Rote and Repetition

The criticism often leveled at liturgical tradition and worship is that it is all rote, repetitive ritual that becomes meaningless words to people. Now this is undoubtedly true for many. One can say these things over and over again and eventually stop listening to them. I find myself guilty of this. As I say Morning Prayer daily (well, almost), I have found that I can say the familiar canticles aloud while daydreaming about something else, literally at the same time. I know the Venite* so well that I can plan my day in my head even while I am saying, “Today, O that ye would hear his voice.” The irony is not lost on me.

And therein lies the problem – not in the practice itself but, as is often the case, in the heart of the practicer. That particular exhortation to hear his voice, from Psalm 95, is to attentiveness to God and his Word – a reminder to listen. And the truth is that this blight is not on only the liturgists but on all of us. Who among us has not found himself reading the scriptures and realizing he has no idea what he has just read. Our eyes may have been perusing the parables of Jesus or the wisdom of Solomon, but our head just isn’t in the game. Our head is focused on the stress of the day or the shiny new whatever we saw while shopping online. Indeed our head may be even focused on some particular good and joyful thing, but not on what is in front of us.

I would really like it if the whole of the Christian life was just spontaneous love toward and engagement with God. That’s better isn’t it? Spontaneous, extemporaneous and free. Sadly the reality of my own fallen nature interferes with this beautiful picture. I need to make a choice toward attentiveness to God, to hear his voice today. And I find that the regular rhythm and the familiar words help in that. I am arrested by the Venite’s exhortation to hear his voice today. It catches me amid my daydream and brings me back to the issue at hand – the moral effort of attending to God.

And it is not only this exhortation but other things of which I am regularly reminded. Even this morning, saying the Apostle’s Creed I came to the line “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” I considered all the times when I am tempted not to believe this: when shame cripples me and I don’t “feel” forgiven (as if my feelings are any effective measure of that) or when someone has so angered me that forgiveness of sins is far from my heart and mind. Then I came back to the solid and simple assertion - that I do believe in the forgiveness of sins (and the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting for that matter).

Yep, it is all rote and repetitive. And rich.

Today, O that ye would hear his voice.

*Psalm 95 – it opens with the invitation, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord.” Venite is Latin for “O come”