This post is a criticism of the "elements of the Mass" videos coming out from the Liturgical Institute (at least, the first one). Bear with me for a minute.

I still remember Maxwell Johnson, in his Church Year course at Notre Dame, saying "if you only remember one thing from this class, remember that the Liturgy is not "the work of the people!" Yep, I remember - although it was not clear to me at the time why this was so important. And he was not the only professor who harped on this point.

But for the record, leitourgia, in its original classical use, did not mean "work of the people" (as in: initiated or enacted by the public) - rather, it meant a public work, or a work done on behalf of the people. For instance, the Liddell classical dictionary has:

A.public service performed by private citizens at their own expense, And.4.42, Lys.21.19, etc.; λ. ἐγκύκλιοι ordinary, i.e. annual, liturgies, D.20.21; λειτουργίαι μετοίκων, opp. πολιτικαἰ, ib.18.
II. any public service or work, PHib. 1.78.4 (iii B.C.), etc.; ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν λειτουργιῶν τεταγμένος, in an army, the officer who superintended the workmen, carpenters, etc., Plb.3.93.4; “οἱ ἐπί τινα λ. ἀπεσταλμένοι” Id.10.16.5: generally, military duty, UPZ15.25 (pl., ii B.C.).
2. generally, any service or function, “ἡ πρώτη φανερὰ τοῖς ζῴοις λ. διὰ τοῦ στόματος οὖσα” Arist.PA650a9, cf. 674b9, 20, IA 711b30; “φιλικὴν ταύτην λ.” Luc.Salt.6.
3. service, ministration, help, 2 Ep.Cor.9.12, Ep.Phil.2.30.
III. public service of the gods, “αἱ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς λ.” Arist.Pol.1330a13; “αἱ τῶν θεῶν θεραπεῖαι καὶ λ.” D.S.1.21, cf. UPZ17.17 (ii B.C.), PTeb.302.30 (i A.D.), etc.; the service or ministry of priests, LXX Nu.8.25, Ev.Luc.1.23.

Why did the church take this word specifically to describe Divine Worship? The Catechism puts it succinctly:

“The word “liturgy” originally meant a “public work” or a “service in the name of/on behalf of the people.” In Christian tradition it means the participation of the people of God in “the work of God.” Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church.” (CCC 1069)

What is "liturgy"? The "work of God." What is the "work"? Redemption. Who does the work? Christ (the whole Christ, head and members). Yet some people insist on calling salvation the "work of the people." I was disappointed last week to see a beautifully produced series of videos from the Liturgical Institute kicked off, and cross-linked on the New Liturgical Movement: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2015/11/new-series-of-videos-about-liturgy-from.html
The first video: defining the word liturgy. Fr. Martis leads off by saying there are three "nuances" to the word liturgy. The first? "Work of the People!" I was kind of amazed that this passed without any comment - perhaps buried behind all the All Saints/All Souls posts. But it also occurred to me that there might be some here that do not see the deep problems with the "work of the people" definition. "Work of the people" is primarily an ideological re-imagining of an ancient word; an overreaction to the perceived problem of clericalism in liturgical history; the people "taking back" their rightful role. This simple, subtle misunderstanding is one of the root causes of liturgical decay and abuse post Vatican II - it is a critical "fork in the road", if you will. The "work of the people" is something we conceive, create, enact. The "work of God" is something pre-existing and ongoing that we perceive, receive, participate in. The "work of the people" formulation is insidious because it sounds positive, and it subtly twists a truth of liturgy: that the liturgy is the duty of the laity, the right of the baptized. Certainly it is, and we can even say, as the documents do, that the faithful have a right to participate fully, actively, consciously. What we can never say is that the liturgy itself is the "work of the people." And in fact the Church never says this (any more than she says "transsignification is a nuance in our understanding of "Eucharist"). To sum up:

1 - "The work of the people" is a wrong definition of "liturgy", in classical usage
2 - "The work of the people" is a wrong definition of "liturgy" in early Church usage
3 - The Church herself, even in 20th-century documents, never uses the phrase "work of the people" (thus: "work of the people" is a wrong definition of "liturgy" in its present usage as well)
4 - Rather than clearing up this popular misunderstanding of a word, we have a beautiful series of videos that actually leads off by listing "work of the people" as the FIRST "nuance" in defining the word.
5 - How are we supposed to teach people how the Church actually understands this word (a pretty darn important one, at that; the "source and summit of the Christian life" after all) - how can I compete with production values and a swelling piano score?
6- The folks at Liturgical Institute should know better, and I hope those on this forum know better.
7 - It's Monday, and I'm grumpy.