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Prayers for rest and enjoyment
Prayers for the day: O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O God,…
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Before the Throne of God Above
This song was sung in our worship service yesterday. It’s words soak into my spirit and lift me up!
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The worship demanded by the gods of this age
Our rigid ideologies may be couched in “sacred” terms at times, but we need to understand the liturgy of our culture. From the “right” to the “left” we are in liturgies to the different gods of our age. The demands are stringent. But to the “right” or the “left”, what is being sacrificed is the same thing: it is our children. …
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A prayer for Sunday
O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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The church is into mass production rather than fine art
I am working my way again through Simon Chan’s marvelous book, Liturgical Theology. As a Pentecostal scholar who calls us back into the deep “traditions” of the Church, I have found this book to be a refreshing read over the years. Chan doesn’t pull punches. He wants us to return to Cyprian’s goal of saying one who doesn’t have the Church…
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Holy Trinity Sunday
We are on a short vacation in Pensacola, FL with some great friends and our oldest son and daughter-in-law. When away from my church I love other church traditions. What a joy to be at a very old Episcopal Church on Holy Trinity Sunday. The liturgy was beautiful and the surroundings were gorgeous. The focus on the doctrine of the…
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The preaching of the Word
The priority needs to be given to the public reading of Scripture. We need to systematically read the Scripture in public. The story needs to be impressed into our collective memories. “If the sermon follows some form of lectio divina (in which the whole of Scripture is read over a period of time), we are more likely to avoid the habit of…
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The Devil Has All the Good Liturgies
I really enjoyed James Smith’s book, Desiring the Kingdom, so I look forward to this new book, Imagining the Kingdom. He has an interview in Christianity Today and he brings up the whole idea of allegiances again. Everything in life is liturgy, according to Smith. It’s about our loyalties. His claim is we are defined by what we worship rather than what…
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Prayers for the Day
Collect of the Day: Sixth Sunday of Easter O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord,…
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The Joy of Sacraments
“Sacraments are funny things. They are short and simple, they involve the simplest elements in our environment, and they require few words. The more we get out of the way the better. Yet they change people. People remember them for their whole lives.” — David Hansen, The Art of Pastoring (Revised Edition)
Tag: Liturgy
