Drawing on the resources of five other volumes in the series, Transforming Vestries creates a single source designed specifically for this governing body. The chapters highlight the nature - and the needs - of vestry membership: stewardship, leadership, evangelism, discipleship, and vital congregational life.

Preaching as Prophetic Calling is the twelfth in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes throughout the Episcopal Church. This volume addresses the difficult and essential area of preaching a prophetic word. What does a prophetic sermon look like without being shrill, and without being filled with musts, oughts, and shoulds ? This collection of sermons includes examples of prophetic preaching that are visionary and that speak in ways that offer radical comfort as well as radical challenge. "

Preaching Through Holy Days and Holidays is the eleventh in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes in the Episcopal Church. These sermons, collected from clergy around the country, focus on preaching the Holy Days and Holidays of the church and secular calendar. Contents include sermons for:
-- the High Holy Days (Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Evening, and Pentecost)
-- major festivals (The Presentation of Our Lord, Ascension Day, The Transfiguration of Our Lord, All Saints' Day)
-- Feasts of various saints
-- celebrations of ministerial vocation (The Baptism of Our Lord, The Nativity of John the Baptist, the ordination of a bishop, the renewal of ordination vows)
-- civic holidays (Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving) and more.

Throughout the 20th century lay women in the Episcopal Church, often acting in isolation and without institutional support, offered a powerful witness of leadership, vocation, and theological resilience. "Deeper Joy" studies groups of women with similar callings yet located in diverse settings throughout church and society such as schools, hospitals, and other civic institutions. The topics presented here reflect new historical perspectives and unexplored primary materials, including interviews that bear on all women's ministries, hence addressing neglected and important aspects of life in the American church.

After an introductory chapter on women and vocation, five major sections will explore lay women's vocations through the lenses of community life, education, mission, civic life, and working for change from within the Episcopal Church. Topics include Anglican sisterhoods, the Companions of the Holy Cross, the deaconess movement, women of the New Deal, women in foreign missions, the settlement house movement, and women in education. The views of African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American women are all represented. A concluding chapter addresses future directions for leadership and service.

Of particular interest to scholars and practitioners across the Anglican Communion with contributions from a wide breadth of scholars. Liturgical Spirituality is a collection of Anglican reflections on the spirituality of the liturgy, inviting readers into the Church s patterns of prayer, seasons of the year, and sacramental action. With contributions from all over the world, from the North Atlantic to Australia, the collection helps develop a comprehensive understanding of contemporary Anglican spirituality."

* Reflections on tradition and change for the twenty-first-century church * Something for both newcomers and those familiar with liturgy and spirituality Like the scribe and master of the household cited by Jesus in Matthew 13, Re-membering God "brings out of treasure what is new and what is old," and empowers us to go and do likewise. As both critique and encouragement for the church in the early part of the twenty-first century, it seeks to reclaim the foundational riches of the church's liturgy and spirituality in the face of cul-tural change. These resources, some lost or neglected and others under-utilized, can help rebuild the church, raising up what has been cast down and renewing what has grown old. This series of reflections explore with discernment what is "fashionable," and acknowledge the deepest and most endur-ing human needs and hopes, which only God can answer. Re-membering God puts liturgical and spiritual practice into terms easily understood by both newcomers and seasoned devotees, for the benefit of this and future generations. Understanding the value of the past and with an eye to the future, this book will inform our next conversations about evangelism and church growth.

This is the first extensive collection of descants on hymns in Episcopal sources that do not appear in the published hymnals. It contains descants by twenty-two composers on one hundred one hymn texts set to eighty-one hymn tunes. An added bonus is that twenty-seven of the tunes have alternate harmonizations. In addition to dramatic descants on triumphal and celebrative hymns, several hymns are included that require the descant to be reflective and quiet. Many may be played by instruments rather than sung by sopranos and/or tenors. These descants, harvested from working Episcopal church musicians, are examples of the useful day-to-day work in the local church. Even though they are small musical gems and greatly enjoyed by congregations, such practical compositions rarely obtain exposure beyond the local parish or diocese. The theme of the 2005 Annual Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians in Baltimore, MD was "Come to us, Creative Spirit: The Art and Craft of the Church Musician." The vision embodied in that conference title echoes a hymn text by David Mowbray (Come to us, creative Spirit) which honors the creativity of those who speak their faith artistically and seeks to make such voices available to all. It is in that spirit that this book of descants is published.

Part of the well-established Welcome to... series from Morehouse Publishing, this book addresses church history from the grassroots perspective of how Anglicans have prayed, thought about, and lived out their faith through the centuries.

This book is the first new devotional resource of its kind for Episcopalians in more than two generations. It includes devotions to mark the rhythm of the day (brief prayers at fixed hours); the mystery of time and the rhythm of the week, the months, and the Christian year; self-examination and preparation for reconciliation and the Eucharist; intercessory prayers; devotions to the Mother of Jesus; praying with the saints; plus praying with icons. Each section of the book will open with a brief introduction and "teaching" by Bishop Griswold, guiding the reader in the effective use of the material.

This confirmation program, based on the Baptismal Covenant from The Book of Common Prayer, encourages youth and adults to share their own faith journeys. Adaptable for six- to twelve-week programs, confirmation retreats or conferences. Easy-to-use session plans include many interactive activities for youth and adults that encourage reflection and discussion.

This interactive journal is your companion on your faith journey as you seek to renew your commitment to the Episcopal Church. You'll find prayer, scripture study, creative activities and generous space for recording your reflections and experiences.

The Holy Eucharist

Get to know the first five Black women to be elected diocesan bishops within the Episcopal Church. During this moment, with the #metoo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the increased feelings of division in our country, Black women clergy in the Episcopal Church have voiced a need to come together, believing that their experiences and concerns may be very different than those of other clergy. That need is answered here in This Band of Sisterhood. The five Black women bishops featured in this book can provide a compass for how to journey along these new paths. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Carlye J. Hughes, Kimberly Lucas, Shannon MacVean-Brown, and Phoebe A. Roaf offer honest, vulnerable wisdom from their own lives that speaks to this time in American life. Both women and men will find this book invaluable in discerning how God might be calling them to use their own leadership skills.

The Anglican Communion is said to be coming apart at the seams. But is that really true? Backpacking Through the Anglican Communion is the exciting new book that challenges the tired narrative of Anglican disunity. Jesse Zink has traveled tens of thousands of miles around the world, visiting and worshiping with Anglicans in some of the Communion s most diverse provinces Nigeria, the largest province ministering in an unstable political environment; South Sudan, at one point the fastest-growing church in the world, now rebuilding after devastating civil wars; England, the mother church of Anglicans, struggling to adjust to a new, secular age; South Africa, a church dealing with the legacy of entrenched discrimination and rapid social change. The story Zink learns at the grassroots level of the church is far different from the one that dominates its highest levels. He shows that when conversations about power, history, and sexuality are undertaken in a spirit of mutuality and trust, they can strengthen, not weaken, the Anglican Communion. The result is a book that presents vivid slices of Anglican life around the world, argues convincingly that unity is central to the Communion s mission, and presents a credible path to achieving that unity in a global church. It is a book that will be sure to shape coming debates about the future of the Anglican Communion. "

This unique new service book includes liturgies for blessing and healing as related to childbearing and childbirth. It includes prayers, Scripture readings and hymn suggestions organized around the blessing of a pregnant woman; loss of a pregnancy; repentance and reconciliation for an abortion; difficult decisions, unexpected or unwanted pregnancy, loss of a child, termination of pregnancy, infertility, sterilization, and adoption.

This guide for clergy, parish musicians, lay readers, and congregational representatives covers all the stages of organizing worship services for the entire year. Using The Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal 1982 as primary resources, it explores the rich variety of options both time-honored traditions and accepted innovations.

Times and seasons covered in depth include Advent, the Twelve Days of Christmas, Lent and Holy Week, Easter and the Great Fifty Days, and the Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost. Planning the Church Year explains the preparations that make for meaningful holy days and special occasions, such as Lesser Feasts, Thanksgiving Day, Vigils, Michaelmas, All Saints Day, the bishop s visitation, the Patronal and Dedication Festivals. "

Louis Weil looks back on his work shaping the liturgical life of the Episcopal Church through his involvement with the development of The 1979 Book of Common Prayer- and looks forward to the future of the church and its liturgical life. Through stories and first-person anecdotes, Weil does "narrative theology" as only he can. Although most points of reference are to the 1979 BCP, the book is aiming at a more fundamental level-not just Episcopal or even Anglican liturgy, but liturgical rites as such: how do they "do what they do"?-or NOT do when they are done badly! "Liturgical Sense" is two dimensional: both the "common sense" of liturgical rites and also their "aesthetic sense." It is Dr. Weil's contention that in American culture we have an inherent inability to "think symbolically." Dr. Weil seeks to encourage a return to "liturgical sense" across the church.

This course offers the best education available to altar guild members and is also extremely informative for all laity. This comprehensive training course presents "modules" of easy-to-digest information, which include everything any member would need to know about what are humorously termed the "props", the "stage", the "holy hardware", the "costumes", and other aspects of the Passion Play we all attend on Sunday.

Updated with a new cover, this is an indispensable resource for your home or parish office. With more than 3,000 clearly written entries, this book will be a handy, quick, general reference for Episcopalians, both lay and ordained. It includes material specific to the Episcopal Church and its history and polity, liturgy and theology, as well as subjects relevant to the whole church. Entries range from Aaronic Benediction to Zwingli.

Explore how the Revised Common Lectionary enriches worship How does this contemporary lectionary nourish Christian faith and life? Further, why does the lectionary employ metaphor, the richest form of language, in the midst of the worshiping assembly? How do the biblical readings prepare worshippers for the church's mission? Well-known liturgist and author Gail Ramshaw opens up the logic and purpose of this widely used resource. The basics of Episcopal and Anglican worship in North America are explored in this Little Books series, which invites parishioners and newcomers to consider both the beauty of worship and Episcopal ethical commitments.

"The worship of the Christian community, properly understood and done, leads worshipers to act out in their lives the love of God, which is at the heart of our worship. Worship also provides the power and the sustenance which makes this style of living possible. This Christian style of living, moreover, drives those who are committed to it back to the worship of God, to find forgiveness and strength . . . When this interdependent relationship is understood, the power of worship is illuminated and the power to live increased". -- From the Preface

First written in 1979, and out of print for many years, Liturgy for Living remains a classic text in the field of Anglican/Episcopal liturgy. This highly-readable overview explores the meaning of worship from a theological, historical, and spiritual perspective. It then examines the history, theology, and meaning of specific Anglican liturgies including: Holy Baptism, Confirmation, the Daily Office, the Holy Eucharist, and the various pastoral offices. An extensive bibliography, and a glossary of liturgical terms are included.

The New Church's Teaching series has been one of the most recognizable and useful sets of books in the Episcopal Church. With the launch of the Church's Teachings for a Changing World series, visionary Episcopal thinkers and leaders have teamed up to revitalize the series with fresh voices and style, making it grounded and thoughtful enough for seminarians and leaders, yet concise and clear enough for newcomers. A leading thinker and vibrant presence at the intersection of church and world, Winnie Varghese explores the "what", "how", and "why" of Episcopal engagement with contemporary social issues. Like the master of the household in Jesus' parable (Matthew 13:52) who "brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old," Varghese leads readers to discover theological resources from generations past and how they help to guide our action around thorny issues like racial justice, gender and sexuality, economic disparity, definitions of "family," the environment, and much more.

In a world and nation marked by suffering and division, Marcus Halley invites readers to explore rituals of healing and reconciliation in parish practice. How is Christian community fostered when healing and reconciliation are prayerfully and actively sought? How do the ancient rituals of healing practiced among us today form a community committed to the Way of Love, the Way of Healing? And how does such practice lead the Christian community to seek peace? The basics of Episcopal and Anglican worship in North America are explored in this Little Books series, which invites parishioners and newcomers to consider both the beauty of worship and Episcopal ethical commitments.

The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership. Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a fresh account of its rise to prominence. Chronologically arranged, it traces the establishment of colonial Anglicanism in the New World through the birth of the Episcopal Church after the Revolution and its rise throughout the nineteenth century, ending with the complex array of forces that helped shape it in the 20th century and the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003. The authors focus not only on the established leadership of the church but also to the experience of lay people, the form and function of sacred space, the evolution of church parties and theology, relations with other Christian communities, and the evolving ministries of women and minorities.

The classic historical commentary by White and Dykman on the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, long out of print, is now available in a special limited-edition reprint. Revised for the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons of the General Convention, it is an indispensable reference work for libraries and diocesan offices. (Two volumes, 1,154 pp)

This important component to the I Will with God s Help confirmation program is a simple yet effective guide for confirmation mentors, offering suggested scripture readings, discussion questions/topics and prayers for time spent with confirmation students.

This Episcopal confirmation encourages youth and adults to enter into a uniquely Episcopal yet profoundly Christian faith journey. The easily adaptable format works for a traditional 6-12-week program, at a contemporary Confirmation retreat or conference, or as a sacramental supplement to other larger programs. I Will with God s help is built entirely on the Baptismal Covenant from The Book of Common Prayer and offers youth and adults as solid reflection of Episcopal heritage and belief, together with the riches of Episcopal liturgy and prayers."