The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20160724

Diskos-458In the last issue of the Bulletin, I began a closer look at the prayers of the Anaphora, the core of our Liturgy. After the celebrant asks that the grace of Jesus, the love of the Father and the communion of the Spirit be with all those present, he exhorts the community to lift up their hearts. As people in Christ lift up the eucharistic gifts, they also lift up their hearts as well. In the Bible the heart of man stands for his whole being and life. Thus in the anaphora, as the Apostle Paul has stated, the whole person is taken up into that realm where Christ is now seated at the right hand of God. Paul wrote this:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3.1–3).

The manner of lifting up oneself to God is through thanksgiving. The word eucharist in Greek, as I am sure all of my readers already know, means thanksgiving. The eucharistic Divine Liturgy is preeminently the action of lifting up one’s heart and giving thanks to God for all that He has done for humanity and the world in Christ and the Holy Spirit: creation, salvation and eternal glorification.

The only way that mankind can come into true union with God and with creation is through thanksgiving in Christ. Jesus is the only man truly grateful, humble and obedient to God. In him, as the only Beloved Son of God and the only perfect Adam, all men can lift up their hearts and give thanks to the Lord: For there is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim 2:5).

It is critical for us, if we are to derive the full benefit of the Liturgy, to come to worship with a heart and mind filled with thanksgiving. This means, of course, that we recognize the wonder of the gifts that God is sharing with us right now. He is not only sharing His life-force but also His ability to think and create. He shares some very wondrous gifts with us. Just think of all the wonderful abilities that we have as humans. I think the problem is that many times, as we face the challenges of life, we fail to realize how wondrous life really is. Let us truly give thanks to God for LIFE.

Let us truly LIFT up our hearts!

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