From the category archives:

Liturgy

Hold that hallelujah: some odd thoughts on Lent

February 18, 2010

Yesterday it seemed good to me to abstain from posting on the blog. In the catch-up, I noticed first of all this short reflection from Maggi Dawn.

Are you giving up anything for Lent?” was a question no-one would ever have asked a few hundred years ago, when everyone gave up the same things, and it [...]

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Yes to evolution, but no to “Evolution Sunday”

February 8, 2010

I notice from James McGrath that some US churches are celebrating an “Evolution Sunday” either yesterday or next week.
I’m afraid my Anglican soul revolts at these special Sundays for this, that and the other, however worthy the cause or idea. Sundays are a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, which also take a particular character as [...]

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Desiring the kingdom: some observations on a good book

February 5, 2010

I’ve been reading James K A Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom and finding it quite stimulating. The book was awarded Christianity Today’s best theology / ethics book award for 2010, though I didn’t know that when I started reading it.
Smith begins by introducing the idea of cultural liturgies with an extended description of visiting a shopping [...]

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Candlemas images

January 30, 2010
creator_child.jpg

Looking for some images for a Candlemas reflection, I found myself pondering lines from two songs. First there is the Timothy Dudley-Smith Christmas hymn “Child of the stable’s secret birth”;

whose are the hands and the fingers curled
but his who fashioned and made our world

Then there are the (perhaps more familiar) lines of Graham [...]

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Bringing sinless perfection into the prayers of “penitence”

January 17, 2010

Presumably Ken Schenk would like to thank the Lord that he is not like those sinful Anglicans.

I’ve been using the Anglican liturgy for five years now in the liturgical service I preside at for College Wesleyan Church. I’ve always been unhappy with the confession. … Isn’t it at least possible in theory that in the [...]

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Songs for the dark side (2): Psalm 51 as a hymn

January 16, 2010

I was complaining the other day about the lack of songs and hymns that were suitable for sad times, or penitential seasons. I’ve decided not just to complain but try to do something about it.
Here’s a first draft of a metrical version of Psalm 51, which I’ve also cross-posted to my Jubilate blog. The tune [...]

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After the earthquake

January 13, 2010

The news from Haiti seems to get worse and worse. I have posted on my new worship blog a set of propers for the Eucharist which some may wish to make some use of or adaptation from.

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Bless this Blackberry, and show love to the laptop

January 12, 2010
laptop_blessing.jpg

I’ve been trying to work out whether it is just the gimmick value that makes me uneasy about this story of the vicar who blessed laptops and mobiles at the start of the week. But I think my unease might just run a little deeper than that.
I note his justification for this as an updating [...]

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Everything we do in church is weird

January 11, 2010

I was taken to task today for not including “accessibility” in my discussion of good worship over on another blog. The thrust behind that is that we live in a “mission-shaped church” and people coming into worship are meant to find it an accessible experience.
There are some problems with that: and the biggest problem is [...]

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A new blog for good worship

January 10, 2010

I’ve decided to start up a second blog focussed very clearly on ideas and resources for worship, and am more than happy to receive ideas, links and useful material for it. From time to time I may cross-post something here, especially while I’m getting it started. It is not going to be a frequent daily [...]

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