“A PEOPLE’S EXEGESIS AND ACTIONS FOR LIFE”

“A PEOPLE’S EXEGESIS AND ACTIONS FOR LIFE”

Rev. Jeric C. Cortado, March 2007

We always meet the term “worship”, “liturgy” and “Eucharist”, but the question is, what are their meanings? What is liturgy? What is worship?  And what does the Eucharist mean?

Liturgy is a term that comes from the Geek word “leitourgia” which means “work or actions of the people,” or “a service of the people and for the people.” The word “leitourgia” is a composite word of “leitos” (from “leos” equivalent to “laos” which means people) meaning “public,” and “ergo” which means “to do.”  From this we have “leitourgos,” which means “someone who performs a public duty, and “leitourgia,” the public duty itself.  It seems there is no connection to God. But, if we try to deepen it, “works or actions of the people” or “the service of the people and for the people” are action, work, and service for the Lord. As what the Gospel of Matthew (25:40) says, “…whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!” Liturgy gives an “ordo” (pattern) on how our worship may be ordered according to our particular situation.

On the other hand, the term worship comes from the Old English “woertscipe” which means, “giving respect to something or someone”. This term was originally used in connection with giving respect to a king, until it became common usage for giving worth and respect to God. For the Filipino, worship is any action that gives worth to God.  Worship is a celebration of the gospel in which God calls us anew to through the risen Christ, and the Holy Spirit within us enables us to hear and respond. The rhythms of call and response bring us to a communion that unites us with God and with one another, renewing us as the Body of Christ for the world.  Eucharist is derived from the Greek word “eucharesteo,” which means “thanksgiving.”  It reminds us to give thanks to the God who gives life and hope for salvation.  Throughout the centuries, the words of the Eucharist have been maintained but their meaning have been distorted and substituted.

Liturgy and worship is a people’s movement that expresses their aspirations and agenda before God.  A people’s actions that express service to the God we believe in.  it is grounded by our concrete experiences, thanksgiving, aspirations, that strengthens our principles and faith.  Liturgy and worship is a continuing experience of God’s intervention in our life as we continue in our journey and struggles.  Worship is more meaningful when it is the work of the people, when it expresses the concerns and celebrations of the people’s everyday lives. The Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches both endorse that the full service of Word and Table be the norm for Sunday Worship which should be an expression of who we are.  The Eucharist then becomes a call to unity, challenging people to commit themselves to a life of dialogue, wherein the attacks to life, oppressed lives and abused resources are the agenda.  Wherein, amidst cultural, economic, and political chaos, the seeds of a relevant, engaging, and liberating faith are propagated. Wherein, the profound task and aspiration of nation-building, community building, and social transformation are flaming. Wherein, the spirit of truth and righteousness is the motivating force of the people.  The Eucharist becomes a venue for being united with the liberating Christ, and for fleshing what he stood for.  Christ lived and still lives in the people. The Eucharist must help open the eyes, the ears, the mouths, and consciousness of the people to their reality.  Also, it is a celebration that uses the native language, elements and resources of the people, thereby creating and strengthening community.

It was August 11, 2006, when I visited with my friends the community of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Victoria, Mindoro Oriental, to help in the preparations for the marriage ceremony of our couple comrades and to celebrate with them. We helped them preparing the physical arrangement of the church sanctuary and the ordo of matrimony. I was task to conceptualize a creative movement or cultural presentation. The concept was about love and relationship, and how it works for the benefit of our service and mission. The ceremony for my assessment became a liberating event for the community. Some said it was something unique and new for them. It broke the traditional ordo that is commonly used by our churches. It was simple yet meaningful, because it was grounded in their real-life situation. You can feel in the community the happiness and hope for the newly-weds.  The wedding entourage’s attire was simple and not costly but meaningful and liberating.

The liturgy of the people need not be costly; it can be simple but grounded in the feelings and emotions of the people. The liturgy we used in that wedding ceremony was prepared and planned rooted in the emotion and feeling of our two friends, taking into consideration also the community where they belonged.  It is not the pastors themselves who makes or creates the liturgy, even for weddings.  The liturgy must be necessarily based on the people’s reality.  It must be the product of the minds of the people, and not by the pastors alone. The liturgy should cater to the communal feeling and emotions of the people on a particular occasion. It must become an avenue to express their wholeness and perspectives of relationship amidst the struggle for life. Liturgy is the expression of the theology of the people. The work of the people, liturgy is an exegesis of realities, an exegesis of opportunity for the people to overcome the oppressive system in their midst. Doing liturgy or creating liturgy is going into the people, because our text is the people, a living text of the realities of life. Creating liturgy is entering behind the text, behind the structural and institutional definition of the people’s life. ####