From A More Profound Alleluia, by Leanne Van Dyke (published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co):
“The term ‘liturgy’ was originally rooted in the context of ancient Greek life, where it meant ‘the work of the people’ and referred to ‘public works’ …. We, of course, use it most commonly to refer to the blueprints for that work rather than to the work itself. The liturgy, for us, is the printed order of worship. The Eastern Orthodox have a phrase that retains the earlier meaning of the word: ‘the liturgy after the Liturgy.’ This refers to the weeklong liturgy of our daily work done after the weekly Liturgy of our corporate worship. This phrase also implies that the work we do on Sundays in corporate worship is not somehow ‘unreal’ but rather the ‘most real’ work that we do ….
“In the liturgy, in our worship, we are not simply being presented with information, much less simply being entertained; rather, we are being made into Christians — our actions and lives are being linked to the life of the world, our hearts to the heart of God, our minds to the Truth. The liturgy is the embodiment of the patterns of the kingdom of God in summary fashion.”
