Common Worship: Tradition, Formation, Mission

I wonder if it is still possible to speak of “common worship.” Is “common worship” possible in a time that the ecumenical momentum experienced in the early 1980s and following the 1982 publication of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry?1 Is it still thinkable in a time in which the very notion of, or support for, ecclesial denomina- tions seems to be in decline, in a time in which the diversity of the church receives more attention than its unity, in a time in which formerly common English trans- lations of liturgical texts no longer provide an experience of unity in prayer among English-speaking Roman Catholics and Protestants, and in a time in which litur- gical renewal and reform has come to focus more on market share than on the re- newal of Christian faith? Is it still possible to speak of “common worship” marked by shared, though not uniform, patterns and practices that express something of the unity of the church? Dare we even think about “common worship” in a social context that more readily identi es polarization rather than commonality—not only black or white, rich or poor but also traditional or contemporary, liturgical or non-liturgical, high church or low church, evangelical or sacramental, Protestant or Catholic, unity or diversity?