By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Pandemic-driven innovations have blanketed the Episcopal worship landscape with changes that go well beyond live-streaming of Sunday services. Striving to balance distancing with a sense of community, congregations have tried everything this year from praising God in spaced-out lawn chairs to drive-thru Communion and sending consecrated elements to … [Read more...] about Envisioning Liturgy for a Post-Pandemic Church
liturgy
New: 10/20 TLC Online
The October 20 edition of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers. The Liturgical Arts & Music issue includes a story by G. Jeffrey MacDonald about churches that are attracting new members by offering contemporary versions of traditional hymns. Organist and choir director David Palmer describes his early indoctrination about the primacy of text … [Read more...] about New: 10/20 TLC Online
On the Eucharist and Sacrifice
On the May 23 edition of his Via Media podcast, the Rev. Gerald R. McDermott welcomes the Rev. Matthew Olver, assistant professor of liturgics and pastoral theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary. McDermott is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., and leads its Institute of Anglican Studies. McDermott and Olver discuss the … [Read more...] about On the Eucharist and Sacrifice
Las Posadas, Dia de Los Muertos, and Renaming
The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has announced that The Book of Occasional Services 2018 is available as a free download in English and Spanish. The 2018 edition, authorized by the 79th General Convention, includes outlines for celebrations of “Las Posadas” and “Dia de Los Muertos,” and a five-page “Service of Renaming.” The renaming rite suggests Scripture … [Read more...] about Las Posadas, Dia de Los Muertos, and Renaming
An Enormous Range of Sources
National Prayers Special Worship since the Reformation Volume 1: Special Prayers, Fasts and Thanksgivings in the British Isles, 1533-1688 Edited by Natalie Mears, Alasdair Raffe, Stephen Taylor, and Philip Williamson (with Lucy Bates) Boydell Press. Pp. 939. $170 Volume 2: General Fasts, Thanksgivings and Special Prayers in the British Isles, 1689-1870 Edited by … [Read more...] about An Enormous Range of Sources
Letter Challenges Transgender Guidance
Adam Becket reports for Church Times: A draft open letter that has attracted more than 1500 signatures calls on the House of Bishops to “revise, postpone or withdraw” its guidance on adapting the liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith to mark a person’s gender transition. Last month, the House of Bishops Delegation Committee published guidance that said that churches … [Read more...] about Letter Challenges Transgender Guidance
Canon Howe Dies at 80
The Rev. Canon Gregory Michael Howe, eighth custodian of the Book of Common Prayer, died Jan. 12 at Seashore Point Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in Provincetown, R.I. He was 80. A native of New York City, Howe was a graduate of Columbia University and General Theological Seminary, and pursued postgraduate work at St. George’s College in Jerusalem and at the Pontifical … [Read more...] about Canon Howe Dies at 80
‘Watershed in Christian Discipleship’?
The Church of England has published “Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition.” The document offers guidelines for how the existing rite of baptism may be adapted into a service of welcome. The guidance says clergy may address transgender people by their chosen name: “For a trans person to be … [Read more...] about ‘Watershed in Christian Discipleship’?