Tomorrow morning, I am leading worship, and we are reciting the Phos Hilaron (Hilarious, or Gladdening Light) at the opening.
I hesitated to use it again, because we’ve done it so many times before. Then I came to my senses. The reason we need to do it again is because we’ve done it before. The joy of the prayer, of the hailing of the gladdening light of Christ, must roll around in us again and again. Linking us to brothers and sisters who have recited it repetitiously since the earliest of times, there can be no greater reason it bears repeating again.
There is a fine line between lifeless liturgy and memorized, internalized and realized prayer. That fine line exists in the heart of those who worship, and the presentation (liturgy, from liturgeo, meaning “the work of man”) can help freshen the most repeated of prayers.
The contemporary mind must care again for the lost art of long and frequent repetition, and revive it once again in our worship planning.
Setlist:
Phos Hilaron
E Joyous Light
E Indescribable
A Draw Me Close
D All Creatures Of Our God And King
G Home Again
