The very words of God." When I was at Regent College I grew accustomed to a form used often in Presbyterian churches (and perhaps others) after the Scripture reading, where the reader says, "This is the word of the Lord," and the congregation responds, "Thanks be to God."

In my church's worship services we follow a certain pattern every week, but we vary the specific words and songs. Perhaps this really does help keep it from becoming words without meaning, which I suppose could happen if you did always use the same words. But like I say, I wish there were ancient elements that we share with many Christian traditions that we used often enough for children to absorb them into their hearts.