The Divine Liturgy

"The liturgy is therefore necessary. Where the liturgical life of the church is stunted, the new life in Christ cannot develop in its full riches. Where the divine service is limited to the sermon, supplemented only by a few sung hymns and a free prayer by the pastor, there something essential has been lost. The general prayer, the praise of the whole congregation, the imploring Kyrie uniting all voices into one, the cultic rejoicing as it comes to expression in the Gloria, the Sanctus, and the Benedictus-the church can dispense with none of these. In the liturgy the most important experiences of faith are represented again and again. The christian participates therein not as a pious private person, but as a member of the mystical body of Christ. Liturgy is eternal. In heaven the confession of sin ceases. The Kyrie becomes silent and the Agnus Dei transforms itself into the praise of the Lamb who has purchased us with His blood. But the whole heaven is filled with one exuberant Gloria, Hallelujah, and Benedictus."

Bishop Bo Giertz, 1957 - The meaning and Task of Sermon in the Framework of the Liturgy.