Contemporary culture is rediscovering the importance of beauty for both social transformation and personal happiness. Theologians have sought, in their varied ways, to demonstrate how God's beauty is associated with notions of truth and goodness. This book breaks new ground by suggesting that liturgy is the means par excellence by which an experience of beauty is communicated. Drawing from both secular and religious understandings, in particular the mystical and apophatic tradition, the book demonstrates how liturgy has the potential to achieve the one ultimately reliable form of beauty because its embodied components are able to reflect the disturbing beauty of the One to whom worship is always offered. Such components rely on understanding the aesthetic dynamics upon which liturgy relies. This book draws from a broad range of disciplines concerned with understanding beauty and self-transformation and concludes that while secular utopian forms have much to contribute to ethical transformation, they ultimately fail since they lack the Christological and eschatological framework needed, which liturgy alone provides.

Towards Liturgies that Reconcile reflects upon Christian worship as it is shaped, and mis-shaped, by human prejudice, specifically by racism. African Americans and European Americans have lived together for 400 years on the continent of North America, but they have done so as slave and master, outsider and insider, oppressed and oppressor. Scott Haldeman traces the development of Protestant worship among whites and blacks, showing that the following exist in tension: African American and European American Protestant liturgical traditions are both interdependent and distinct; and that multicultural communities must both understand and celebrate the uniqueness of various member groups while also accepting the risk and possibility of praying themselves into an integrated body, one new culture.

One of the most carefully prepared liturgies of any Roman Catholic parish's year is the celebration of 'First Communion'. This is the ritual by which seven- or eight -year-old children are admitted to the Eucharist for the first time. It attracts the largest congregations of any parish liturgy, and yet is frequently marked by tension and dissent within the parish community. The same ritual holds very different meanings for the various parties involved - clergy, parish schools, regularly communicating parishioners, and the first communicants and their families. The tensions arise from dissonance between the parties on such key issues as expected patterns of Church attendance, Catholic identity, dress and expenditure, and family formation. The relationships and discontinuities between popular and 'official' religion is at the heart of these tensions. They touch upon deep-seated anxieties concerning the future viability of the very structures and patterns of parish life during the current period of falling Church attendance and parish closures. For those within the Church who are concerned to understand and address the issues in its structural decline, this book will make sometimes uncomfortable but always stimulating reading. Peter McGrail examines the relationship between Church structures and popular religious identity, viewed through the lens of the first communion event. Drawing out hitherto unrecognised connections and significances for the future of the Catholic Church at local level, the insights into the decline of the parish as an institution present challenges to all with an interest in and concern for the future of the Church in the English-speaking world. Bringing to the fore the relationship and tensions between liturgy and Church structures, both historically and at the present time, this book offers academics and students alike extensive material for reflection and future development..

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.

Following the familiar and powerful style of the biblical Psalms, Gateley openly reflects on her own life and ministry, and ultimately on the nature of faith itself. With a poetOs eye and a believerOs heart, Gateley reveals the metaphysical in the practical, the mystical in the ordinary, the divine in the human. Her psalms are a call to recognize GodOs presence in each of our lives.

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.

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.

Eyes to See: The Redemptive Purpose of Icons offers the discovery of life-giving spiritual insights found through learning to read the language of religious icons. Written especially for those whose traditions have not included icons, this book introduces eight icons written (painted) by the author. Historical notes, explanation of symbolism, related scriptures for interpretation, and a reflection for each icon deepens understanding and appreciation for the ancient holy images of the Church. The book is eight chapters in length, each describing one of the eight full-color icon plates in the insert. Written by a Protestant for a non-Orthodox readership Includes full-color images of eight icons Strong potential for group study

This fresh collection of group readings and simple dramas based on stories from Scripture, together with meditations, story-telling methodology and an instructed Eucharist, will help church leaders design liturgy for children and grownups who worship together. 1. Introductory Material: practical background and instruction about organizing and arranging intergenerational worship, with special emphasis on children's needs. 2. Seasonal Introductions: Themes and ideas for each liturgical season including collects, confessions, etc. 3. Congregational Readings: simple group readings of Scripture that engage both reader and people. 4. Meditations: Quiet, imaginative reflections on scripture, or water, or fire, that lead listeners deep inside themselves, even at worship. 5. Simple Dramas: Biblical stories in which characters speak for themselves (martha and Mar, Mary and Elizabeth, Elijah and Elisha, etc.) to the worshipers; some are quite playful and some are more serious. 6. Stories: biblical stories told very colorfully and simply, sometimes in the first person of a character in the story. 7. Simple Sermons: simple, colorful, soulful, short sermons that even grownups can sit still for. 8. Tableauxs Vivants: "Living Pictures"- how to do them, and several pieces written and staged. 9 Appendices: Methods of storytelling and An instructed Eucharist "

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)

A rich collection of prayers for corporate worship and personal devotion including blessings, thanksgivings, intercessions, litanies, and various occasions appropriate for all Christian denominations. (310 pp)

In this guide for newcomers as well as lifelong Episcopalians, author Vicki Black helps readers navigate the currents of Anglican liturgy and discover its richness and beauty. As we use the Book of Common Prayer, Black says, we discover we are not alone, and this liturgical current of worship, prayer, and praise will indeed take us where we want to go union with the God we seek to love. Welcome to the Book of Common Prayer shows readers everything from where to find the Sunday collect to how to pray the Daily Office. But it s more than a how-to. It offers history and background that help make the prayer book a more meaningful part of the worship life of individuals and congregations. With thoughtful reflection questions, this is a perfect volume for parish study groups. "

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.

This classic guide helps servers to perform with confidence and reverence, allowing the liturgy to unfold in a smooth and prayerful manner. A glossary of words and objects accompanies illustrations of vessels, linens, altar preparation, vestments, posture symbols, and examples of processions. Also contains easy-to-draw symbols that servers can use to make a diagram of their sanctuary's layout for study and practice.

A Prayer book designed to be used by individual women, as well as by those who are leading group prayer services. For nearly two millennia, Christian women have learned to pray in the language of other people's souls. From worshiping God as father to envisioning a holy life as a military campaign, they've been taught to approach the Divine with the hearts and minds of men. She Who Prays: A Woman's Interfaith Prayer Book offers women a new way to pray. It draws on feminine images of God, as well as the language and experience of women, to help women tap into their own rich and unique spirituality. With material from new translations of ancient Christian hymns and prayers, as well as original prayers in the Christian and other faith traditions, She Who Prays will help women speak to God in their own voices. Arranged in roughly the same format as the Book of Common Prayer, She Who Prays contains a seven-day cycle of daily prayer services, prayers for special occasions, and a woman-oriented liturgical calendar that honors the lives of women of all faiths. The book also contains four rituals marking such themes as healing, reconciliation, and new beginnings, and a prayer to be used while walking a labyrinth. An appendix provides information on world religions and instructions for group services.

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.

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.

Tracing the origins of daily prayer from the New Testament and Patristic period, through the Reformation and Renaissance to the present, this book examines the development of daily rites across a broad range of traditions including: Pre-Crusader Constantinopolitan, East and West Syrian, Coptic and Ethiopian, non-Roman and Roman Western. Structure, texts and ceremonial are examined, and contemporary scholarship surveyed. Concluding with a critique of the present tenor of liturgical revision, Gregory Woolfenden raises key questions for current liturgical change, suggests to whom these questions should be addressed, and proposes that the daily office might be the springboard for an authentic baptismal spirituality. The author explores how prayer and poetic texts indicate that the thrust of the ancient offices was a movement from night to morning - from death to resurrection.

Tracing the origins of daily prayer from the New Testament and Patristic period, through the Reformation and Renaissance to the present, this book examines the development of daily rites across a broad range of traditions including: Pre-Crusader Constantinopolitan, East and West Syrian, Coptic and Ethiopian, non-Roman and Roman Western. Structure, texts and ceremonial are examined, and contemporary scholarship surveyed. Concluding with a critique of the present tenor of liturgical revision, Gregory Woolfenden raises key questions for current liturgical change, suggests to whom these questions should be addressed, and proposes that the daily office might be the springboard for an authentic baptismal spirituality. The author explores how prayer and poetic texts indicate that the thrust of the ancient offices was a movement from night to morning - from death to resurrection.

Describes the responsibilities and duties of the server at the Holy Eucharist and other services, as governed by the rubrics of "The Book of Common Prayer" and by tradition. Includes a glossary.

The nineteenth century was a period of intense religious conflict across Europe, as people confronted the major changes brought out by modernity. In Zurich, one phase of this religious conflict was played out in a struggle over revisions to the ritual of baptism. In its analysis of the Zurich conflict, Liturgy Wars offers a strategy for understanding the links between theology, ritual and socio-politics. Theodore M. Vial offers a new perspective on contemporary ritual studies - and critiques the cognitivist approaches of Lawson and McCauley, as well as Catherine Bell's analysis of power and the body - by reintegrating the importance of speech acts into considerations of ritual.

The central theme of the study is Christ as the sacrament of reconciliation of the human being with God. In light of this premise, the study is divided into two main parts. The first part concentrates on the human response to grace, thus personal justification. In this section different but related topics are studied: the human act and its limitations; the nature of sin in antithesis to the virtue of justice implanted in the human heart. The second part of the study takes care of the sacrament of reconciliation as understood in Catholic dogma. An historical survey of the sacrament brings into focus the teaching of the Fathers of the Church which was implemented by ecumenical and particular councils and codifications. The same historical survey prepares the reader for a better understanding of the canons on Penance. The canons of the Latin and of the astern Rite codes are presented with an explanation when necessary. Through the study of these canons it becomes clear that concern of the Church is to protect the sacredness and the dignity of the sacrament as well as the dignity of the penitent.

The Act of Consecration of Man is the communion service of The Christian Community. In this fascinating book, experienced priest Tom Ravetz weaves together contemplations inspired by Rudolf Steiner with insightful commentary on the meaning and purpose of the ritual itself. The book will be valuable for both new worshipers and people who have been taking part in the communion service for many years.

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.