Liturgy
Worship happens when we respond to God’s grace together; liturgy is about organizing the response. From sights and colours to sounds and tones, from smells to touch to taste, and yes, in words, too, we plan the moments we come together for worship. How can we best grow in offering every one of God’s gifts back to God?
Reading the Bible in Church
As I think about the new Common English Bible translation, the most important question for me is, do I want to hear this version read aloud in Church Sunday by Sunday? Put another way: what would it be like to hear this version read in church from the lectern, and what advantages and disadvantages does this version have? Continue reading
Making a Splash
How can we best turn from the “gradual shrinkage of the font from river and bath to tiny bowl, as submersion in the life-giving waters was sanitized into the sprinkling of a few drops” to letting the symbols of baptism speak? Continue reading
Walking to Jerusalem
On Sunday morning, the question in our youth’s curiosity box was “Where was Joseph when Jesus was on the cross?” It’s a timely question: last Monday was the Holy Day of Saint Joseph of Nazareth, and this past Sunday was the beginning of Passiontide, for those using the calendar in the Book of Common Prayer. Our faces are set toward Jerusalem as we draw closer to the Triduum, the Great Three Days that are at the core of how we as Church remember and make present liturgically God’s saving acts. And yet, how we keep Lent continues to change and evolve. Continue reading
Remembering the Saints
I celebrate him as a saint. I don’t mean by that statement that I think he was more than human, or that others would have recognised a halo around his head. What I do mean is that he helped me to know God more deeply both in what he taught, and in how he offered love to me and to others. Continue reading
High Porticoes of Silence
There are two kinds of silence for campers: there’s the pleasant quiet of dusk, interrupted only by “the loon’s wild, haunting call”, and there’s the rustle of unexpected noises outside the tent as one tries to fall asleep—each noise surely proclaiming the approach of a bear, n’est-ce pas? So too are the two kinds of silence in our services: one that makes space for God, and one that makes people wonder just who it is that forgot it’s that person’s turn to do something in the liturgy. Continue reading
Liturgy and Preparing for Baptism
I think that we as Church invest much time, energy, and creativity in both the catechumenate in our ongoing renewal in our faith. At the same time, with the exception of the Vigil and renewing our promises when we celebrate the sacrament of baptism, we don’t do much liturgically to mark these processes. Continue reading
Audibly and Impressively
I enjoyed a year as a priest-in-charge of one of the more Anglo-Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Niagara. Its forms of worship were new to me, and I had to spend much time preparing for the ceremonies that were so important to that community. That meant reading and re-reading the great book that leaves no detail unwritten concerning one form of Anglo-Catholic customs: Ritual Notes.
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