Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Recent History 2
Report from the “Recent History of Christian Worship” seminar:
Joyce Ann Zimmerman began the morning by continuing her presentation on Vatican II. She moved from history to exploring major shifts in the theology of the liturgy. She pointed out the strong emphasis not only on the crucifixion but also on the resurrection as part of the paschal mystery. She also explained that one of the significant results of Vatican II was the recognition of four liturgical presences of Christ. Christ is present in the Eucharist, his Word (scripture), in the priest when he is presiding as the head of the body of Christ, and in the assembled congregation. This last one presents a huge change! Through baptism we are members of the body of Christ. Together the church forms the presence of Christ. And as the body of Christ, we should be active in worship, which appears in one of the most familiar phrases of Vatican II, that of “full, conscious, and active participation.”
Later discussion turned to Cardinal Ratzinger’s book The Spirit of the Liturgy. One participant suggested this book would best be used as a tool to begin conversation, rather than as a guidebook that declared how to do the liturgy. The conversation it sparked for this group revolved around two main questions.
First, we discussed the role of tradition compared to creativity in planning/preparing a liturgy. (Even the word we choose to describe what we do—whether we plan or prepare—indicates how much of the liturgy is established or may be designed.) How do we, or should we, discern within tradition?
Second, a comment about the Psalms as displaying “the whole range of human experience” sparked a discussion about the role of worship as expressive. Certainly, we bring our human experiences to worship as communal prayer. But, does our worship merely reflect our experiences, or does it form us for further living? In what ways should it?
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