Today, we're pleased to share with you an audio essay written and read by Johnny Gibson entitled

Five Myths About Liturgy. Johnny is the author of Be Thou My Vision, a liturgy for daily worship from Crossway.

Five Myths About Liturgy

Written and Read by Jonathan Gibson

Myth number one

Liturgy is not a biblical word

The word liturgy tends to be used today

in reference to the formal order of worship in church.

It is often assumed that such language has come down to us from the Roman Catholics or Anglicans

who are really into their liturgy.

However, the word liturgy is a biblical word.

It comes from the Greek word liturgia, which means service.

In the New Testament, it is used broadly to speak of our service to God, Romans 12, 1 to 2,

or our service to others, Philippians 2, 30. It is also used narrowly to speak of service in relation

to the formal worship of God when his people gather together. For example, Hebrews 9, 21, 10, 11.

So, liturgy is a Bible word before it is a church word.

Myth number two, liturgy is only used by some churches. Some Christians think that only Catholic

and Anglican churches use liturgy while their church does not. However, given that liturgy

concerns the order of worship elements in a church service, it's not whether a church has a

liturgy, it's just which liturgy the church has. Every church has an order to the worship elements in their service. In some churches,

that order is written down in a fixed form, like in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 1662.

In other churches, the order is not written down, and so the worship elements are more fluid on a week-by-week basis.

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