I am working my way through Simon Chan’s great book, Liturgical Theology: The Church as a Worshiping Community again. This was a key book years ago when I was in the Assemblies of God. I’ve picked it up now as someone who has joined the Anglican Communion, so I’m reading it with a renewed passion.
Continue reading “Formation through the practice of liturgy”Tag: Worship
The focus of worship
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. (Rev. 4:1-6)
Continue reading “The focus of worship”O Day of Peace that Dimly Shines
Our church (Church of the Apostles in Montrose, Alabama) had a night of word and worship taking us on a journey from creation to the birth of Christ. It was a night of beautiful, heartfelt worship.
Continue reading “O Day of Peace that Dimly Shines”The goal that lies beyond us
There is a tough balance between “certitude”, which we seem to want in life and in belief, and simply “just believing” without even really trying. It can be the trite saying, “God said, I believe it, that settles it.” It doesn’t wrestle. I’ve longed for something more than this my entire life.
Continue reading “The goal that lies beyond us”One of the beauties of liturgy
One of the things that may confound some folks who wonder about me leaving the Pentecostal denomination I grew up in is how I go to a place that has liturgy. I mean, it “repeats” every Sunday! Where is the moving of the Spirit?
(Of course, no one actually asks me these things. Silence is the code these days.)
Continue reading “One of the beauties of liturgy”What was missing on Sunday?
Since I’ve moved to the Anglican tradition I’m learning far more about the seasons of the Church year. The past Sundays of Lent I definitely felt something was “missing”.
Narrow Little Road
I believe in the love of God
It is an orphan’s wildest dream
It is a narrow little road
It is an ever-widening desert stream
Refrain:
Oh I, and I
I will leave this road
For the narrow
It is portrayed in the bread and wine
Let it fortify my bones
It is more than just a sign
It is the fountain from that desert stone
It is the path where the humble go
It is the narrow not the broad
It is the pathway down the hill
To the graveyard of the living God
The love of God is the hymn of hope
Let the needy join the throng
Let the widow hear and cope
Let the crippled rise to sing this song
— Mo Leverett, 1995, Justice Road Productions.
Listen to this powerful song HERE.
