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When I decided to throw together a quick post to introduce the writer of this Summer’s Adult Bible Studies series, of course I “googled” Kevin Baker.  In the course of following some of the links, I ran across one Methodist blogger that I’d read a couple of years ago and was chagrined to see that [...]

This quarter focuses on God’s “Call” – to Moses, to the people of Israel and – by extension – us.  We closed out last quarter with a discussion surrounding “the whole armor of God” and – in particular – the need for such armor in “this present darkness”.  When those words were written, like much [...]

Back in early December when this blogging thing was going pretty strong, one of our lesson discussions led us to the choral anthem “He Comes to Us,” arranged by Jane Marshall.  The text of the anthem is the last paragraph of Albert Schweitzer’s 1948 book The Quest of the Historical Jesus:
“He comes to us as [...]

Also referred to as the “Service of the Table” or the “Eucharist”, the celebration of this sacrament is both something that sets Christianity apart from its Jewish roots, and builds on those roots.   Traditional emphasis existed in the Jewish faith for partaking of food together in temple, synagogue and home.  At the time of Passover, the [...]

The Liturgy (or “service”) of the Word can be traced back to the Jewish exile following the destruction of the first Temple.  By reading the scriptures, God’s chosen people could maintain their identity even in exile.  With the Temple gone, these scriptural readings evolved into synagogue worship.
Because the earliest Christians were predominantly Jewish, it is [...]

This writing is from “A Guide to Prayer for all who seek God”.  I wanted to share it with you all.
“We begin the seasons of the church year with anticipation, and we end the seasons of the church year declaring a certainty.  In Advent we waited for the needed and longed for definitive and ultimate [...]

This is even harder to define than the term “High Church”.  Both have very subjective connotations to different people, but I have to say I was surprised at how difficult it was to pin down specifics on just what would constitute emerging worship.  Let’s see what some emerging worship oriented websites say:
The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s [...]

It’s hard to pin down a real definition of these terms.  In the original sense of the term High Church, what was meant was a preference for the liturgical ritual and ceremony of the Roman Catholic service — particularly the Tridentine Mass, a solemn liturgy which originated following the Council of Trent and involved a deacon [...]

I asked this question a couple of weeks ago . . . the response was not overwhelming.
But, as we head into our last week of our hastily constructed study of worship, liturgy and the church year (and, not coincidently, the last week of the church year — at least by the reckoning of the Lectionary), [...]

If we had time, we could consider transitional days and the Sanctoral Cycle in separate posts.  But in the interest of giving you time to consider these before class on Sunday, I’m going to combine them into one post.
Certain occasions in Ordinary Time (remember . . . counting by “ordinals”, e.g., First Sunday After Pentecost, [...]