To Begin

I'm not sure if the title for this blog will stick permanently, but for now, it seems to say what I hope to communicate:

DC
The DC part is, of course, fairly self-explanatory. These musings come to you from the nation's capitol: Washington DC.  More specifically, the come to you as the musings of one pastor in the nation's capitol, serving at The Washington DC Christian Reformed Church. "Christian Reformed" is a label that could require some explanation: with our historic roots in the Netherlands, we are a denomination active in Canada in the United States that, well, oh here.  Just check that out and get back to me with any questions.

Liturgy
A word that has, sadly, fallen out of favor.  I have heard "liturgy" used as a synonym for boring. "Liturgical" as the antithesis of "contemporary." Literally, liturgy is the compounding of two Greek words: work & people.

Liturgy is, rightly understood, The work of the people.

Whether that work is call and response between cantor and congregation, whether that work is lifted hands and jamming out.  All of it is liturgy -- the expected work of the people of God gathered in worship.  So there is no such thing as a church without liturgy.  (There is plenty of evidence, however, for church with thoughtless liturgy.)
How the church gathers, what is expected and required of worshippers is a church's functional liturgy. While not unique to Reformed Christianity, there is a strong accent within our tradition, that the work of the people, the liturgy, does not begin with a prelude and end with the benediction.  The work of the people properly belongs on the streets, in the cities, in our homes, throughout our culture, institutions of higher education and marbled halls of governance.

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: "Mine!"- Abraham Kuyper

On Sunday we remember who we are so that we may live ever attentive to the claim of God's calling in the midst of vocation, family, friendship, errands, neighborhoods and recreation. The intention of this blog, however, is to insert reminders of our Christian identity into the work week.  And it is an opportunity for those immersed in liturgy to argue, clarify, distill, illustrate and buttress the liturgy of Sunday morning with the liturgies we each cultivate all week long.