Liturgy Essay on Religion and Theology Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Liturgy on Religion and Theology - Essay Example The term Liturgy simply refers to the religious performances made by the Christian community publically; it also includes prayers and worshipping, feasts and communion, i.e. Sacrament of the Eucharist. The feast is attributed to the Last Supper taken by Holy Jesus Christ in the Upper portion of Zion, where he declared bread as his body, and wine (or water) as his blood (Anderson, 2005, pp. 302-303). It is therefore, every newly baptised, newly married and recently repentant receives Communion from the Church minister as a holy feast associated with Christ. According to the Coptic Orthodox Church, â€Å"the Sacrament of Communion is a Holy Sacrament by which the believer eats the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, presented by the Bread and Wine. This Sacrament has the greatest importance among the Seven Church Sacraments.† Since the Communion maintains imperative significance, as Christ has declared that â€Å"He who eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him† (John 6:56), it is revered and observed by the Christians en masse wherever they work, reside and migrate.    Liturgy seeks its roots in earliest Christian era; the apostles, saints and true followers of earliest centuries A.D. celebrated the same in the light of the Biblical teachings and the noble sayings of Jesus Christ. As a result, the worshipping rites are accepted and embraced by the future generations without violating any aspect related to its fundamental principles. Kavanagh notices that â€Å"the apostles did it, and so did the Fathers of the Church and her pastors far into the Middle Ages† (1982, p.3). However, some of the critics are of the opinion that liturgy is actually adapted to culture, and seeks inspiration from the state or country in which the Christians reside and practise the same. It is partially because of the diversity in worship methodology as well as multiplicity of the style adopted by the Christian community. Hence, cultur e is more dominant feature than religion in their eyes. Famous sociologist Robert Wuthnow has shown that although the Christian teachings lay stress upon ethno-racial equality as a religious value, yet that value was not transmitted into actual behaviour (Hall, 2007, p.2). Actually by critically examining the history of the civilisations at large, it becomes crystal clear that cultural traits leave their indelible impact upon the individual and collective life of the people belonging to one specific social establishment or the other. The same tradition is not confined to one specific area or region only; rather, it is a universally accepted fact that the norms, mores and customs, prevailing in a culture, can sometimes affect the religious cult and worship practices of the followers of divergent spiritual faiths. Macionis (2008, p. 68) rightly states that cultural traits are so influential that they aptly prevail over the family traditions, religious conventions and statutes of the e xisting laws even. It is because of the very reality that they are being observed collectively in one region for the last several centuries, and do not allow an easy intrusion of social change being introduced in the physical and social environment. It is therefore, the Christians and Muslims adopted several features of Hinduism while their interaction with the Hindu community of Indian culture (Latourette, 1975, pp. 79-80). Consequently, the activities related to Communion are differently performed in Asian, European and African countries. Somehow, it does not mean