The British philosopher John Stuart Mill said that our love for an institution is in proportion to our desire to reform it. Those who see no institutional problems at all in the Church may be too naïve for ministerial service – or they may be in for a rude awakening when they take up their ministerial posts. Those who resent criticisms of the Church may lack an adequate ecclesiology for effective ministry. The Church is no ordinary community, to be sure. It is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. But it is not yet the Kingdom of God. … The inevitable gap between the Kingdom promised and the Kingdom realized to date provides the space within which Church members can lovingly challenge the Church in order that it might be more faithful to its call and to its mission. [from Richard P. McBrien, Ministry, p. 66.]

A more pragmatic concern, though no less important to the enterprise of liturgical evangelism, concerns the danger of what might be called a “more is better” rubric. If the Service of the Word of God is prolonged with lengthy readings, psalms, tracts, sermons, and announcements, the brain is numbed and the dismissal is eagerly awaited. While we do not want to convey a “rush ‘em in and rush ‘em out” mentality, it is important that the physical requirements of the liturgy be carefully considered. The value of brevity may find resistance among those who hold that the liturgy is a fragile heritage that must be handed down intact and with great care. But whose needs are being met when clergy and musicians are so absorbed in their own words and ceremonial that the service seems to drag on and on – the stranger’s? the congregation’s? God’s? In such an environment, I suspect the opposite of liturgical evangelism may take place. [from “Liturgical Evangelism,” Lord]

Hartford Institute for Religion Research
http://hirr.hartsem.edu

Anglican Pages of Louie Crew
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/rel.html