A Liturgy for Worship in the Season of COVID
Worshipping in the season of COVID has presented a lot of challenges to our congregations. Streaming feels impersonal. In person comes with significant risk. And all other forms of creativity come with confusion, exhaustion, and eventual fizzling.
I currently serve two congregations in Southern California, each with their own style of worship. When our campus had to close its doors we made the quick decision to stream stripped down services and then just kept adjusting and learning along the way (as we all had to). Due to various circumstances, it began to make sense to worship together in this season, so I was tasked with blending the two styles together, honoring each congregation, and, most importantly, keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus.
After we blended things together, I realized that there was something each person had some level of awkwardness about when they worshipped at home. It didn’t matter which congregation they came from. They all struggled, on some level, to see what was happening in their living rooms, back patios, or at the kitchen table as worship. The change I made was to include some recitation which began as simply going through the Psalm of the day responsively. That way their voice, speaking God’s word, echoed off their walls, and hopefully penetrated their hearts.
I wanted to go one step further. I wanted everyone to see their home as a house of worship, and to find deep, eternal significance in what was happening each Sunday. I can’t make that happen through any creative anything. But, God’s Word is powerful and is both normative and transformative. It can carry that weight. Bringing God’s Word into our homes brings power, so, what came about, through some trial and error, was, what I call, the Pre and Post Service Liturgy. I pulled pieces of Scripture and some biblical concepts to create some simple responsive readings to bookend worship…to both establish their home as a place of worship and to see themselves sent and equipped with the Gospel. We do this before the Invocation and just prior to the Benediction. It can be trimmed if you want, which may be helpful for some churches. The importance here is to let God’s Word shape the worship space and launch God’s church into the world.
PRE SERVICE LITURGY
(L:Leader F:Family)
L: In God’s name
F: We gather today to worship Him
L: This is the day that the Lord has made
F: Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24)
L: On this Sabbath day
F: We rest in Him
L: Peace to you. Peace to this house
F: And peace to all who are here (1 Sam. 25:6)
L: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise!
F: Give thanks to him; bless his name!
L: The Lord is good
F: And His steadfast love endures forever (Ps. 100:4-5)
L: We Pray
F: Father God, As you gather us for this time of worship, Give us hearts ready to be molded by your Spirit. Give us a posture of praise. Abide with us this day as we abide in you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
POST SERVICE LITURGY
L: As we depart today
F: May God’s Word dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16)
L: As we leave this time of worship
F: May love for God and others abound in us (1 Thess. 3:12)
BENEDICTION
