Liturgy As Medicine
Liturgy ~ the work of the people
Medicine ~ that which can remove blocks, restore imbalance, sustain well-being, and bring to fullness
“Be wakeful to your impulses, playful but diligent, and keep bringing them back into the refreshment of God’s presence. If you’re struggling, ask for help and expect it to arrive… dwell in attention and wonder to the ongoing power of God’s hourly announcements. Greet the dawn, orient to a liturgical calendar, note the differing qualities of silence in a day, be there for others, these will do us the world of good. These are technologies for defeating demons.”
Martin Shaw from The House of Beasts and Vines
For many, worship in church can feel distant from the healing our hearts need. Maybe we’ve forgotten how to connect our hearts and minds to what’s happening in church. Perhaps we’ve gotten lost in the years of repetition. Liturgy as Medicine is an invitation to close the distance between our inner life and our communal worship. There is no program or workbook. It’s not a plan for church growth. It does not replace what we do on Sunday morning. It’s a way of approaching worship with the whole of Creation—the elements, the land, the heavens—that sings along with us. Remembering the more-than-human creatures, sensitizing ourselves to their presence, re-souls us, restores us.
It looks like storytelling for grownups, building a fire for the Easter vigil, re-imagining the thorny practices of fasting and confession, ancestral healing with the Communion of Saints on All Souls’ Day. It’s breathwork on Pentecost and asking the body what it wants to shed for Lent. It’s grief tending with the moon.
The animate forces of creation long to harmonize with us, they have medicine to offer, they enlarge our praise of the Holy One, and we are less alone when we sing along with them.
I enjoy supporting clergy and lay leaders in their ministry and imagining with them how God may be calling their people to new depths. I offer retreats, small groups, preaching, and speaking engagements to help congregations stir up the stagnant places and welcome the movement of the Spirit.