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From the Greek Word "For"
Even though we were able to sail only ten or so nautical miles toward Gaza, it was good to spend two weeks plus in Athens.
Being in Greece again, after more than three decades, brought memories from the ridiculous to the sublime -- from the 2002 film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to the lines from Homer memorized during four years of studying classical Greek more than a half-century ago.
I could not find anyone old enough to try out my 2,500 year-old Greek on. But the incessantly repeated dictum of the proud Greek pater familias in the film kept coming back to me: "It comes from the Greek word 'for.'"
To the ancient Greeks who coined the term, liturgy meant work in service to others. Leitourgia referred to the people and the root ergo "do" denoted public service.
In ancient Greece, it was de rigueur for "people of means" to use a good portion of their own assets for the common good -- "to give back," as we might put it today.
Whether or not the early Christians were consciously following Isaiah's admonition against fulsome prancing in ostentatious religious displays, they also applied the word liturgy to the public work of the early church.
And a good thing too: for liturgy/worship should be the Church's central public activity -- the work, the DOING which serves others, while affirming what the worshipers truly stand for and who they are.
Thus, in its purest and most faithful sense, liturgy requires a lived commitment to Justice, without which it is not true worship.
Jesus poured scorn, too, on the hypocrite religious leaders of his day: "Their words are bold but their deeds are few. ... They widen their phylacteries and wear huge tassels." (Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing scripture and worn during morning prayers).
In the view of Jesus, these well-adorned religious leaders oppressed, rather than helped, the poor. I'm sure glad that sort of hypocrisy doesn't happen any more!
Tzedakah is a Hebrew word commonly mistranslated as charity. But it is based on the Hebrew word tzedek meaning righteousness, fairness, justice.
Unlike philanthropy, which is completely voluntary, tzedakah is seen in Judaism as a religious obligation to be met by all -- rich and poor.
Liturgy and the U.S. Boat
We had no tassels on the boat, nor phylacteries. But in my view, we had lots of authentic liturgy.
Even some of my boat-mate friends may be surprised to see it put that way. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists -- all devoted to help bring Justice to Gaza, to break off the handcuffs and open the prison by lifting the Israeli blockade.
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