By looking in detail at the Lord's Prayer and its background, Tom Wright offers a really fresh and helpful way of looking at Jesus. Phrase by phrase, he demonstrates how understanding the prayer in its original setting can be the starting point for a rekindling of Christian spirituality and the life of prayer. This small masterpiece of a book contains a great deal to stimulate and refresh both the mind and the heart - and to show that, properly understood, they belong together.

This book is one of three volumes that bring together Jane Williams's widely read and much enjoyed Church Times columns. Here, she offers reflections on the Sunday readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for Year C. Each section gives the lectionary references and provides a thought-provoking starting point for exploring the readings, drawing out points of connection between them. Intelligently written in an engaging and inspiring style, Lectionary Reflections will prove invaluable in preparation for Sunday worship or for regular Bible study throughout the year. It will be of use both to individuals and groups for opening up the bible and applying its rich teaching and stories. "'If God really is loving and teasing and forgiving, like he is in the stories Jesus tells, then we all have a chance." Jane Williams

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 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.

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

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.

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

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

What does it really mean to "proclaim the good news of God in Christ" and to "continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?" These promises from the baptismal rite of the Book of Common Prayer have become very familiar to most Episcopalians, but they have yet to be fully lived out in most congregations. In this lively and accessible guide, Clayton Morris argues that everyone present on Sunday mornings has a ministry of hospitality, coming together in a proclamation of welcome to all.

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.

Sources for 17th, 18th, and early 19th-century Eucharistic practices in the Church of Scotland are scarce, in part because each minister was free to draw up the form and content of the services he conducted. In addition, many 19th and 20th century liturgical scholars chose to dismiss this form of public worship, instead focusing on the earlier tradition of the Book of Common Order. A Communion Sunday in Scotland ca. 1780: Liturgies and Sermons addresses the dearth of these liturgical studies by presenting a modern edition of a late 18th-century published account of Communion Sunday in the Church of Scotland. Robin A. Leaver edits and annotates several sermons, prayers, and congregational songs by the Reverend John Logan (1747?-1788), together with relevant background information and comparative documents. Citing Logan's sermons, liturgies, and psalms as a representative model, Leaver demonstrates that there was a developed liturgical structure and form in the Church of Scotland, in which preaching, psalmody, and prayer expressed Calvinist/Presbyterian theology within established patterns of worship. Leaver also provides an overview of Scottish Eucharistic practices from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Appendixes offering a list of Scottish Psalm Tunes and a translation of the Palatinate Liturgy (1563) are followed by a comprehensive bibliography, making this a valuable reference.

This book offers hope to the parish that is searching for a way to make their liturgies more meaningful in the local context. Written by a priest and musician who have worked together for many years in the Canterbury House ministry at the University of Michigan, the methods described here demonstrate a respect for others' gifts and skills, discernment of the spiritual needs of the community, and actively welcoming the creative force of the Holy Spirit to work even in the planning process. Based on the liturgical format of the Book of Common Prayer, Hamilton and Rush nevertheless outline their experience and ideas in ways that will be useful to all liturgical denominations."

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.

In 1998, What s So Amazing About Grace? was chosen as the Gold Medallion Book of the Year. Stamped with Philip Yancey s journalistic gift for inquiry and personal passion for truth, this provocative best-seller has challenged and inspired more than half a million readers worldwide with a vision of the life Experience the Impact of Grace It s one thing to talk about grace; it s another to taste its power. What s So Amazing About Grace? ZondervanGroupware takes you and your study group for interactive, gut-level encounters with radical, life-changing grace. Through candid video interviews, Philip Yancey integrates true-life faces and experiences with 10 POWERFUL SESSIONS that will rock your preconceptions, get you thinking and talking, and help you discover together why grace is more amazing than you ve ever dreamed. This Participant s Guide will help you not only gain a better understanding of what grace is and why it is so precious, but also integrate it into your life. Engaging questions, provocative Bible studies, and lively discussions are just part of the package. You ll also be challenged to look for grace where it counts the most: in your own character and personal life. If you re ready to discover grace as more than just a fluffy concept, buckle your seat belt. You re about to take a journey to the radical heart and soul of Christianity. The next life grace changes could be yours."

William Byrd's Gradualia is one of the most unusual and elaborate musical works of the English Renaissance. This large collection of liturgical music, 109 pieces in all, was written for clandestine use by English Catholics at a time when they were forbidden to practice their religion in public. When Byrd began to compose the Gradualia, he turned from the penitential and polemical extravagances of his earlier Latin motets to the narrow, carefully ordered world of the Counter-Reformation liturgy. It was in this new context, cut off from his familiar practice of choosing colorful texts and setting them at length, that he first wrote about the "hidden and mysterious power" of sacred words to evoke a creative response. Liturgy and Contemplation in Byrd's Gradualia responds to Byrd's own testimony by exploring how he read the texts of the Mass and the events of the church calendar. Kerry McCarthy examines early modern English Catholic attitudes toward liturgical practice, meditation, and what the composer himself called "thinking over divine things." She draws on a wide range of contemporary sources - devotional treatises, commentaries on the Mass, poetry, memoirs, letters, and Byrd's dedicatory prefaces - and revisits the Gradualia in light of this evidence. The book offers a case study of how one artist reimagined the creative process in the final decades of his life.

This book critically explores ways in which our understanding of late medieval liturgy can be enhanced through present-day enactment. It is a direct outcome of a practice-led research project, led by Professor John Harper and undertaken at Bangor University between 2010 and 2013 in partnership with Salisbury Cathedral and St Fagans National History Museum, near Cardiff. The book seeks to address the complex of ritual, devotional, musical, physical and architectural elements that constitute medieval Latin liturgy, whose interaction can be so difficult to recover other than through practice. In contrast with previous studies of reconstructed liturgies, enactment was not the exclusive end-goal of the project; rather it has created a new set of data for interpretation and further enquiry. Though based on a foundation of historical, musicological, textual, architectural and archaeological research, new methods of investigation and interpretation are explored, tested and validated throughout. There is emphasis on practice-led investigation and making; the need for imagination and creativity; and the fact that enactment participants can only be of the present day. Discussion of the processes of preparation, analysis and interpretation of the enactments is complemented by contextual studies, with particular emphasis on the provision of music. A distinctive feature of the work is that it seeks to understand the experiences of different groups within the medieval church - the clergy, their assistants, the singers, and the laity - as they participated in different kinds of rituals in both a large cathedral and a small parish church. Some of the conclusions challenge interpretations of these experiences, which have been current since the Reformation. In addition, some consideration is given to the implications of understanding past liturgy for present-day worship.