As I stressed in the last issue of this article on the Divine Liturgy, the sobornal character of the Liturgy is something that we should think about when we gather for our communal worship of God. Truly one of the primary purposes of the Liturgy is to gather together heaven and earth and all creation in Christ and to offer praise and worship to our Father-Creator God. We accomplish this through the action of the Holy Spirit together with Jesus Christ, God incarnate. The Liturgy is truly the sacrament of the assembly. Christ came to gather into one the child of God who were scattered abroad (John 11:52) and from the very beginning the eucharist was a manifestation and realization of the unity of the new people of God, gathered by Christ and in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be thoroughly aware that we come to the temple not for individual prayer but to assemble together as the Church. I highlight this in order that my readers might transform their thinking and make sure that they think about this when they come to worship.

As I highlighted in the last issue, the first part of the Divine Liturgy (i.e., from the beginning up to the sermon), is meant to help us to help us remember when we have come together and to hear the Good News proclaimed, how people like Paul interpreted this Good News and how we might apply the insights about living life that Jesus taught.

The next section of the Liturgy focuses on the petitions that we desire to address to Almighty God. In years past it was also at this time that prayers for those who were preparing to convert to the Church were offered. It is in this section that we also offer the prayers of the faithful and prepare to bring the gifts of bread and wine, which represent our lives, to the Holy Table (i.e., called altar in the West). The bringing of the gifts is called the Great Entrance. As we follow the priest carrying the gifts through the temple, we should mentally place ourselves on the paten together with the bread and into the wine that is carried in the chalice. Again, it truly enhances our celebration IF we project ourselves into the action of the Liturgy and actually think about what the actions of the Liturgy are meant to represent.

The next section of the Liturgy is the profound profession of our faith, which is accomplished through the recitation of the Creed, the summary of our beliefs. It is important to remember that before we are called to recite the Creed we are asked to love one another so that we might be able to profess belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Who we believe are three-in-one. When we do the Kiss of Peace at this juncture of the Liturgy, it is meant to help us remember that we must love one another so that we can worship our God.