If we were to ask church members – not necessarily only ones who show up on Sundays – what they expect to get out of the Sunday liturgy (I mean this in a broad sense to include both the Divine Liturgy and forms of Sunday service in Protestant and Catholic churches), I wonder what we would learn.
Putting the question that way is crass and even offensive, I know. We worship God out of thanksgiving, gratitude, acknowledgement. However, in a consumerist culture I think this is the approach many people take to their liturgical participation.
It seems that church members understand crass and offensive better than anything else.
I think that may well be – at least when it comes to expectations about worship! But I wonder about where such expectations have come from in the first place. Hasn’t the church played a role in forming those expectations?