Category: Introductory

Introduction

Collaboration: what a loaded word. In my experience, this term gets tossed around a lot in the practice of ministry and in artistic circles, but what do we mean by it?

Introduction to the Lectionary Companion – 58.1

58.1, Introductory, Lectionary Aids

Sally Ann McKinseyYear C (2024–2025)When Sunday comes back around every week, so does our corporate worship. We are formed in the pattern of Sunday-after-Sunday, found by God in the rhythm that pattern makes. May this resource support you week after week, season after...

Introduction

57.4, Introductory, Queering the Liturgy

Used as a verb, to “queer” is to practice nuance, claim particularity, and cultivate contextual awareness in our liturgical theology and practice, rejecting binaries that keep us from embracing the fullness of the God we find in the life of Jesus and in Scripture. When we practice queering worship, we recognize the ways we are actively being reformed according to the incarnate God we have always believed and the sacramental practice we have always known.

Introduction

57.2, Beyond the Walls, Introductory

Sally Ann McKinseyAt almost every entrance to a church building, wayfinding signs point to “The Sanctuary.” This is appropriate, of course, because the specific location of this room in the building matters. The four walls of the sanctuary hold and define the...

Introduction to the Lectionary Companion – 57.1

57.1, Introductory, Lectionary Aids

Sally Ann McKinseyYear B (2023–2024)Worship planning and practice is inherently interdisciplinary. Music invites theological exploration, theology informs language and liturgy, liturgy becomes action, and action makes art. Singers and preachers alike use the voice to...

Introduction – 56.4

56.4, Introductory

Rev. Fred Rogers is famous for using his acceptance speech for his 1997 Emmy award as a time to invite everyone in the room to take ten seconds “to think of the people who have helped you become who you are.” Fred kept the time as the whole auditorium kept silence together.

Introduction: Epiclesis around the Ordinary

56.3, Introductory

Sally Ann McKinseyThe Eucharist reshapes the service, pulling itself to the center,” writes columnist Colleen Cook in her contribution to this issue. The last few years have brought much to consider about the practice of ministry amid a global pandemic, continued...

Introduction – 56.2

56.2, Introductory

The story of Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 begins when an angel of the Lord calls Philip to set out on “the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza (This is a wilderness road)” (Acts 8:26). Luke does warn us, doesn’t he? I can hear the moody background music between the parentheses. This won’t be a story about the familiar baptismal font and rehearsed liturgy of Sunday morning.

Introduction to Lectionary Aids – 56.1

56.1, Introductory, Lectionary Aids

Once again, we are pleased to bring you another rich resource for worship planning, thanks to the generosity of contributors from all around the country who have provided suggestions for liturgy, congregational song, psalms and canticles, organ music, anthems for adult choirs, handbell music, and visual art. In addition to these weekly offerings, there are seasonal suggestions for children’s choirs, youth choirs, piano music, and vocal solos…