What is the Liturgy?

The best way to begin talking about Liturgy is simply to define the word.  The way most people use the word, you probably think 'liturgy' is just another way of saying 'Mass'.  Actually, the concept is much bigger than that.  This discussion gets pretty heady and hard to wrap your mind around, but bear with me!  You need to understand what the Liturgy is, for music or the Mass or anything else to make sense. 

The word 'Liturgy' comes from two Greek words:  laos and ergon.  Laos means 'the people' or 'the public', and ergon means 'work' or simply 'to do'.  These words are combined into the single Greek word leitourgia, which means 'public work'.  In ancient Greece leitourgia had the same meaning as the modern 'public works' department, except that it was done by private citizens.  Maybe the neighborhood bridge or water system needed to be repaired - a citizen would perform leitourgia by fixing the problem at his own expense.  The key concept is that leitourgia was a public work performed at personal expense on behalf of the public.  This was the term adopted by Christians to describe their communal rituals - it seems strange, doesn't it?

To understand what this term means in the Christian sense, we need to know three things:  who is doing the work, what the work is, and who is benefiting by the work.  Here is the quick answer:  Christ is doing the work, the work is salvation, and the public in need of salvation is humanity.  So, the Liturgy is Christ performing the work of saving us! 

The best place in the Bible to look for more information is the book of Hebrews, which talks about how Christ performs the work of salvation.  Hebrews shows how in the Old Covenant (with the Jews), the people needed priests to offer sacrifices in the temple.  These sacrifices had to be offered again and again, to atone for the recurring sins of the people.  In the New Covenant (established by Christ), we only need one priest and one sacrifice - Christ is both.  He offers Himself, once and for all, as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf.  Here are a couple of important quotes from Hebrews, but whenever you have a minute be sure to read the first half of the book of Hebrews.  It gives you the whole history of salvation in a nutshell:

1.  “he [Christ] had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.  Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebrews 3:17-18). 

2.  “Those priests [of the Old Covenant] were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, but he, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away.  Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.  It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:  holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.  He has no need as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself" (Hebrews 7:23-27).

3.  “For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.  Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world.  But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sins by his sacrifice.” (Hebrews 9:24-26). 

So, the book of Hebrews gives us a liturgical model for the history of Salvation.  Christ had to become human, so that he could function as our eternal High Priest - offering the perfect sacrifice to the Father in heaven.  This is the liturgy - His public work on our behalf! 

If you ever need a quick review of this concept, turn to the hymn "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" in your hymnal and read through verses 3 and 4.  That is a great summary of this idea as well. 

Finally, I should say a quick word about the most common misunderstanding of the word liturgy.  A lot of people recently have taken those two Greek words ('people' and 'work') and gotten their meaning backward.  It is less common now than in the 60's and 70's, but you will still hear people talking about the liturgy as the "work of the people".  I'm not sure exactly how this got so mixed up recently - I suspect "work of the people" comes more from a Marxist view of Church history than a theological one.  In other words, people look at Church history as a long power struggle between the hierarchy and the people.  A lot of Catholics after Vatican II wanted to proclaim that the people had finally taken back the liturgy from the priests!  Power to the People!  Did I mention that this was most popular in the 60's through the 80's?  As you can see, this is exactly the opposite of what we are talking about - we can't save ourselves, no matter how much work we put into it!  Thankfully, the liturgy is Christ's saving work for us, and not our own work.  

The key point here, which you must remember, is that the liturgy is the public work of Christ, who offers Himself once and for all, as the perfect sacrifice to the Father for our salvation. 

Does this all sound far removed from Mass at your neighborhood parish this Sunday?  If you started this article thinking that 'liturgy' is another word for 'Mass', your head may be spinning right now.  Don't worry!  Remember the key point I summarized above, and read the next article - "What is the Mass?"  First understand the big picture of what the Liturgy is, then we'll talk about how the earthly Mass is a participation in that reality.