While we worship God in union with Jesus, our worship is now a stylized ritual that remembers how and what Jesus did to worship God. Our Liturgy is, first and foremost, a ritualized way for us to offer “THANKSGIVING” to God for the gift of life which He is sharing with us at the present moment. Added to the ritual offering of gifts which represent life, that is bread and wine (i.e., food), our ritual also imitates the ritual of the Byzantine Empire court, since we see God as the head of His Spiritual Kingdom. It also symbolizes many other things.

Consider the two processions that are integrated into our Liturgy. The first, the Small Entrance with the Gospel Book, symbolizes God coming from His Heaven in the WORD, Jesus, to lead us back to heaven. The Gospel book now rests on the Throne (altar) and is carried through the community to lead it back to the Throne. Of course like all symbols, originally this ritual action was meant to bring the Gospel Book from the place it was stored to the place of worship. As tradition developed and the Gospel Book was placed on the Throne, the entrance took on a new, symbolic meaning. While not all communities practice carrying the Gospel Book through the entire Church, we do it in order to help us understand that God came in His Word to lead us back to Him.

The same is true of the Great Entrance during which the gifts are brought to the Throne. The gifts come from the Preparation Table which is not within the Altar Area. Again this symbolizes that LIFE comes from God and as these symbols of life are carried through the community, we know that this reminds us of the fact that Human Life comes from God and is joined to God through the Person of Jesus.

As we experience these two very important “processions” through our midst as the People of God, we should remind ourselves of their meaning. When we think about these things, our worship of God – our Divine Liturgy – takes on even greater meaning for us. As I have repeatedly stated, we must think about what we do and say during the Liturgy so that it truly become OUR WORSHIP of God.

Even our worship space is meant to symbolically represent something: the vestibule, the world without faith; the, nave (the world of faith); and the Altar Area (i.e., sanctuary in the West), heaven. Why? So that the actions of the Liturgy can remind us that all things come from God in order to lead us back to Him.