Liturgical outing

I’m off to Sydney (again!!) soon, for some great liturgical conferences — Societas Liturgica, the English Language Liturgical Consultation and seminar week at United Theological College.
Back on 21st — will try to write while I’m away.

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Australian Consultation on Liturgy 2009

This time last week I was sitting in historic Trinity College in balmy Melbourne (not!) at the 2009 meeting of ACOL, the Australian Consultation on Liturgy ACOL was inaugurated in 1976 and exists to help member churches to deepen their understanding of their own and other churches’ worship. Among other things, it also monitors the [...]

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Stations of the Cross

A beautiful Stations of the Cross prayer exercise:

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Liturgical thought for the day (8)

In his wonderful little book Patterned by Grace, Dan Benedict (a United Methodist and a great guy) talks about the formative dimensions of the liturgy. In other words, we are formed as Christians by regular participation in God-centred worship. He puts it a number of ways. Here’s one:
The liturgy carries us into the presence of Jesus. [...]

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New ordination services for the Uniting Church in Australia

On 17 November I posted that I was back from Sydney, where one of the things I did (on behalf of the Working Group on Worship) was to present the Assembly Standing Committee with new services of ordination and induction for ministers of the Word—presbyters in many other churches—and deacons.
They take effect from 1 January, [...]

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Liturgical thought of the day (7)

From Aidan Kavanagh, Elements of Rite. For me, a wonderful quotation in the midst of so much of a self-conscious, even a ‘game-show-host’, model of liturgical leadership:
 
Ministers must not pose or seem pompous; neither should they be careless or seem to be self-conscious, flippant or condescending. They must be and seem to be completely attuned [...]

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Liturgical thought of the day (6)

I googled <”pearly gates joke” liturgist> and got this response:
Your search - “pearly gates joke” liturgist - did not match any documents.
Is this a warning to us liturgists?

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Liturgical thought of the day (5)

Seen on a T-shirt:
LITURGISTS DO IT ACCORDING TO THE RUBRICS
Never seen on a T-shirt (yet!):
LITURGISTS DO IT WHEREVER TWO (OR THREE) ARE GATHERED TOGETHER

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Liturgical thought of the day (4)

The Liturgy as Play
Romano Guardini wrote a seminal paper with this title, which celebrates the pointlessness of liturgy, the way it is not ‘for’ anything other than God:
When the liturgy is rightly regarded, it cannot be said to have purpose, because it does not exist for the sake of humanity…. Eternal Wisdom speaks: “I was [...]

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Liturgical thought of the day (3)

In times when there is no persecution, God gives to the Church liturgists, that it may know hardship.
 
(Source unknown—but I wish I knew!)

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