A wealth of worship resources for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany from the Wild Goose Worship Group. These litanies, meditations, monologues, poems, prayers, readings, scripts and symbolic actions aid the rediscovery of the stories of Christ's birth through adult eyes. Contents include: ADVENT RESOURCES Behind the corridors of space (responses) Waiting (meditation) In the beginning of creation (responses) The people who walked (meditation) Among the poor (litany) A story of light & darkness (meditation) Open our eyes (prayer) The desert will sing and rejoice (responses) Lucky day (script) Prepare the way of the Lord (responses) Mary and the angel (script) The Magnificat (meditation) Mary, pondering (reading) Mary and Lizzie (script) We suspect angels (prayer) God of the watching ones (blessing) Pinning our hopes on Jesus (i) (intercessions) Pinning our hopes on Jesus (ii) (symbolic action) Into our world as into Mary's womb (responses) The village gossips (script) The census (script) How far is it? (symbolic action) Registering hope (symbolic action) Mary's journey (reading) The diaries of Joseph and Theodore (script) The Bethel Inn (script) Cloth for the cradle (symbolic action) In hope, the universe waits (responses) CHRISTMAS RESOURCES It was to older folk that Jesus came (reading) Light looked down (responses) This, tonight, is the meeting place (prologue) The journey of Jesus (reading) The Incarnation (script) Litany of the Incarnation (litany) When the world was dark (intercessions) The shepherd (script) And did it happen? (reading) They have heard it on the hills (proclamation) The Word (meditation) A perfect disgrace (script) Michael Mouse (script) A special baby (script) Once in Judah's least known city (reading) A boy has been born for us (responses) In the face of the Gospel (intercessions) Anna and Simeon (script) Women weeping (meditation) EPIPHANY RESOURCES The wise man's journey (reading) The gatekeepers (script) The soldiers (script) God of God, Light of Light (responses) God bless us and disturb us (reading)

A timeless collection of prayers, quotes, poems and speeches for every occasion. Complete with a brief introduction to each piece and its author, this book features words and prayers from 300BC to the present day. It provides a great source of inspiration when planning a speech or ceremonial occasion or can be used for personal devotions. This carefully chosen selection of the best loved prayers and words of wisdom is a staple for any bookshelf. The many contributors include C. S. Lewis, Florence Nightingale, St Francis of Assisi, John & Charles Wesley, Mother Teresa, John Stott, Oswald Chambers, G. K. Chesterton and Julian of Norwich. From The Lord's Prayer and Footprints, to excerpts from A Pilgrims Progress and A Christmas Carol, this compilation is a useful for individuals to read and reference, and a great source of inspiration when planning for a ceremonial occasion, speech, wedding or funeral. Each reading is introduced with a brief history to the piece and its author, providing new levels of interest and a sense of context. The 300 hand-picked pieces have been arranged alphabetically, so that selecting a favourite work is easy. This guide is also accompanied by a set of indexes which detail first lines, themes, Bible references, and authors, so that each entry is thoroughly cross-referenced, enabling you to make the most of this fabulous selection.

A guide to liturgy and worship in the Church of England within the framework of 'Common Worship', which combines theory, theology and history with a strong sense of the realities of parish life and pastoral practice. It explores the way in which liturgy can reflect the life of the church and the wider world, and the new opportunities for churches at a local level to own and shape the liturgy they use. This book is essential reading for anyone involved in worship in the Church of England, and who wants the worship of their church to be the best they can offer, based on clear liturgical principles. It is also practical and detailed - Michael Perham covers clothing and colours, children's role in worship, the cycle of the Christian year, the timing of services, the use of church space and other elements that go to make up the feel of an individual church. The book has its roots in two of Michael Perham's earlier works, 'Liturgy Pastoral and Parochial' and 'Lively Sacrifice', though much of the material is quite new, and fills its role as key texts for anyone interested in the liturgy of the Church of England.

Originally published in 2004. Inculturation - the creative and dynamic relationship between the Christian message and culture or cultures - is of interest to many churches throughout the world, particularly since the Second Vatican Council made it part of the Roman Catholic agenda. This book looks at the question of the inculturation of Christian worship, particularly in the Eucharist. Looking at the relationship of worship and culture requires insights from both theology and anthropology; Tovey develops the tools to interconnect perspectives into an interdisciplinary exploration of different models of inculturation. Inculturation of Christian Worship is both interdisciplinary and ecumenical in approach. Case studies are drawn from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, African Independent Churches, The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. While there is a focus on Africa for particular examples, the issues are discussed in a world wide context.

Are you curious about biblical Christian meditation? Through stories, practical advice, and helpful prompts, Rick Hamlin guides Christians to center their minds and hearts on God as they seek to hear the still small voice above all the noise and chaos in the world. Rick Hamlin has been unpacking the power of prayer in Finding God on the A Train and Ten Prayers You Can't Live Without and the special Guideposts book, Prayer Works. In this new book, you will discover how meditation has deep Christian roots that go back for millennia, how it can be used to live more authentically and let go of anxiety, how to love more generously and find God's will in your life, and how to grow in compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance. The steps are simple, and at the end of each chapter Hamlin offers specific exercises to enhance your practice. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take his cross daily and follow me," Jesus said to his followers. Meditative prayer offers a rich resource to do just that. Silence speaks volumes and becomes a tool for all Jesus followers.

Daily readings for four months from a wide range of contributors within the Iona Community, including John L. Bell, Ruth Burgess, Ian M. Fraser, Kathy Galloway, Tom Gordon, Peter Millar, J. Philip Newell, Jan Sutch Pickard. These prayers, songs, poems, articles, liturgies, which reflect the concerns of the Community, can be used for group or individual reflection and are intended to inspire positive action and change in our lives. Subjects covered include: Hospitality and welcomePrayerJustice and peaceThe environmentHealingSocial actionChurch renewalWorshipWorkRacial justiceWomenCommunityPilgrimageSexualityColumban Christianity and the Celtic traditionEcumenismInferfaith dialogueNonviolence and peacekeepingSpiritualityCommitmentEconomic witnessYouthLiturgies Neil Paynter was a member of the resident staff group of the Iona Community for four years on Iona. He is an Associate of the Community and the editor of Lent & Easter Readings from Iona, This Is the Day, Blessed Be Our Table, Holy Ground, Growing Hope, Iona Dawn and Iona: Images and Reflections.

Tried-and-tested collection of creative resources for the Church's year

This is the all-inclusive, complete and permanent Sunday Missal. It contains all the official Mass prayers for Sundays and Holydays that are now in use in America -- including the readings from the Revised Lectionary for Sunday Mass (cycles A, B, and C). It also includes Mass themes, biblical commentaries, people's parts in boldface type, hundreds of illustrations (both in full color and in black and white), helpful indices, and a Treasury of Prayers.

For over a thousand years, Benedictine monks around the world have followed the daily pattern of morning, noon, and evening prayer known as the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office. Gathered from the Benedictine tradition, the prayers included in this book grew up around the celebration of the Divine Office-embellishing it, illuminating it, and echoing it for generations of the faithful. The Saint Benedict Prayer Book also reclaims little-known prayers (Little Offices, Commemorations, and Litanies) from long ago. For anyone seeking a way of prayer rooted in ancient wisdom, this little book offers a sure path.

"Let every student be plainly instructed . . . to consider well the main end of . . . life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life . . . and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning." -Harvard College Laws, 1642 There was a time when Harvard was considered a holy place and Princeton trained prophets, when students and professors could not help but pray because there were certain questions that could only be answered by an Intellect greater than our own. There was a time when student leaders galvanized campus movements, when young revolutionaries defied the status quo of their generation and engaged in sacrificial service that reshaped society and transformed culture. There was a time . . . God on Campus traces a remarkable legacy of spiritual awakening that stretches from the founding of the earliest colleges in the United States to a global movement of nonstop student prayer spreading across campuses today. "This is a book to help you remember your roots," Trent Sheppard writes, "ordinary people like you and me--bold and timid, brilliant and insecure, disillusioned and dangerous, ambitious and naive, holy and fallen, fearless and afraid--people who prayed, people who conspired together with their friends in faith and action, people who believed their lives could actually help shape the unfolding narrative of history." From the establishment of early American campuses during the Great Awakening to the rapidly spreading collegiate movements of the twenty-first century, Sheppard shows how students can integrate their passion in prayer with practical Christ-like living in culture. "The goal," he explains, "is not for us to abandon our studies in economics or education and all become preachers instead. The goal is to live like Jesus in the very soul of society." Culminating in a movement to mobilize prayer on every college and university campus in the United States throughout 2010, God on Campus is an invitation for students to find their place in the story of God today.

Readings for Weddings is an inspirational collection of Bible quotations, poems, hymns and prose for secular weddings, church ceremonies and services of blessing. Mark Oakley includes such 'wedding classics' as 1 Corinthians 13 and Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, the poetry of Shelley and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, verse by Wendy Cope and other witty, contemporary poets.

Spirit and Sacrament by pastor and author Andrew Wilson is an impassioned call to join together two traditions that are frequently and unnecessarily kept separate. It is an invitation to pursue the best of both worlds in worship, the Eucharistic and the charismatic, with the grace of God at the center. Wilson envisions church services in which healing testimonies and prayers of confession coexist, the congregation sings When I Survey the Wondrous Cross followed by Happy Day, and creeds move the soul while singing moves the body. He imagines a worship service that could come out of the book of Acts: Young men see visions, old men dream dreams, sons and daughters prophesy, and they all come together to the same Table and go on their way rejoicing. In short, Spirit and Sacrament is an appeal to bring out of the church's storehouse all of its treasures, so that God's people can worship our unrivaled Savior with sacraments and spiritual gifts, raised hands and lowered faces.

To suppose that God has a providential plan based on a special covenant with Israel and realised in the atonement presents us with a moral problem. In Ruin and Restoration David Martin sketches a radical naturalistic account of the atonement based on the innocent paying for the sins of the guilty through ordinary social processes. An exercise in socio-theology, the book reflects on the contrast between 'the world' governed by the dynamic of violence as analysed by the social sciences, including international relations, and the emergence in Christianity (and Buddhism) of a non-violent alternative. A 'governing essay' fuses frameworks drawn from Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Jaspers, Ernst Troeltsch and Max Weber and explores the relation between the cultural sciences, especially sociology, and theology treated as another but very distinctive cultural science. Six commentaries then deal with the atonement in detail; with the nature of Christian language and grammar, and with its characteristic mutations due to necessary compromises with 'the world'; with sex and violence; and with the liturgy as a concentrated mode of reconciliation.

A revised and expanded version of this classic text for church musicians and other worship planners. A planning guide for church musicians and clergy for selecting hymns, songs, and anthems, for the three-year liturgical cycle following the Revised Common Lectionary. Hymns and songs keyed to the appropriate liturgical occasion for Sundays in the Revised Common Lectionary for the three-year cycle. Revised in 2021, this first volume of the three-book series (Years A, B, and C) Includes selections from The Hymnal 1982, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Wonder, Love, and Praise, Voices Found, My Heart Sings Out along with Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Moravian Book of Worship (Moravian Church), Common Praise (Anglican Church of Canada). Selections are listed by their relationship to the texts appointed for the day with indications which texts are direct quotes or paraphrases of the appointed scripture. First lines of hymns and songs include their page number and book location. Anthems are coded with their source when they are part of collection Choral selections are categorized as anthems or solos and voice parts are indicated.

The 20th century, especially the latter decades, was a time of explosive growth and importance in hymnody, and yet published material about the hymnody of this period has been scattered and difficult to come by. The present volume catalogues and categorizes the available writings to guide students and scholars in their research. Furthermore, this reference does not depend primarily on the view of the author/compiler, but guides users toward a broad spectrum of viewpoints about 20th-century hymnody. Listing the principal writings on the repertory, language, practice, and people of hymnody during the last century, this annotated bibliography offers students and researchers alike a handy reference for a vast and varied field.

Beginning with a unique introduction to and summary of hymnody in the 20th century, Music arranges the entries by topic, dividing each chapter by helpful subject headings. The repertory of the twentieth century, and language issues are discussed. Practical elements of hymnody are covered, while the final chapter lists writings about individual hymn writers and other influential persons in the field. Music provides a brief annotation for each entry and uses numerous cross-references, guiding the reader to relevant material in other sections of the book. A comprehensive index concludes this essential reference.

"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner." These words from the Eastern Christian tradition have strengthened and comforted believers for centuries. In these pages, John Michael Talbot explores the roots of this Jesus Prayer along with the theological and practical meaning of each word for believers today. He ends each chapter with a brief practice using the prayer. Come discover how the Jesus Prayer can renew and enrich your spiritual life.

A collection of communion liturgies and other resources covering Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity and Transfiguration. Thom Shuman writes: `So much of the ordinary is truly extraordinary, so much of what we take for granted are the soft petals of grace strewn on the paths we walk, so much of the air we breathe is filled with wonder, hope, joy and peace.' An awareness Thom first experienced while on sabbatical at the spiritual centres of Taize, the Abbey of Gethsemani and Iona, where these liturgies and prayers first took root. Thom lives in Columbus, Ohio and is an Associate member of the Iona Community.

The Reformation changed forever how the sacrament of the Eucharist was understood. This study of six canonical early modern lyric poets traces the literary afterlife of what was one of the greatest doctrinal shifts in English history. Sophie Read argues that the move from a literal to a figurative understanding of the phrase 'this is my body' exerted a powerful imaginative pull on successive generations. To illustrate this, she examines in detail the work of Southwell, Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan and Milton, who between them represent a broad range of doctrinal and confessional positions, from the Jesuit Southwell to Milton's heterodox Puritanism. Individually, each chapter examines how Eucharistic ideas are expressed through a particular rhetorical trope; together, they illuminate the continued importance of the Eucharist's transformation well into the seventeenth century - not simply as a matter of doctrine, but as a rhetorical and poetic mode.

New research into the liturgy of Anglo-Saxon history, with important implications for church history in general. The essays in this volume offer the fruits of new research into the liturgical rituals of later Anglo-Saxon England. They include studies of individual rites, the production, adaptation and transmission of texts, vernacular gospeltranslations, liturgical drama and the influence of the liturgy on medical remedies, poetry and architecture; also covered are the tenth-century Benedictine Reforms and the growth of pastoral care. It will be valuable for anyoneinterested in later Anglo-Saxon England as well as medieval liturgy and church history.

This concise, easy-to-use pastoral resource provides spiritual nourishment for extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. Rooted in the Sunday gospels, this indispensable aid invites reverent and prayerful preparation for liturgical ministry. Living LiturgyTm for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion highlights the connections between the Word, Eucharist, and living in service of others. Ministers will find this resource to be formative for their own personal reflection, and a tool for facilitating prayer with people who are sick and homebound. Living LiturgyTM for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion begins with the First Sunday of Advent 2020 and includes the following: Gospel readings for each Sunday and other significant liturgical celebrations Prompts for personal reflections and prayer A separate insert card with the Rite for Administration of Communion to the Sick by an Extraordinary Minister Inscription page for the minister's name, ideal for commissioning ministers of the Eucharist

Close the Door to the Enemy and Open the Door to God Learn how to rid your home of destructive objects and spiritual darkness to create a fortress of love and light for your family. Too many Christians are completely unaware of how the enemy has gained access to their homes through what they own. This practical, easy-to-read book shows you how to pray through your home and property in order to lock out evil and experience a richer spiritual life. With Protecting Your Home from Spiritual Darkness, you are just ten steps away from bringing freedom and security in Christ to your home! Includes the following sections and more: "A Step-by-Step Guide to Praying through Your Home"; "Understanding Spiritual Darkness"; "How to Protect Your Children"; "Learning to Overthrow Generational Curses."

The influence of Rome on medieval plainsong and liturgy explored in depth. Containing substantial new studies in music, liturgy, history, art history, and palaeography from established and emerging scholars, this volume takes a cross-disciplinary approach to one of the most celebrated and vexing questions about plainsong and liturgy in the Middle Ages: how to understand the influence of Rome? Some essays address this question directly, examining Roman sources, Roman liturgy, or Roman practice, whilst others consider the sway ofRome more indirectly, by looking later sources, received practices, or emerging traditions that owe a foundational debt to Rome. Daniel J. DiCenso is Assistant Professor of Music at the College of the Holy Cross; Rebecca Maloy is Professor of Musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Contributors: Charles M. Atkinson, Rebecca A. Baltzer, James Borders, Susan Boynton, Catherine Carver, Daniel J. DiCenso, David Ganz, Barbara Haggh-Huglo, David Hiley, Emma Hornby, Thomas Forrest Kelly, William Mahrt, Charles B. McClendon, Luisa Nardini, Edward Nowacki , Christopher Page, Susan Rankin, John F. Romano, Mary E. Wolinski