In the celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments, the Book of the Gospels rather than the lecturn is the equivalent focus to the table and the gifts in the first part of the liturgy. It is because a minister (traditionally the Deacon) brings in the Book of the Gospels at the start of the liturgy that the assembly stands to acknowledge Christ's coming to his people.

The Constitution of Sacred Liturgy is widely regarded as the most significant among the sixteen documents produced by the Second Vatican Council. The constitution has radically redefined the methods and meanings of Catholic worship, including a shift from rote enactment of rituals, to the laity as a spiritual community. Transforming Catholicism offers the first social scientific analysis of these liturgical changes in worship and their implementations in local situations. Guided by a consistent theory of policy implementation, Michael J. McCallion and David R. Maines examine the growing emphasis placed on biblical interpretations of sacred meanings, interpretative homilies, and the production of mass in local languages. This book incorporates first-hand empirical data in studying the influence of professional liturgists on parish worship practices and the subsequent symbolic interactionist theories. Transforming Catholicism is a sophisticated and engaging read that will captivate seminary professors and those interested in policy analysis.

For Christian couples planning a wedding, this easy-to-use workbook offers guidelines concerning the service, music, the entrance and presentation, readings, prayers, communion, dismissal, and more. A valuable tool to help couples reflect on the deeper meaning of Christian marriage. Includes pull-out check-off sheets for decision-making.

This welcome addition to resources available for children and parents is a book about prayer as a way of life. It proposes in text and illustrations that prayer may happen through noticing, thinking, working, playing, and making decisions, as well as through words and speaking. Although designed for ages 8 to 12, sections could be read to younger children.

John Henry Newman is recognized as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of the modern age. He was also a man of prayer and deep spirituality. A. N. Wilson's wide-ranging anthology of Newman's prayers, poems and meditations will appeal to all those who are fascinated by this inspirational man. The readings cover the general themes of faith, prayer, the contemplation of Christ, discipleship, the meaning of holiness, and the hope of heaven. In an engaging Introduction, Wilson brings fresh insight to Newman's life and thought. This carefully arranged anthology will provide comfort and sustenance to all those who cherish Newman's writings and to those who are keen to discover one of our best loved spiritual writers for the first time.

A resource for Episcopal families who want to pass on Anglican prayers and traditions to their children and teach faith in everyday settings. A parent as well as an educator, Anne Kitch introduces these Anglican prayers and practices with stories from her own life, as well as brief information about the history and use of the prayers. The perfect resource for families, especially those who may be new to the Episcopal Church, as well as church school teachers, youth ministers, and clergy, The Anglican Family Prayer Book helps parents and children pray together. Prayers for morning and evening, blessings, nighttime prayers, prayers for ordinary and special occasions, intercessory prayers, prayers of the Eucharist, and prayers for use during the special seasons of the Church year make this book one that families will use every day.

Concerns include: The ministry of the whole people of God * the renewal of prayer and worship * health and wholeness and the ministry of healing * church renewal * the ecumenical movement * people of other faiths and beliefs and the promotion of understanding through dialogue and joint action for justice and peace * economic witness * poverty * trade justice * young people * working together for change * social and political action for justice, peace and the integrity of creation * victims and perpetrators of violence * peace movements and organisations * human rights and gender justice * racial justice and the rights of indigenous peoples * the environment and all who work for ecological sustainability * refugees and asylum seekers and our commitment to hospitality * the renewal of community and the well-being of our own local communities * intentional and basic Christian communities throughout the world ...Contributors include: Brian Woodcock, the Wild Goose Resource Group, Chris Polhill, Ruth Burgess, Peter Millar, Jan Sutch Pickard, Kathy Galloway, Joy Mead, Rosemary Power, Ian M Fraser, John Harvey, Ruth Harvey, Warren Bardsley, Norman Shanks, Alison Swinfen, Alastair McIntosh, Thom M Shuman and many other members, associates and friends of the Iona Community.

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.

Many people experience levels of grief and loss at different times in life. For some, the depth of loss causes difficulty in carrying out what we may consider to be normal activities. You are not alone. When grief and loss threaten to overwhelm you, pick up this book. 'Prayers & Promises for Grief and Loss' incorporates more than 70 themes to help you receive the assurance, peace, strength, and comfort found in the promises of God's Word. Uplifting prayers and journaling space offer an opportunity for deeper reflection. God is the best source of comfort you will find. He knows your heart and he is full of compassion for you. By staying connected to him, and believing the promises of his Word, you can experience hope and peace in difficult times.

This expanded edition of the official Burial Services of the Episcopal Church contains the newly authorized prayers and rites for the burial of a child. This edition is specifically intended for leaders of public worship.

In Radical Grace, Dr Kimbrough brings together the writings of Charles Wesley on the theme of justice for the poor and the marginalized, drawing upon his sermons, manuscript journal, poetry and a few letters. The author studies the theology of these texts (most of which were unpublished at the time of his death) and evaluates its viability both at the time of writing and today. Wesley's views of how Christians may 'use the grace divine' in seeking justice for the poor have radical implications, advocating behaviour that is often quite contrary to generally accepted Christian practise. This volume argues that the radical grace he espouses is consistent with Holy Scripture and should indeed be practised by Christians today. The liturgies and musical settings of some of the hymn texts addressing the poor and marginalized provide a pragmatic means for the worshipping community to integrate the principles of radical grace into their theology and praxis.

In The Jesuits, Malachi Martin reveals for the first time the harrowing behind-the-scenes story of the "new" worldwide Society of Jesus. The leaders and the dupes; the blood and the pathos; the politics, the betrayals and the humiliations; the unheard-of alliances and compromises. The Jesuits tells a true story of today that is already changing the face of all our tomorrows.

"The Prayer-Saturated Church" provides step-by-step, practical help for mobilizing, organizing, and motivating believers to make their church a house of prayer. Written by a veteran prayer leader with hands-on experience in local church prayer, "The Prayer-Saturated Church" will enable any church to take prayer to the next level.The print version comes with a CD that contains printable forms--publicity templates, sign-up applications, prayer guides, and more--to promote, encourage, and energize your congregation toward more prayer.

Dominican priest Leo Thomas applies the wisdom of pastoral care to the ministry of religious healing. He does so with practical, concrete, step-by-step explanations of how to offer healing to those who are hurting. The book's goal is to show Christians-lay and ordained, Catholic and Protestant-how to minister together in a powerful way so that hurting people can experience the healing love of God who meets them in their need. The end of each chapter contains reflection questions to help readers bring healing into their own lives while deepening their spirituality. Also included are chapter summaries and a list of recommended resources that expand upon the subjects covered.

An essential guide for anyone who plans, performs, or takes part in the music and worship of the church. Includes helpful planning forms and extensive indices for The Hymnal 1982 not found elsewhere. (250 pp)

Lectio divina is a practice of Scripture reading that treats the Bible not only as a text to be examined, but also as the living Word of God spoken anew to us. Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. Experienced Bible teacher Jan Johnson presents forty Scripture meditations organised topically, giving us the tools we need to practice Lectio Divina on our own. Each meditation can be used both individually and in group settings, and includes: An introduction to the meditation encouraging a time of quiet preparatory exercise; the complete passage from Scripture with explanations, context, and background to the text, help to enter and absorb the text; space to contemplate the passage, respond to God in prayer and rest in his presence; and an exercise to implement the ideas of the passage in our daily lives. Meeting God in Scripture moves us beyond merely understanding what the text meant in its original context to a direct spiritual encounter with Christ.

This book presents three liturgical rights within an Afro-Baptist oral tradition of worship: the Wednesday night prayer meeting, the Deacon's devotion, and the Congregational worship. This examination provides one foundational study necessary to the creation of a liturgical theology of African American Christianity, through the study of sacred ritual within the lived experience of members of a community of traditional orallity and contemporary literacy, which together create a unique collective encounter of the Holy.

For thousands of years men and women found meaning and a deep sense of belonging though faith in God. But today, traditional images of God (as an all-powerful father figure) and much standard prayer and worship language are no longer plausible for many believers. Yet the hunger to know - and communicate with - the Sacred in some form remains strong. In this unique prayer book John McQuiston, bestselling author of Always We Begin Again, provides morning and evening devotions for two weeks, plus complete Morning and Evening Prayer services, along with a Service of Commemoration for Our Union. All use a language for and about God that reflects contemporary understandings of God and God's actions in the universe. This pocket-sized devotional is an excellent resource for individuals and congregations who are seeking to worship in a language that acknowledges today's realities and theology.

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.

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.

2015 marks the 30th anniversary of Lee Mitchell's great standard work on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. As his student, protegee, and colleague, Ruth Meyers takes this classic work and updates it for the Church in its current era and for the future.

This important work engages with a long historical debate: were the earliest Christians under the direction of ordained ministers, or under the influence of inspired laypeople? Who was in charge: bishops, elders and deacons, or apostles, prophets and teachers? Rather than trace Church offices backwards, Burtchaell examines the contemporary Jewish communities and finds evidence that Christians simply continued the offices of the synagogue. Thus, he asserts that from the very first they were presided over by officers. The author then advances the provocative view that in the first century it was not the officers who spoke with the most authority. They presided, but did not lead, and deferred to more charismatic laypeople. Burtchaell sees the evidence in favor of the Catholic/Orthodox/Anglican view that bishops have always presided in the Christian Church. At the same time he argues alongside the Prostestants that in its formative era the Church deferred most to the judgment of those who were inspired, yet never ordained.