Preparing for Liturgy

Reflection for the Ministry of the Liturgy Team
(From Austin Fleming's book "Preparing for Liturgy, a Theology and Spirituality")

Yours is a share

in the work of the Lord's Spirit

who calls God's people to prayer.

You help to prepare the way of the Lord

who comes with mercy and with peace.

Yours is the guardianship of that holy ground

where God and God's people

meet and sit at a common table.

Yours is the work

of preparing the table of the Lord

who is our Passover.

Yours is the task

of calling others to serve at that table,

and of preparing them to serve

with grace and reverence.

Yours is the task

of helping God's people

to shape a prayer that they might sing from their hearts.

Yours is nothing less

than the responsibility of ensuring that

God's word is proclaimed

clearly and with conviction.

Come to your work from your personal prayer;

begin your work together with prayer in common.

Let your meetings be long enough

to do the work that is yours to do,

but not so long as to go beyond where the Spirit leads you.

Root your meeting in the scriptures

of the liturgy you prepare,

for the prayer of that celebration

will be rooted in God's word.

Let your meetings be marked

by a unity in spirit and in ideals.

As others are called by the Lord,

invite them to join in your work.

Remember that the treasure

of the prayer of God's people

is one you hold in an earthen vessel.

Be gentle, and reverence what is entrusted to you.

Let this treasure bear the imprint of your community,

but take care lest it be smudged by your fingers.

Should your zeal sometime

mar or crack this treasure,

do not panic.

Acknowledge and study the error,

remembering that the Lord will heal

what you have broken;

learn, as wel all do, from your mistakes.

When your brothers and sisters

thank and praise you for your work,

take delight in a prayer that has touched their hearts,

and rejoice in the work

the Lord has accomplished through you.

Be faithful in the work you do,

for through it the Lord saves his people.