1. We participate in worship through frequent
communion. This is the most important way of
participating in the Divine Liturgy. When the
priest comes forward with the holy chalice and
lifts it high, he says, "With Fear of God, with faith
and love, draw near." Come close to commune
with God. That's a command, an instruction.
After all, what is the holy Eucharistic Liturgy all
about? Simply, it's the way the Church prepares, consecrates, and administers the sacrament of
Holy Communion. Receiving Holy Communion,
receiving Christ, is the central act of the Divine
Liturgy.
2. We participate in worship through faithful
gathering together as the Church. The Divine
Liturgy begins with the words, "Blessed be the
Kingdom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit." What's a kingdom? The place where a
king reigns. Who's the King? GOD. Who are the
subjects? CHRISTIANS. Where does the king
reign? Where God is present and the Christians
are present. God's kingship is made manifest in
us during worship. One cannot be manifesting
the Kingdom liturgically if he he's not there.
Being present is crucial to the liturgical life.
3. We participate in worship through entering
into it responsively. The language of the Liturgy
contains a number of dialogues in various parts of
the service. For example, the priest says, "Let us
lift up our heart." The words of the Liturgy in
these dialogues invite us to involvement and
participation. But because we are not taught to
participate in worship, these dialogues often go
unnoticed and unheeded, the commands they
contain often are not obeyed in the people's
hearts.
4. All Orthodox services include "litanies" as for
an example "Let us pray unto the Lord", in which
the priest names a petition, and the choir
responses - either "Lord, have mercy" or "Grant
this, O Lord." The priest is not actually addressing
himself to God in these petitions: he's addressing
the whole congregation. He's saying (for another
example), "For the peace from God and salvation
of our souls, let us pray to the Lord." The choir
sings the response, but they are not really praying
either they give the same response to all the
petition. It's really the congregation’s role to pray
these prayers. If the congregation does not enter
in, then nobody is praying!
How does one pray the litany? Simply do what
the priest says. The priest says, "Let us pray for
the peace from God adn for salvation of our
souls." You can just say in your heart. "Dear Lord,
grant us your peace from above and the salvation
of our souls." You can also think of particular
people and situations you want to pray for with
each petition. Then the prayers are no lonbger
just-words; you are now following the instruction
of the litany.
5. We participate in worship through singing.
Many Orthodox people are not accustomed to
singing in Church, they are afraid of being
conspicuous. But even in a parish were the Choir
does all the singing, it's possible to sing along
with the choir softly. You don't have to sing loud
enough to be heard, but sing! The patristic
tradition tells us that in the past they did sing. We
need to revive this tradition in all our Churches.
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