Worship, Revised and Expanded Edition: Reformed according to Scripture

by Hughes Oliphant Old

There are good reasons for having an established liturgy, and these reasons have often been recounted. In the first place, liturgical forms are a good means of teaching the essentials of the Christian faith. When familiar liturgical forms and texts are used again and again, it gives us the opportunity to meditate on them and to penetrate their meaning more deeply. When there are well-established procedures with which everyone is familiar, it makes it easier to concentrate on the content rather than the outward form. Any athlete understands the importance of mastering form. Such simple things as breathing must be done correctly. It takes a long time to get some of these simple techniques down, but this is essential so that eventually they can be done spontaneously, without effort, without thinking about them. The concentration must be on other things. Forms are a means to an end; if they are constantly changing, they obscure the end rather than lead to it.