During the Orthodox celebration of Holy Week, the Church relives the arrest, trial, sufferings, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. On Matins of Holy Friday (commonly served on the evening of Holy Thursday), there is a special service where, the passion of Christ's sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane, His Trial, and Crucifixion through all four Gospels is read aloud in church. This book provides the English text for those twelve Passion Gospel readings.

Pope Benedict XVI memorably remarked that the Christian faith is a lot like a Gothic cathedral with its stained-glass windows. From the outside, the Church can appear dark, dreary, and worn with age-the crumbling relic of an institution that no longer speaks to men and women living in our modern world. Indeed, for many people today, Christian morality with all of its commandments appears to be a source not of life and joy but instead of suffering and oppression. Even within the Church, many wonder: why should I submit to ancient doctrines and outdated practices that restrict my freedom and impede my happiness? In this timely and original book, his third exploring the riches of Benedict XVI's vast corpus, theologian Matthew Ramage sets out to meet this challenge with an in-depth study of the emeritus pontiff's wisdom on how to live Christian discipleship in today's increasingly secularized world. Taking as his starting point Benedict's conviction that the truth of Christianity-like the beauty of a cathedral's glorious windows-can be grasped only from the inside, Ramage draws on Benedict's insights to show how all Christians can make the "experiment of faith" by living the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity in daily life. Along the way, he shares his personal reflections on how Benedict's wisdom has helped him to navigate difficulties in embracing the faith and provides a way forward to those struggling to live as disciples in a way that is intellectually serious without remaining merely intellectual. In so doing, he also presents a highly nuanced yet accessible approach to defending the truth of the gospel in a world where life in Jesus Christ tends to be seen as unfulfilling, irrelevant, or just one lifestyle choice among others.

This pew edition (also called basic singers edition) contains all hymns and service music for allwho sing, choir and congregation alike. It is the current official Episcopal Hymnal."

This collection of essays, written to commemorate their centenary, celebrates the work of the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society. Founded in 1888, the Society quickly established two areas of activity: the propagation of information on medieval music and the revitalization of the Anglican liturgy with the riches of the plainchant of the Roman Rite.

Of the two sides of the Society's activities, the scholarly and the practical, this collection represents the former. The essays reflect the founders' interest in medieval music, both monophonic and polyphonic, and, particularly, their concern with chant. The contributors to this volume are among the most distinguished scholars of medieval music of recent years.

Contributors: David Hiley, Ritva Jacobsson, Michel Huglo, Susan Rankin, Wulf Arlt, Ruth Steiner, David Chadd, Andrew Hughes, John Caldwell, Frank Ll. Harrison, Nick Sandon.

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."

The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis was founded in honour of Dionysius, one of seven missionaries sent from Rome to Gaul around 250. It grew to be one of the most powerful monasteries in western Christendom and enjoyed a central position in French history as the first Gothic abbey, royal necropolis, and place of origin of the chronicles of the kings. This is a study of the music and ritual at Saint-Denis from the sixth to the sixteenth century. It is based on an examination of the liturgical books and archival sources relating to the abbey, in particular the surviving service-books, which tell us much about the history of the music and of the Divine Office at Saint-Denis. Anne Robertson also looks at the tropes and sequences proper to the office for Saint-Denis, provides information on the performance practices, instruments, musicians, and liturgists from the abbey, and offers an account of the history of the liturgy from the Council of Tours in 567 to the pillage of the abbey by the Huguenots in 1567, thus explicating the extant liturgical codices from Saint-Denis. For the author the ritual and history of the abbey is also inextricably linked to the reconstruction of its various buildings, the decorations of the church, even the monks' ambitions. This is a fascinating and wide-ranging study of this extraordinary institution.

Material Eucharist interprets the Eucharist through its material elements of bread and wine. Drawing upon a rich variety of biblical, patristic, medieval, and modern texts and traditions, David Grumett brings together theological reflection and liturgical action and shows their mutual dependence. For both theologians and liturgists, a central concern is the matter out of which the created order has been made, from which issues of community and social justice are inseparable. The ingredients of bread and wine anticipate, in their harvesting and manufacture, the formal church liturgy, which is extended back into the world by the transformative priestly action of laypeople. Indeed, the transforming presence of Christ in the Eucharist as flesh and substance is theologically grounded in his transformative presence in the wider created order, as expressed in eucharistic giving and exchange between churches and their wider communities. Rooting the Eucharist in materiality suggests its primary context to be the death and resurrection of Christ in the power of the Spirit, in which its recipients may share. The many aspects of theology and liturgy with which the book deals have large implications for how the Eucharist is understood in a range of academic disciplines, and for how it is celebrated in churches today.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint James is the eucharistic rite of the ancient Church of Jerusalem and the most ancient extant liturgy of the Eastern Church. In recent decades, the frequency of its use has increased throughout the Orthodox Church. This service book offers for the first time a parallel Church Slavonic-English text, suitable for use by clergy and servers. It also contains the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of the Holy Apostle James, which is rarely served today but has been preserved in part in a few Greek manuscripts and in full in several Georgian sources. An introduction by Dr Vitaly Permiakov, a specialist in the Jerusalem liturgy, presents the provenance and integrity of both ancient Liturgical services.

This is the second 'book of bits' for worship produced by the Wild Goose Worship Group. Its predecessor, Cloth For the Cradle, was received with great enthusiasm by clergy and laity alike. This book traces Jesus' road to the cross through Lent, Holy Week and Easter. Its prime purpose is to resource worship that enables people to sense the hope, apprehension and joy of Easter as felt by Jesus' friends. The range and diversity offers a unique source of elements for lay and clergy worship planners and enablers. All of the material has been used in celebrations and services of public worship, but little has been previously published.

The second part of the book turns intriguingly to a number of less obvious topics. The author considers what it means to be a serious reader and how literature can enable us to discover more about ourselves; he probes the spiritual dimension of music and its power to speak to deep human longings; he offers valuable insights into the significance of the human emotions in relation to our wellbeing and moral imagination and, finally, a personal testimony to the place and significance of silence in matters of faith and our human journey.

This book explores the way in which liturgy can be used effectively in all-age communication. It is also a comprehensive practical resource - containing 12 complete all-age worship outlines for use throughout the year.

Collection of prayers designed to help you pray more deeply during Eucharistic Adoration.

As parents hoping to raise godly children, we may understand the importance of regular family devotions. However, we may find it difficult to get our kids (or even ourselves) fully engaged. But what if devotions looked less like sitting in the living room listening to someone read and trying to pry answers out of reluctant kids and more like, say, electrocuting a pickle? Or converting a leaf blower into a toilet paper launcher? Or lighting toothpaste on fire? These hands-on, kinda dangerous, totally unforgettable object lessons (along with nearly fifty others) are not only more fun than other family devotions--they actually deliver the spiritual impact you desire for your kids. They'll even get dads and any too-cool-for-this-stuff teens jazzed about a weekly family devotional time. So put away the flannelgraph, get out the safety goggles, and start bringing the truths of Scripture to vivid life in your household. Just remember to change out of your Sunday clothes first.

This anonymous Commentary is printed from Troyes, Bibl. munic. 658, a manuscript written at Clairvaux in the late 12th century.It is well known that St Bernard in 1147 revised the monastic hymnal for the use of his Cistercian monks; the anonymous Explanatio is primary evidence for the content of Bernard's hymnal. It is also an invaluable index of Cistercian spirituality in the late 12th century, and provides an index of the range of reading of a Cistercian scholar of that time.

***NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK*** Feasting on the Word is one of the most popular lectionary commentary series in use today. This is the first in a new series of daily devotionals that draws from the wealth of writing in the commentaries to present inspirational reflections, responses, and prayers for each day of the lectionary year. Each day of the week contains Scripture passages for the coming Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary, excerpts from the commentaries for reflection, a response, and a prayer. Additional material is provided for each Sunday.

This book thrusts the reader into the intellectual turmoil of medieval Europe. In interrelated studies of largely unexplored material dating from the ninth through to the fourteenth centuries, the contributors explore changes in functions and forms of liturgical poetry and music, and of biblical interpretation. Although the twelfth century constitutes the main focus, the phenomena dealt with here had roots in earlier times and remained in circulation in later centuries. The cultural heritage of the Carolingian intellectuals tied to the palace school of Charles the Bald is examined in a liturgical context. Forms and ideas from this period were reused and transformed in the twelfth century, as represented here by sequences, tropes, Abelard's poetry, the gloss to Lamentations, and ritual representations or 'liturgical drama'. The two final chapters treat fourteenth-century uses and understandings of Boethius's De institutione musica and the new genre of sequence commentaries, both dealing with later medieval views on music theory and liturgical poetry from an earlier period, thus connecting the end of the book to its beginning. The sections are interspersed with philosophical reflections on overriding themes of the contributions. The volume concludes with an anthology of poetic texts in Latin with English translations and musical transcriptions.

Deepen your understanding of praise and worship with songwriter and worship leader Chris Tomlin and pastor Darren Whitehead as they explore seven ancient Hebrew words that will lead you to a closer relationship with God through praise.

In the ancient world, something extraordinary happened when God's people gathered to worship Him. It was more than just singing; it was a declaration, a proclamation, a time to fully embody praise to God for who He is and what he has done. In fact, in the Psalms, seven Hebrew words are translated into the English word praise, each of which represents a different aspect of what it means to truly praise God.

In Holy Roar, Chris Tomlin and Darren Whitehead share a fresh perspective from the worship practices of the ancient world. Grow in your understanding of praise as Darren offers unique insights. Be inspired as Chris shares how those insights take shape in the stories behind some of your favorite worship songs, including "How Great Is Our God," "We Fall Down," and "Good Good Father." Whether for your own personal use or for use in your church small group, Holy Roar provides insight and encouragement to deepen your practice of praise.

Edition of complex and important early liturgical work. The highly complex combined sacramentary and pontifical presented here, preserved as Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, lat. 12052, was apparently written to the order of Ratoldus, abbot of Corbie (d. 986), but in fact has along and complicated history. The sacramentary descends from a book compiled at Saint-Denis, later augmented with material relating to Dol (in Brittany) and Arras, while the pontifical, such as it is, descends in large part froma book drawn up for Oda, archbishop of Canterbury (941-58). Moreover, late-tenth and eleventh-century additions show that Corbie was merely the last link in a fascinating and sometimes puzzling chain. The work is thus of considerable importance to scholars and this edition, with introduction, will be warmly welcomed. Dr NICHOLAS ORCHARD is Deputy Slide Librarian at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Dr. Fuchsia Pickett's life study of the Holy Spirit takes a fresh turn as she explores the outward evidence of an inward relationship. We will worship day and night with our whole hearts as we "walk in the Spirit" as a response to coming face to face with Jesus Christ, who is revealed to us by the Spirit. Students of the Bible and those responsible for worship will appreciate the depth of her teaching. Those who worship as an expression of joy will better understand what the Word promises for those who worship

In early medieval Europe, monasticism constituted a significant force in society because the prayers of the religious on behalf of others featured as powerful currency. The study of this phenomenon is at once full of potential and peril, rightly drawing attention to the wider social involvement of an otherwise exclusive group, but also describing a religious community in terms of its service provision. Previous scholarship has focused on the supply and demand of prayer within the medieval economy of power, patronage, and gift exchange. Intercessory Prayer and the Monastic Ideal in the Time of the Carolingian Reforms is the first volume to explain how this transactional dimension of prayer factored into monastic spirituality. Renie S. Choy uncovers the relationship between the intercessory function of monasteries and the ascetic concern for moral conversion in the minds of prominent religious leaders active between c. 750-820. Through sustained analysis of the devotional thought of Benedict of Aniane and contemporaneous religious reformers during the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, Choy examines key topics in the study of Carolingian monasticism: liturgical organization and the intercessory performances of the Mass and the Divine Office, monastic theology, and relationships of prayer within monastic communities and with the world outside. Arguing that monastic leaders showed new interest on the intersection between the interiority of prayer and the functional world of social relationships, this study reveals the ascetic ideal undergirding the provision of intercessory prayer by monasteries.