process and product

I have been leading a workshop for children's workers on children's spirituality recently. One of the conversations which this has led to has been the question of whether what we are doing is process or product led. Bluntly put, process is about the joy of the journey and product is about getting there. Of course, when working with children there is a delicate balance between the parameters which may be necessary to get to a particular teaching aim and the wandering which we allow, or encourage, within those parameters.
But what about for adults. Liturgy is seen by many people as product and a product which they are not very happy with. Why spend all out energy on getting this or that right when we should be worshipping God. Having been around liturgical churches for years I can see where this comes from  - we all get flustered and concerned about some things but sometimes this gets in the way of what liturgy is - and that is a framework, and a framework for process.
This may sound counter-intuitive at first - but really it is not. Think of a house. When you walk in the door - and you do walk in a door - you want somewhere to hang your coat and put your shoes. You want a kettle for a cup of tea and chair to sit and drink it in. You may want a lamp to read your book or a television to watch. Houses have structure which enable our living - in our modern world it can seem like the places where we live define our lives instead of our lives defining the places where we live - but that aside, you get the point - a house is really only a framework in which we live, a space where our lives can take place and, hopefully, be enjoyed.
This is true for liturgy - it is a space to be inhabited. Good liturgy will open the door to an encounter with God, it will be a place where we recognise who we are and encounter those around us. Good liturgy will give us a comfortable base from which to explore and a place to relax into God's arms and be held. So Liturgy is only a valuable product in as much as it enables the process of worship - and even with that definition - liturgy should, in itself, remain dynamic and open to change.
I had a friend whose mother used to randomly move the furniture around in their house. One night he came home from a night out with friends and was creeping through the living room in the dark, a little worse for wear, trying desperately not to get caught by his parents. A crash and a bang later he came to in a room which had been rearranged, laying next to the sofa he had fallen over and the coffee table he had hit his head on.
Some people like to move furniture but when we think about liturgy, perhaps it is worthwhile remembering that most people do not, at least not very much and if you do move furniture in a house where other people are living it is always nice to tell them what you are doing so that they do not fall over various bits and pieces. I actually think that liturgy which is constantly switched around is more likely to turn into a self-defeating product that liturgy which is allowed its own space to breathe and develop slowly.
If every week we are spending huge amounts of time wondering where to stick the prayers or whether to do cartwheels at the offertory  - if all the time we are looking for the new and exciting - then sometimes I think we learn to value the experience of the liturgy itself over and above the experience of God. And that is dangerous ground. God is always a process in our lives and we cannot hope to express all of God, not matter how clever and well devised our liturgy is. God gives and moves - we do not cram God into words and actions.

That seems to me to be a good reason for having a beautiful and simple and well known space in which to find God. Simple in the sense of still and somewhat stable rather than, necessarily, simplistic.
So my argument is for more stability in liturgy - for words which resonate with the congregation but for teaching words as well, for educating ourselves into our common worship. Lowest common denominator worship satisfies no one - for even the children which it is intended for soon sense the lack of integrity and mystery which loved liturgy brings.
Sometimes there are broken pieces in a framework, sometimes it will not support the weight and needs re-framing - but lets plan that process well, lets state what we are aiming to do with our framework and built it accordingly - lets trust God in that process of building enough that once built we basically leave it alone and inhabit it.Yes, do the maintenance but see that maintenance as part of a process and a journey, not as an end in itself.