Liturgical Scribblings
Notations on Rhythms
The things we do that most shape our imagination are not usually the spectacular things. They are the repetitive acts. In fact, human beings live as if there is a happy expectation of repetition. No one lives constantly in surprise mode. We wake, eat, work, speak, pray, gather, sing, return, and begin again.
The most beautiful rhythms of our lives were developed through persistence. But we have grown to believe that life needs to be dramatic and unpredictable; that we need a cycle of shock and awe to get us through the day. But this is not how God formed the world, and it is not how he forms his people.
The common is the thing that shapes our experiences. We are made to be liturgical creatures because God created a world of order from the beginning. He created seasons. He established time to guide our rhythms. He offered the world the gift of 6×1: work and sabbath, labor and rest, creation and consecration.
Liturgy shapes our rhythms and rituals. It trains our loves before we can explain them. It gives the body a grammar of faith. It teaches us when to kneel, when to rise, when to confess, when to feast, when to mourn, and when to sing.
The Psalter teaches us that there are seasons to lament and seasons to rejoice; and sometimes seasons to lament and rejoice within a very short period of time. It teaches us the language of life in all its dimensions. It gives words to grief, melody to gratitude, courage to the weak, and praise to the weary. The Psalms do not allow us to live in one emotional key. They teach us to sing the whole of life before the face of God.