WORSHIP IS BASIC to Christian life, and it is inconceivable that the Church could exist if people did not gather to pray together and to praise God. Since the day of the Resurrection, when the disciples gathered in fear behind locked doors, Christians have met together to pray and praise God, and to encounter Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit. The word ‘liturgy’ is used for acts of worship and for the study of how we worship. Certain elements are common to liturgy. We read or hear Scripture. We may celebrate the sacraments of baptism or eucharist. As well as words, there may be actions or symbols or music or silence. How a space is ordered and decorated, how it smells and sounds, all contribute to the creation of liturgy. Anglicans have always known the importance of worship, and we are generally known as having a liturgical tradition. Anglicans normally have recognizable liturgical forms and structures, and should use authorised services that have been discussed and refi ned and given permission for use. Very often, the form of words sinks deep into the memory through repeated use over many years. Traditional texts such as the Authorised (strictly speaking, the King James) Version of the Bible, or the Book of Common Prayer (1662), have shaped many people culturally very deeply, though this influence is waning as these books are used rarely or not at all. Still, for Anglicans across the Communion, the principles of ordered liturgies, the Calendar, the pattern of the Christian year, worship in the vernacular, congregational participation, and common prayer, show that we have deep roots in both the catholic and reformed traditions. We live in a time of change. Liturgical reform and renewal, gathering pace in the twentieth century, have moved us away from common words towards similar structures. Music has diversified enormously, and it is hard to find hymns and songs that most people can be assumed to know. The rise of Pentecostalism and charismatic worship is seen not only in the vast numbers of Pentecostal churches and their style of worship, but in the influence they are having on the more traditional churches. Some 10% of Roman Catholics globally are said to be charismatic. In many parts of the Anglican Communion parishes have intentionally moved their worship into a Pentecostal style, and it may not always be obvious to visitors whether one is in an Anglican or Pentecostal service. I have been to services in parts of the Communion where one begins with robed choirs but twenty minutes later the music and the multiple sermons have moved completely into styles lifted straight out of the Pentecostal churches. Churches that claim to be ‘non-liturgical’ always turn out to have their own accepted norms for how things are done. Liturgy matters, whatever the style, because it is human activity directed explicitly in praise of God. It also matters because what we say in worship expresses and reveals what we believe. Faith and doctrine for Anglicans are usually seen most clearly in liturgy, rather than in a statement of faith. It could be said that we are liturgical rather than confessional. What we say or sing matters because our theology can flow out of our liturgy. Get the liturgy wrong and the theology goes astray, and then many other problems follow. Liturgy matters for the care of theology, doctrine, preaching, pastoral care and safeguarding, for the visibility and use of all people’s ministry and participation. It also matters because liturgy is formational. Taking part in the worship of the church shapes and nurtures all of us in our faith. Corporate prayer and receiving the sacraments, especially the eucharist, are essential if we are to grow in faith and last the course in the long-distance run of faith. If the Church is to be serious about Intentional Discipleship (a major focus of Anglican Communion life) and about evangelisation, mission and witness, it must take very seriously how it worships. It is a matter of much regret that there are now fewer places providing serious teaching about liturgy or studying it, or giving clergy and lay ministers the grounding they need in the art and skill of leading liturgy. The liturgical formation of the clergy as well as the people is becoming a starkly pressing need in the Churches of the Communion. Increasingly we will have to provide this ecumenically, sharing resources and capacity, to ensure that those being ordained as priests or bishops have a high degree of competence and knowledge in liturgy. This makes the work of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (IALC) so important. IALC brings together liturgists from around the Communion to network together, share matters of common concern, or interest, and support the liturgical life of the member churches. In recent years, IALC has written liturgical material for use across the Communion, and in particular a single eucharistic prayer that may be common to all Anglican Churches. IALC has worked on liturgical formation, and the nature of the Eucharist. This year IALC is starting to reconsider the subject of enculturation or contextualisation, and how the way people worship is shaped by where they live. Creativity and theological vision for liturgy are today often found in places where there is ecumenical collaboration. Taizé and Iona are two examples. Orthodox icons are visible sign of how western churches are remembering the witness of the Orthodox Church. One particularly significant gift we are receiving from the Orthodox Church is seen in the growing ecumenical movement in the western churches to establish for the first time a Feast of Creation in Christ. We owe a great debt to the Orthodox for their focus on 1 September as Creation Day, which has led to the emergence in many places of the theological season of Creation, including the Anglican Communion. The movement towards a Feast of Creation in Christ began in earnest in Assisi in 2024 with an impressive ecumenical gathering of scholars, liturgists, ecologists and others. At its heart...
