There are a few priests around St. Blog’s that I think would be quite worthy of receiving the mitre and crosier some day, even though I wouldn’t necessarily wish that much stress on anyone. Fr. Fox at Bonfire of the Vanities is one of them, and his homily this past Sunday shows, in part, why. A couple of snips to whet your whistle:
To me, it suggests that true worship,
the way we really are supposed to worship,
is not something that comes from us, to God—
but it is God who tells us how to do it, and we respond.In other words, we don’t create worship;
we learn how to do it, from the Lord.
…
Remember, when God’ People arrived at Mt. Sinai,
they did not form a liturgy committee
and to plan how they would worship God.
God already had a plan for them—
which he gave to Moses, on top of the mountain.Well, let me correct myself.
While Moses was up the mountain,
they did form a committee.
And the result was the golden calf.
Now I’m quite sure that it’s impolite to say it, but that last part had me roaring in laughter. Not necessarily because it was intended as a joke, but because it’s so very, very accurate. When we try to create our own form of worship we wind up worshiping either ourselves or some dead non-God. “Save the liturgy, save the world” is more than just a battle cry for embittered rad trads.
