Tag: Prayer
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Brief Book Review: The Canterbury Book of New Parish Prayers
“Here is a highly-visible liturgist and author offering the Church a collection of excellent new prayers.”
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Brief Book Review: Liturgical Dogmatics
Timothy Brunk reviews Liturgical Dogmatics.
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Writing Prayers Together: Mercy Embraced and Grace Discovered
. . . out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34b God spoke life and beauty into being in the beginning. Through psalm-singers and shepherds on hillsides, through prophesying women and dreaming men, through a teenager in Nazareth and an angel in Joseph’s ear, through prophets, priests, princes, and kings, God…
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“Words Are Turtles”: Some thoughts for a new season of teaching worship
A new semester has begun! As a teacher this semester, I am excited about reading the written work of my students. I know from past experience how many wonderful insights, questions, and big ideas surface from mysterious depths as students craft reflections and essays. I celebrate the gifts that await our shared discovery, springtime gifts…
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Rock Us into Joy
Virtual worship. What an unusual and intriguing phrase, one that has made its way into my everyday vocabulary. Covid-19 has not been able to stop faith communities from worshiping together in spirit and truth–in safe and socially distanced ways. Zoom worship windows, Facebook watch parties, YouTube gatherings, and more have become sacred spaces where people…
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Catching the Light
. . . and the stars will be falling from heaven. MARK 13:25 Apocalyptic stars make a grand appearance in the lectionary texts for the First Sunday of Advent. I was reminded of these Advent stars when I walked in my neighborhood a few nights ago. A crescent moon wandered up beneath two twinkling…
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A Prayer-Poem for Not-So-Ordinary Days
I will heal their waywardness; I will love them freely. . . I will be like the dew to Israel; she shall blossom like the lily, she shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon. His shoots shall spread out; her beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.…
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Windows in Walls
When we beautify our gaze, the grace of hidden beauty becomes our joy and our sanctuary. John O’Donohue I have been reflecting quite a bit in recent days about worship spaces. What is a “sanctuary” in these days when so many are worshiping virtually. One thing I have noticed is the conspicuous presence of windows…
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Wild Winter Liturgies
The cedar waxwings arrived yesterday. Waxwings are wonderful, mysterious birds. Here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, their visits are brief. They come to our backyard for a few hours in February, and then they journey on. If we are lucky, we get to see them. I was a lucky–blessed–to get to be near the waxwings this…