Gordon Lathrop points out that as the church comes together for worship, “The astonishing truth is this: the most important symbol of Christ in the room is not the minister, not the altar, not even the bread and wine or the water of the font. It is the assembly, the Body of Christ, as the New Testament says.”[1] The theological significance of the gathering comes from the biblical declaration that once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people.[2] The gathering of the church for worship comes in response to God’s call. “You did not choose me but I chose you.”[3] We come together as the people of God because God has called us into being. We did not decided one day to “have church.” Rather, it is the Word made flesh, the incarnate God who entered creation, lived as a man, died on a Cross, and was raised to new life that calls us to gather as God’s unique people. In this gathering we become the sign, symbol, and witness to the resurrection.
The function of The Gathering is to turn our focus from the world that we have come from with all its demands and burdens, toward the world to which God calls us with its promise of peace and rest and renewal. Through the opening hymn, the invocative prayer, the Great Litany we are given the opportunity to move from the kingdom of day-timers, deadlines, and distractions into the kingdom of God. The Gathering is important because it prepares us to hear from God. An important part of that preparation is The Great Litany. The words of this ancient prayer call out to God who has shown us mercy, reminding us of our continual need for that mercy in our lives to not only keep us safe, but to empower us to be God’s unique people in the world. “Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”[4] The words, “Have mercy upon us,” are not meant to coax God into giving something God is reluctant to give, but to avail ourselves of the mercy already abundantly available to all who ask. The Great Litany concludes with a short prayer, and then the Service of the Word begins.
[1] Gordon W. Lathrop, The Pastor: a Spirituality (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006), 27.
[2] See 1 Peter 2.10
[3] John 15.16, NRSV.
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