tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72882777910265572262012-01-30T20:50:43.413-05:00Conversations About Christian WorshipDon Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.comBlogger1361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-54114216898414852822012-01-29T16:07:00.003-05:002012-01-29T16:22:53.737-05:00

There are a number of liturgical activities that were started once upon a time because someone thought they were good ideas. As it’s turned out, they’ve been recognized as not-so-good or worse, but they seem to linger on, just like bad habits. Such habitual sins are like crabgrass—almost impossible to get rid of—unless first you recognize them for what they are.So, in the interest of improving

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-35344269720968320902012-01-22T17:05:00.000-05:002012-01-22T17:06:34.921-05:00

When I was just getting started in my calling over half a century ago, I realized that I was not very well prepared to assume responsibilities of planning and leading worship. The education I had about worship was sketchy. Seminary supplied a few slim books to read, and practical advice on how to hold the baby for baptism, the gesture to make in pronouncing the benediction and other liturgical

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-16859100837855477042012-01-15T11:28:00.001-05:002012-01-15T11:30:00.893-05:00

I was talking with a couple over lunch at a day-long event held at a local monastery of the Orthodox Church of America. We were discussing the paths we’d travelled that led us to an interest in the Eastern Orthodox experience of worship.This couple had travelled some distance across several state lines to reach the monastery for this event, and had come a long way on their common spiritual

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-89520394888997992352012-01-08T18:05:00.001-05:002012-01-11T14:44:34.114-05:00

The following is an advertisement for worship services with indisputable and universal appeal. Join us any Sunday you happen to feel like it.(1) We have services that are calculated to make you feel good and send you forth with a smile on your lips and a cozy feeling in your heart.(2)Gather with others who look and dress like you do,(3) to give personal thanks for the success you enjoy(4) and

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-12703990932397270012011-12-31T23:13:00.000-05:002011-12-31T23:18:41.876-05:00

Last Sunday was December 25th, which as was noted in the last post, was a very special day. It was, of course, Christmas Day, which makes it special enough. But what really made it a rarity was that the same day was in two seasons.December 25th, Christmas Day is the last day in the secular season of Christmas that starts off right after Halloween in early November. It is also the first day of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-50735676296848027102011-12-25T12:19:00.000-05:002011-12-25T12:20:36.231-05:00

Like it or not, you may as well get used to the reality that there are two Christmases.One is the public Christmas, celebrated more or less universally, except for the die-hard Scrooges among us. This is a season-long celebration, beginning immediately after Halloween and running through December 25, known as Christmas Day. Then Christmas comes to an abrupt halt. This season has its own widely

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-29682086715555651242011-12-18T22:28:00.000-05:002011-12-18T22:29:49.784-05:00

The question she posed to me went something like this: “The theater group can’t have their rehearsal in the sanctuary, can they? I mean it’s a ‘sacred space’, reserved for worship only, right?”I suppose it depends on who’s answering the question what “sacred space” means. Surely there are some who consecrate their church buildings thereby setting them aside from any use other than the church’s

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-52104898090952201172011-12-11T21:25:00.000-05:002011-12-11T21:26:18.698-05:00

I’m always amused by the announcements to folks waiting to get on an airplane about “pre-boarding”. Those who need special assistance are invited to “pre-board”, whereupon they get up and board the plane. There’s not a lot of difference between “pre-boarding” and “boarding” an aircraft, except that some passengers get on earlier than others.It strikes me that a similar situation occurs when you

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-28313081812016048532011-12-04T19:18:00.002-05:002011-12-04T19:21:00.354-05:00

The man came up to me on his way out of church after the service and said, “I didn’t like that thing you made us do this morning!” I had no idea what he was talking about. “What thing was that?” I asked.“You know,” he grumped, “that series of prayers when we had to think of all kinds of people and make commitments to help them. That was a lot of work.”The man had experienced the true meaning

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-23304066415182036812011-11-27T16:27:00.000-05:002011-11-27T16:28:40.430-05:00

The Christian Year began with a bit of an uproar in the churches of our Roman Catholic neighbors. A new translation of the Mass from Latin appeared simultaneously for all English-speaking congregations this morning, the First Sunday of Advent. It’s no surprise that the change is controversial.The idea, according to those who are behind this change, is to provide a more accurate translation of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-33948975167102613932011-11-20T18:30:00.004-05:002011-11-20T18:36:53.618-05:00

I’ll admit it: I like icons. No, I’m not talking about the little pictures on my computer screen. It’s the stylistic paintings of the Orthodox Christian tradition that grab my attention--like those at New Skete Monastery in Cambridge, NY.I find Orthodox icons often to be exquisite works of art. Even the simplest are captivating in their bold artistic expression. There is a beauty in design

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-40122267144968231922011-11-08T21:07:00.001-05:002011-11-08T21:08:48.436-05:00

Not long ago I visited a church where the pastor was away and a guest was filling in. The itinerant preacher ascended to the pulpit and began with a pronouncement something like this: “I understand that Pastor Jones usually begins his sermons with a joke, so I’ll start with one of mine.” Whereupon he launched into what had the aura of something lifted from the “Church Humor” page of the Reader

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-2933893749420639762011-11-03T20:30:00.000-04:002011-11-03T20:31:41.954-04:00

Early in my ministry, a prayer of confession was introduced into the order of service, whereupon I was confronted by one of the members during the coffee hour. “I don’t like that confession prayer,“ he said. “I’m not so bad I need to do that every week.”Well, more than one point got past him. The importance of confession of sin in worship for any and all of us is that it reminds us of our

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-11655971604442859532011-10-28T08:27:00.000-04:002011-10-28T08:30:23.264-04:00

A good friend and I were conferring over his cup of coffee and my mug of tea, pondering the current condition of the Church of Jesus Christ. To make a long conversation short, the consensus was that, at least in terms of the Church evident in churches and congregations of which we have personal knowledge, there is a real problem: Christians seem to gather in clusters that look much more like

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-40342317759447678602011-10-16T20:19:00.001-04:002011-10-16T20:21:16.248-04:00

Every once in a while, it helps to take a look at Christian worship from a slightly different angle. When we’re busy planning a particular service, every act of worship is important, and they all tend to rank about the same. So it is worth looking at what we do in worship to lift up those things that we would classify as “essential”.This is not an effort to “minimalize” worship, to see what is

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-6424903312547234322011-10-09T21:48:00.000-04:002011-10-09T21:49:30.971-04:00

Why don’t Protestants make the sign of the cross?This is a question that comes around more often these days. Maybe more Protestants are showing curious interest in the action, and wonder, “Why not?”The simple, but not always satisfying, answer is that making the sign of the cross as a physical gesture was one of the casualties of the Protestant Reformation. Superstition was rampant, and the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-82250189351161573692011-10-02T21:26:00.000-04:002011-10-02T21:28:03.376-04:00

Fifty years of experience as a preacher of the Gospel have taught me a few things, as one would hope. When I started out, I was very diligent in study, careful in exegesis, and thorough in crafting each sermon. I was not above letting the hearers of the sermon know of the diligence, care and craft that went into the sermon’s creation. I soon realized, however, that there was a time for Bible

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-30193719759524106972011-09-26T17:06:00.001-04:002011-09-28T09:16:24.483-04:00

“The Communion of saints” is a slippery subject. The phrase slides by at the bottom of the Apostle’s Creed, when and if it’s recited. Even though we affirm our convictions about the term, it’s hard to grasp.Our understanding of a “saint” has several different emphases. The word, of course, means holy, in the sense of being dedicated or even consecrated to God.One view is that “saints” are our

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-65760268206609033482011-09-18T20:25:00.002-04:002011-09-18T20:29:19.918-04:00

Anyone who has recently had dealings with the medical community knows that the initials HIPAA stand for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It’s a law including rules that protect the privacy of our medical information.Neither the law nor its rules apply specifically to churches and services of worship. Nevertheless, its wisdom is worth our attention.Here are a few

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-82022143216274614942011-09-11T15:49:00.001-04:002011-09-11T15:50:51.199-04:00

The Prayer for Illumination is used in many churches these days, but it is too easily slid by in a rush to get to the main event. So it would do us well to step off to one side for a few minutes and consider what we are doing in this particular act.First of all, where does the Prayer for Illumination go in the order of service, and what does it do?I’ve heard preachers (although I am pleased to

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-25507890589772729362011-09-05T20:11:00.007-04:002011-09-05T20:28:12.749-04:00

The basic idea of this post has been “a work in progress” for decades and has supplied me with numerous insights about Christian worship. I’m sure it will continue to be refined and revised. What follows is lengthier than usual for this blog; nevertheless, it is but a sketchy outline of a concept that I hope will provoke the reader’s thoughts as it has mine.One way of understanding the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-22771515034271195172011-08-28T15:38:00.000-04:002011-08-28T15:40:52.151-04:00

Taking a break from a national church committee meeting, we were in the restaurant of a hotel near O’Hare Airport. As we took our places, the waitperson arrived to pass out menus and take our beverage orders. It was only a few minutes later that the drinks arrived, and then the meal was served. One person received an extra he had requested: a dinner roll. He stood at his place with the bread

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-55963939585200094682011-08-23T12:37:00.001-04:002011-08-23T12:39:50.162-04:00

Or, for that matter, why not? In some minds, it’s a real question that deserves to be debated. For many of us, however, having lay people leave their pews in the congregation to stand at the lectern and read the Scripture lessons for the day is an experience so common as to be unquestioned. The practice became immensely popular in many Protestant churches, across denominational and theological

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-13824950134128970652011-08-07T21:08:00.001-04:002011-08-07T21:09:30.683-04:00

One of the biggest problems in the world of liturgy today is that no one is eclectic enough. Most folks tend to glom on to their peculiar brand of worship and stick to it. This is no great surprise when it’s the Roman Catholics, because in spite of Vatican II (or maybe because of it) they have settled back into the way of “tradition.” But it is, or should be surprising when Protestants lock

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-84934497418718978042011-08-01T21:40:00.001-04:002011-08-01T21:42:08.680-04:00

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) had an impact on the Roman Catholic Church to be sure, but it also sent shock waves through the rest of Christianity. For Protestants, the document on the liturgy was a wake-up call alerting many to take a fresh look at Sunday morning and other worship experiences. One immediate result was increased conversation between Roman priests and Presbyterian and

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-72630121643492217482011-07-24T22:11:00.000-04:002011-07-24T22:12:02.733-04:00

If you stop to think a moment or two about the integrity of worship, then you won’t be surprised to find seemingly different parts having important connections.The present subject under consideration is what the “prayers of the people,” also known as the “pastoral prayer,” has to do with the preacher’s sermon, and why this might be important. There is one obvious difference, of course: the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-24606521387919429232011-07-17T22:47:00.001-04:002011-07-17T22:49:28.156-04:00

You may think that’s a silly question, but there are others who will come up with a quick answer: “No!”Well, what then is preaching if it’s not worship?I raise this question for two reasons. One, I’ve long been bothered by the custom of labeling seminary professors as teaching “Preaching and Worship,” or vice versa, as though they were two separate things. If one teaches about worship, of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-88002041193116803992011-07-10T21:18:00.001-04:002011-07-10T21:20:22.049-04:00

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Christian worship in this country generally went through what would be modestly called an upheaval. It was all the fault of the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Church. Protestants as well as Catholics started scrutinizing their worship practices more closely, and just about everything was up for review and renewal.It was an exciting time when what was said

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-33861961404282119312011-07-04T21:40:00.001-04:002011-07-04T21:42:11.474-04:00

For worship to be “sensible” we need to pay attention to the physical as well as the conceptual meanings of the word. For what is perceptible to our physical senses influences our reason or understanding.In the last two posts, we’ve considered the primary impact of the senses of sight and hearing on our worship experience. Now in this last post in the series, we’ll ponder the potential of touch

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-23336513811018788342011-06-26T21:44:00.000-04:002011-06-26T21:45:30.152-04:00

This is the second installment in a series on worship that is sensible, which, according to the dictionary means “perceptible to the senses or to reason or understanding.” When applied to worship, both meanings work.Not only should worship make sense, be logical in order to be theological, it is also sensible in the other meaning: “perceptible to the senses.” HearingWhen we enter the place of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-25263084433686606002011-06-19T21:13:00.001-04:002011-06-19T21:16:47.371-04:00

It’s a delightfully ambiguous word: Sensible. The dictionary suggests it means “perceptible to the senses or to reason or understanding.” When applied to worship, both meanings work.It’s always a good idea for what we do in worship to make sense, otherwise it’s hard to explain and interpret. It has to be logical in order to be theological. There’s nothing worse than theology that is made up

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-56021069927156041352011-06-13T15:19:00.001-04:002011-06-13T15:20:37.926-04:00

It was the Third Sunday of Easter that I was scheduled to be the “guest preacher” filling in for a vacationing friend. I knew well that the Gospel for that day would be about the experience of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and I looked forward to developing yet another sermon on that wondrous story.All of a sudden I had the chilling recollection that at the church where I’d be

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-50325288413109385112011-06-05T17:13:00.002-04:002011-06-05T17:15:55.347-04:00

One thing we don’t get around to very often, or at least not often enough, is explaining worship. Why we do what we do on a Sunday morning—not to mention various other times and occasions of the week—is a sorely neglected activity.For the most part, leaders and planners of worship follow the usual pattern and forms without much scrutiny or analysis to determine whether they are appropriate or

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-20327556600103516022011-05-31T21:48:00.001-04:002011-05-31T21:50:54.334-04:00

From time to time we do well to step back and take a long look at what we’re up against when we talk about “the renewal of worship.” Drifting around among the folks in the pews are assumptions that cause considerable mischief. They’ve been around for some time, generations perhaps, and if left unchallenged will thwart every effort to make sense of worship, understand it logically, not to mention

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-58506670731346717622011-05-23T21:16:00.000-04:002011-05-23T21:19:06.186-04:00

Not long ago I received an email from a long-time friend about a disturbing experience. He and his wife had attended the confirmation of their nephew in a Roman Catholic church in Delaware. They read in the printed bulletin “instructions that non-Catholics were not allowed to share in the Eucharist, as the bishop, priests and congregation sang joyful songs of welcoming others to the sacrament.”

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-16940819784972477252011-05-15T21:51:00.001-04:002011-05-15T21:54:13.882-04:00

Some words, especially when used as an adjective, can be dangerous, as is the case with “reformed” when used as a modifier of “worship.”The danger is, of course, that it implies that worship, when carried out by those in the Reformed Tradition, is utterly circumscribed by the theological dogma produced in the 16th Century. The word “Reformed” brands the liturgy, and confines, constricts and

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-80685323992393706402011-05-08T18:56:00.001-04:002011-05-08T19:00:14.633-04:00

For some twenty-five years, the congregation I served had a remarkable relationship with a neighboring synagogue. From time to time, members from both places would assemble to study Scripture or debate the role of faith in public issues. At least annually there were opportunities for the clergy to swap pulpits and the congregants to worship together in each other’s liturgical homes. In

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-88286943068317331022011-05-01T22:30:00.001-04:002011-05-01T22:31:24.597-04:00

A new experience awaited me this morning at the neighborhood Lutheran church I often attend. Today was the Second Sunday of Easter, and, said the pastor, it would be appropriate to exercise the option in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship to substitute “Thanksgiving for Baptism” for “Confession and Forgiveness.” He told me after the service that he intended to continue the switch through the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-54708301995048505102011-04-24T22:03:00.000-04:002011-04-24T22:04:58.087-04:00

It’s no small irony that the defining event of Christianity is celebrated by many, if not most, people only briefly. Easter is commonly brushed off in a single day, even in one hour. Easter Sunday comes and goes like a breeze, and that’s that.The observance of Easter seems to be getting short shrift when compared to the lengthy buildup of Lent. In that forty-day (not counting Sundays) season,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-53170414836443588472011-04-17T16:04:00.001-04:002011-04-17T16:07:02.957-04:00

When I was but a mere wisp of a lad, sitting with my parents in church, I took particular delight in singing the variety of hymns and the other songs. My special favorite, which was repeated almost every week, was my favorite, I think, because it was different from all the rest.“Glory be to the Father…,” we sang on a single note before we moved on to more of a melody. It didn’t have much of a

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-3220489004231235422011-04-10T19:25:00.005-04:002011-04-10T19:37:13.492-04:00

Some parts of the Sunday liturgy are so brief that we breeze right past them without bothering to think about their meaning. Take, for instance, those few lines of dialogue which deserve more attention than they usually get.The snippets of dialogue at issue appear as a greeting in the Call to Worship at the beginning of the service:The minister greets the people, saying one of the following:The

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-34748974826028186942011-04-03T13:54:00.002-04:002011-04-03T14:04:51.224-04:00

Anyone who goes to church surely understands the importance of music in a service of worship.For example, let’s talk about those un-sung parts of the service, the Prelude and the Postlude. (Sorry for the pun.) They tend to be overlooked since everyone, except the organist or instrumental musicians, is doing something else while the music is playing. During the Prelude people are coming in and

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-38278278713963203082011-03-27T20:28:00.008-04:002011-03-27T20:48:02.564-04:00

A response by Abbot Richard to my post about “One Table” (February 17, 2011) raises an important issue. He advocates opening the Table to all baptized people, but draws the line there, saying: “However, in the present day many have gone over the edge in the opposite direction to have an invitation of 'ya'll come,' and baptism is not a consideration. I have been told that this is a form of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-47105896020034171472011-03-21T09:55:00.001-04:002011-03-21T09:58:28.115-04:00

One of the more important responsibilities of the “resident liturgical theologian” (a.k.a. the pastor) in any congregation is to teach the people about Christian worship. Of course, it goes without saying that the pastor will have done some liturgical learning in advance—well, actually, that needs to be said, and I just did.There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this: adult classes,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-66426560705441675822011-03-13T20:28:00.002-04:002011-03-13T20:33:50.468-04:00

We all know how to count the forty days in Lent by leaving out the Sundays. Lent is all weekdays. Sundays may be “in” Lent, but they are not “of” it. *The reason usually given for this is that Sunday is always to be treated as a “mini-Easter”, a time of celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. So, Sunday would seem to be out of sync with the forty day journey with Jesus on his way to

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-6489561360306263212011-03-06T18:28:00.002-05:002011-03-06T18:34:42.897-05:00

One of my seminary professors used to challenge us regularly with an admonition to the effect that we ought to spend as much or more time and energy in writing our prayers addressed to God as we do preparing a sermon addressed to mere humans.At the time, I thought that made eminent good sense and was worthy of sincere effort. When in the throes of being a pastor, however, before long I was

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-28269036199767050292011-02-27T19:58:00.000-05:002011-02-27T19:59:01.017-05:00

The experience of being in a church to worship and being told point-blank that you’re not welcome at the Table is a daunting one. It’s happened to me in Roman Catholic churches more than once when I was there to celebrate the union of a couple in love, or to remember with gratitude a life that had ended—both emotional times when being rebuffed seemed uncharitable and insensitive. In other

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-60134836520056571322011-02-20T15:56:00.001-05:002011-02-20T15:57:51.681-05:00

I wonder how many Presbyterian congregations stand for the reading of the Gospel.That thought flitted through my mind as I rose from my pew, in the little Lutheran church where I often go, to hear the words of Jesus from Matthew’s Gospel.I know I had no success with convincing anyone that this was a good idea when I was in the parish, and we almost never performed that ritual gesture.One time a

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-46074573799274757502011-02-13T17:56:00.001-05:002011-02-13T17:57:23.307-05:00

I remember more than one ecumenical adventure when I shared in worship with Roman Catholics, and was asked, invited, given the opportunity to bring forward the bread or the wine to be used in the Mass. This was considered to be an honor for anyone, and in the days following Vatican II, a gracious gesture to Protestants (even though we were not allowed to partake of the same elements in the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-445326135882367562011-02-06T17:41:00.000-05:002011-02-06T17:43:24.940-05:00

Not long ago I was visiting in a large main-line church where the offering of money was accomplished in a manner which I had never experienced, or even thought of, before. This is what happened:The “Presentation of Tithes and Offerings” was announced, and people came forward in procession with brass plates to receive the offerings, row by row, front to back of the room. As the people deposited

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-47558104025301584622011-01-30T17:30:00.001-05:002011-01-30T17:36:03.325-05:00

“Eschatology” is the word for today, meaning “study or consideration of the last things,” by which could be meant the end of one’s life, the end of the world or the return of Christ.I bring it up because, in spite of the references to the “last things” in our liturgy, we pay it only fleeting attention. Perhaps it’s because we are put off by those who project their faith entirely into the future,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-80032736614618665522011-01-16T18:45:00.003-05:002011-01-16T18:51:51.469-05:00

Not long ago I heard a sermon that reminded me of myself many years ago. It was really an essay disguised as a sermon.When I started out, that’s pretty much what my sermons sounded like. I always dutifully did my homework, and it showed proudly in the workmanship of my sermon. Congregants could recognize diligence in every word. I remember one woman telling me that she could tell I was a scholar

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-82427203027440952162011-01-09T22:37:00.001-05:002011-01-09T22:39:14.217-05:00

I suppose there are times when a recorded accompaniment for church singing is justifiable. Small congregations without resources for musicians or instruments, or to provide easy rehearsal, may resort to canned music in church.Karaoke for church is big business these days, if what is available on-line is any indication. This kind of musical augmentation for soloists, choirs or congregation is a

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-43858395523259464502011-01-02T20:28:00.001-05:002011-01-02T20:36:21.805-05:00

There are still some of us around who remember the excitement of the Second Vatican Council, and how, though we were just sitting in the stands, we were cheering for John XXIII and his colleagues in their efforts for reform.One of the major issues tackled by the Council was the reform and renewal of liturgy. This was vitally important, as they said in Sacrosanctum Concilium, “For the liturgy…,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-73125157633827241662010-12-24T12:04:00.002-05:002010-12-24T12:11:44.330-05:00

It feels like everything is out of sync when we’re hearing Christmas carols in the mall starting on Halloween. I know it’s a commercial ploy to create a generous mood in shoppers, and is exploiting the faith. So I’m much happier when the Season of Christmas begins and the carols and songs sound out when they’re timely.On the other hand, there are three songs that we usually identify with the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-85276519792447777022010-12-19T22:43:00.000-05:002010-12-19T23:00:10.245-05:00

The portion of Christian liturgy labeled “Gathering” has numerous ritual possibilities, as I rolled out in my last post. The part called “Sending” is considerably skimpier.As often as not, the Sending is treated abruptly as the Ending. The Word is read and proclaimed, the Eucharist is celebrated and shared, we sing a hymn, a blessing is pronounced. The End. We’d be better off, however, thinking

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-78864255513188773172010-12-12T22:00:00.001-05:002010-12-12T22:06:56.094-05:00

One of the more important and most often neglected parts of a service of Christian worship is what is called the “Gathering.” The assembling of the faithful on the Lord’s Day doesn’t just happen willy-nilly—there is considerable thoughtful ritual associated with it.Shifting gears from every-day life to the focused worship of Almighty God is not always easy; maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-51492794196707026652010-12-05T22:11:00.001-05:002010-12-05T22:14:01.441-05:00

I recently was the guest preacher for a congregation without a pastor for two Sundays. Their order of service, following the sermon, called for a “Pastoral Prayer.” The first Sunday I was there, I filled that slot with a series of bidding prayers à la the “Prayers of the People” in the Book of Common Worship (1993), complete with brief instruction about the introductory phrase and congregational

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-23686872720693210462010-11-28T16:53:00.001-05:002010-11-28T16:55:06.211-05:00

In my last post I wrote about the “fraction,” that ritual act of breaking bread before the distribution of the meal to the people. It is seemly that its companion ritual act, the lifting of the cup, should receive similar consideration.The breaking of the bread seems to draw the major amount of interest of scholars and others, while lifting the cup, overshadowed by the fraction, just tags along

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-71274836575350407102010-11-21T17:31:00.001-05:002010-11-21T17:35:11.763-05:00

Fraction: The ritual act of breaking bread in the Lord’s Supper.A while back it dawned on me that for some time I had not seen (nor heard reference to) the “fraction” in the Lord’s Supper at the Lutheran Church I often attend. So I started to pay closer attention to the places in the liturgy when the presider might break the bread for all to see—but I didn’t see it, and neither did my wife.So,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-48744531670721870672010-11-12T12:35:00.002-05:002010-11-12T12:37:57.433-05:00

Once upon a time, if memory serves me well, the practice in the church I served was to pray the Lord’s Prayer at the end of what we called the “Prayer of Adoration” (also known as the “Prayer of the Day” or “Opening Prayer”).That always seemed to me to be a reasonable placement for a model prayer that Jesus left with his disciples. Placed at the beginning of the service, the Lord’s Prayer set a

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-40909271782382985172010-10-31T20:47:00.001-04:002010-10-31T20:49:38.419-04:00

A seminary classmate of mine served as a “student assistant” in a Philadelphia church where the minister wore striped trousers and a morning coat, common attire for many Protestant clergy back then. The minister generously presented his student with a pair of the pants expecting that he would continue the custom. (He did not.)Most of us in those days wore the traditional black robe à la the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-48299743056584894602010-10-28T16:51:00.002-04:002010-10-28T16:55:33.540-04:00

Within the past week or so I’ve participated in two services of congregational worship which any reasonable person would place at opposite ends of the liturgical pole.The first was a Saturday service at an Orthodox Church of America monastery not far from where I live, and the second was at a Southern Baptist church in Florida where my nephew serves as one of the church’s ministers.Eastern

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-91258540716462053522010-10-19T20:37:00.001-04:002010-10-19T20:37:58.811-04:00

I don’t think we pay enough attention to posture these days. Liturgically, I mean.When I first started in ministry half a century ago, most congregations were more or less sedentary, with not a lot of movement involved in their worship. People seem to prefer to stay put. So once they had parked in a pew, they’d just as soon settle in for the duration.Apart from singing hymns and a few other

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-92202815564797572522010-10-10T16:45:00.002-04:002010-10-10T17:00:37.738-04:00

In many, if not most, Protestant churches these days, members of a congregation come forward each Sunday to read the Scripture lessons. This has become popular since the modern “liturgical renewal movement” was crystallized by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s.The idea is that the Christian Scriptures themselves arose out of the early church gatherings, and even then non-clergy would read

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-37060371168803071202010-10-03T17:07:00.001-04:002010-10-03T17:09:52.280-04:00

Growing up in the Midwest, I was accustomed to seeing stained glass windows in churches. Their bright day-lighted colors and iconic designs portrayed Jesus and his followers and other faithful souls of ancient times.Coming to the Northeast and New England in particular I encountered another architectural style, simpler, plainer, including clear class in the windows. The Puritan view certainly

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-41891720213825550402010-09-28T00:10:00.001-04:002010-09-28T00:13:36.882-04:00

“This sign [of the cross] was not only used in the churches in very ancient times: it is still an admirably simple reminder of the cross of Christ.” – Martin BucerI grant you that Bucer was referring to making the sign of the cross as part of the rite of Baptism. Nevertheless, it’s a noteworthy statement to come from a Protestant reformer in the 16th century. For Bucer, not absolutely everything

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-66224431916516536382010-09-19T21:58:00.001-04:002010-09-19T21:58:48.967-04:00

It’s been years now since I saw a video on liturgical renewal featuring Robert E. Webber, professor at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, but it left a lasting impression on me. In the video, Webber strongly advocated having at the top of the worship service a formal procession of choir and clergy with other worship leaders, moving from the entrance to the front of the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-59794011678257137022010-09-12T18:26:00.003-04:002010-09-12T18:31:31.959-04:00

Sometimes it’s just a good idea to take a step back and look at what we’re doing in worship. We can get lost in the details of picking hymns or writing prayers or crafting sermons and lose sight of the larger picture.There are at least two overarching perspectives to be considered when we ponder the event, the “happening” that we call Christian worship.Corporate WorshipOne is the fact that

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-40403901132408853522010-09-06T22:00:00.000-04:002010-09-06T22:01:00.777-04:00

Preparing a sermon isn’t necessarily the hardest part of getting ready for Sunday. There is always the selection of what hymns to sing.Sometimes rummaging through some 600 hymns in the Presbyterian Hymnal to snag three or four perfect ones for a particular Lord’s Day can be an arduous task. So it helps to have a plan, a process for locating fitting songs for the congregation to sing in praise of

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-18282560531721813322010-08-29T22:07:00.003-04:002010-08-29T22:13:06.998-04:00

I’m a lectionary preacher. Not that every sermon rises out of the assigned lessons, but I always start there. Circumstances can send me off on another track, but even then, providentially it would seem, the lectionary sometimes provides a pertinent word.In my last post, I wrote, “There’s a lot of meditation and contemplation that goes into a sermon.” It helps to read texts frequently so you get

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-8961823916240977782010-08-22T18:25:00.001-04:002010-08-26T21:19:45.908-04:00

Here’s a very personal subject for discussion: How do you prepare your sermons?The reason it’s so personal is that every one has his or her own way of doing it. Especially if you’ve been cranking them out for a number of years, and you’ve found the way that “works” for you.Recently I’ve had three successive Sundays in the pulpit, thanks to vacation schedules of my friends. This has forced me back

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-25141537339424849932010-08-15T21:54:00.002-04:002010-08-15T21:57:29.546-04:00

One of my favorite prayers comes from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. I happen to like it in the Edwardian English of its time. It’s titled “For the Spirit of Prayer.”"ALMIGHTY God, who pourest out on all who desire it, the spirit of grace and of supplication; Deliver us, when we draw nigh to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with stedfast thoughts

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-44870205573084183422010-08-08T13:15:00.002-04:002010-08-08T13:16:18.928-04:00

This is a true story.It was the early 1960s, and the American flag stood off in the corner of the sanctuary of the church I served. One morning the custodian reported that the flag, because of its severe age, had become tattered and worn beyond repair. The senior pastor (I was the assistant at the time) told the custodian to dispose of it according to the flag code, and so it was burned.“I never

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-39396622606278805742010-08-01T15:59:00.003-04:002010-08-01T16:05:50.526-04:00

When I was a preacher-in-training, the strong urging of one of my homiletics professors was for me and my colleagues to “get out of the way so Christ can be seen.” Another suggested that we should think of ourselves when preaching as “stepping aside to introduce Christ to the people.” So it came to pass that we all went out and ordered black pulpit robes so as to efface ourselves, put ourselves

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-46466948481492855672010-07-25T18:26:00.004-04:002010-07-25T18:39:03.274-04:00

In the previous post we considered “remembrance” in the Lord’s Supper, how the story of God’s love is rehearsed from Creation forward through the life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. In the process this Salvation History is brought again into the present, and Christ is recognized as being in the midst of those who break the bread and lift the cup.Now we turn to the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-1829242844647318212010-07-18T14:43:00.002-04:002010-07-18T14:46:12.110-04:00

The Words of Institution of the Lord’s Supper come to us from the Apostle Paul as the instructions he received from the Lord about the meal to be shared “in remembrance” of Jesus. (I Cor. 11:23-26) Sometimes the Greek word Paul used is also translated as “in remembering,” occasionally “in memory of,” yet the English words all fall short of conveying what is meant in the context of the Lord’s

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-30315960823072233312010-07-11T11:21:00.002-04:002010-07-11T11:24:22.724-04:00

I was invited to be the “guest presider” at one of the churches in our presbytery a while back. Which means that all they wanted me to do was preside at the Lord’s Supper.The Presbyterian congregation was joining for the Sunday service with a neighbor Episcopal church. A visiting priest from New York City would preach, and the local Episcopal pastor would lead in other parts of the service.The

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-65021223716860026752010-07-04T21:19:00.001-04:002010-07-04T21:21:23.265-04:00

Repetition in liturgy has a bad reputation. Yet that’s the way we learn. Saying responses week after week, the creed, familiar prayers and singing the hymns we love over and over are ways we fill our memories with basic theology. Someone once said that if the truth be known, we learn theology from the hymns we sing. I’d add, we are taught by the whole liturgy as well.So, like it or not, there

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-77972376293002846722010-06-27T21:18:00.003-04:002010-06-27T21:25:26.323-04:00

I’ve always been intrigued by a brief congregational part inserted in the Eucharistic prayer, three lines, called the “acclamation of faith.”The Book of Common Worship (1993) presents four alternative acclamations following separate introductory phrases:1Great is the mystery of faith:Christ has died,Christ is risen,Christ will come again.2Praise to you, Lord Jesus:Dying you destroyed our death,

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-47992748827742316892010-06-20T23:28:00.001-04:002010-06-20T23:30:22.711-04:00

The subject isn’t “Love and Marriage,” but “Word and Sacrament.”That Word and Sacrament belong together in Christian worship should go without saying. For many people, in the pulpits as well as in the pews, however, it is anything but a forgone conclusion. Week after week the Word part of the service is present, but the Sacrament is absent.For many planners and leaders of worship, elders and

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-31166049286292592092010-06-13T20:39:00.002-04:002010-06-13T20:42:53.775-04:00

In my previous post I made the case (I hope) for the congregation to speak up and speak out their parts in worship. One of the smallest yet more frequent of their parts is the single word, “amen.” Four letters, two syllables, are to be spoken boldly by the people in the pews a number of times in a given worship service.It tends to be treated as a throwaway, but it isn’t—or should not be. “Amen”

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-19083596355623640412010-06-06T21:17:00.000-04:002010-06-06T21:18:07.044-04:00

In the last two out-of-town worship services I attended I was brought up short by the assertiveness of the congregation.When it came time for the responses back and forth between the leader and the people, the people were outspoken in the best sense of the word. They spoke firmly and gave the impression they knew what they were saying and it was really important enough to be heard.The unison

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-22202769190924497602010-05-28T11:33:00.001-04:002010-05-28T11:34:27.183-04:00

Some things (and people) deserve honor and respect if for no other reason that they’ve been around for a long time. Durability counts.In liturgical matters this is especially true. Anything that has survived repeated reformation, translation and up-dating warrants special attention. Why has this liturgical piece lasted so well? We see durable liturgy, for example, in some of the “golden oldie”

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-57180853506696121612010-05-16T21:39:00.001-04:002010-05-16T21:41:30.095-04:00

When the word “confession” comes up in a conversation about Christian worship, it usually is taken to mean confession of sin. Although it happens that some are wary of using that term, perhaps because it smacks of laying on a guilt trip. One good alternative I’ve seen is “Prayer for Reconciliation.” The common, and more straightforward term, however, is “Confession of Sin.”There is also another

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-22551762442981002412010-05-09T21:38:00.001-04:002010-05-09T21:39:27.156-04:00

In the last few decades, the Protestant communions have gotten used to the pattern of the Christian Year: It starts with Advent as a four-Sunday prelude to a twelve-day Christmas, capped off with a single-day celebration of Epiphany. There follows a period of indefinite length of no particular seasonal designation. Then Lent appears as a forty-day prelude to Easter which runs for fifty days

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-54224817027791180662010-05-02T21:00:00.001-04:002010-05-02T21:09:23.491-04:00

Not long ago I was filling in at a nearby Presbyterian church, and in addition to preaching I was to preside at the Lord’s Supper. That’s not always the case, of course, since most Presbyterian churches observe the Sacrament occasionally rather than as part-and-parcel of Sunday worship. So I was delighted to look forward to a complete Lord’s Day worship service.As I discussed the logistics with

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-16283422055366780842010-04-25T12:54:00.001-04:002010-04-25T12:58:44.671-04:00

The overriding principle of Christian liturgy, as far as I’m concerned, is that it is the people’s work. Some of the people have particular responsibilities for that liturgy, such as clergy and musicians and lay leaders and deacons and so forth. But they are worshippers too.Therefore, those who are responsible in some form for leading or enabling the worship of the people have to do two things

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-88432308683561026242010-04-18T16:03:00.004-04:002010-05-02T21:10:36.039-04:00

“The Greeting of Peace,” sometimes called “the Passing the Peace,” or “the Kiss of Peace,” or simply, “the Peace,” is playing to mixed reviews in some Protestant churches. At least, so I hear. That’s probably because the rite contains a mixture of meanings.For many Reformed and similarly inclined folks, this is a new idea, so that they don’t know quite what to do with it. In the midst of worship

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-25958780826581668152010-04-11T14:27:00.003-04:002010-04-14T20:34:27.052-04:00

A good friend and colleague of mine and I were commiserating, as we are sometimes wont to do, on the subject of how so many church members don’t know, or never knew, anything much about church history or the heritage that informs our worship.He called the ailment a form of historical and liturgical amnesia afflicting the body of the church. We’ve plumb forgot what went before us. It was like we

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-16286952965514121782010-04-04T21:33:00.001-04:002010-04-04T21:36:40.608-04:00

Easter Vigils are hard to come by in my neck of the woods. So it came to pass some years ago that my wife and I ventured forth to Boston, to The Trinity Church on Copley Square. This is a church we had visited many times and appreciated for its strong liturgy, and where we understood they kept the Paschal Vigil. There we immersed ourselves in all three days known as the Triduum and it’s become

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-60516346313738093982010-03-27T18:38:00.001-04:002010-03-27T18:38:33.394-04:00

I don’t know exactly when it was that somebody thought it was a good idea to shift the emphasis of Palm Sunday to include the Passion of Christ.Once upon a time, if I remember correctly, we Presbyterians had Palm Sunday to commemorate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, on the first day of Holy Week. The Passion would come later in the week, receiving full attention on Friday. Our Roman

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-80738777392708522122010-03-21T20:26:00.001-04:002010-03-21T20:28:35.220-04:00

In a previous post I championed the cause of moving beyond only adopting the liturgical texts of the Book of Common Worship (1993), wonderful and useful that they are, to adapting them occasionally to one’s own worship situation and setting.Now I’m encouraging another step or two beyond that. It’s not enough just to re-work an existing text and just up-date its images or language. Creating

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-17980586284988919382010-03-14T19:57:00.004-04:002010-03-14T20:05:20.004-04:00

I had the opportunity a while back to take a seminar with the Disney Institute. The folks from Orlando shared what they learned at Disney World that we might put to work in the variety of businesses and groups represented among those attending, everything from fire departments to colleges, from hospices to manufacturing companies.They told us how they provide top-of-the-line customer service, for

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-49843006360323213162010-03-07T19:10:00.001-05:002010-03-07T19:10:36.560-05:00

“The view from the pew” which I currently enjoy most of the time, opens my liturgical eyes to some issues I’ve previously overlooked.One thing I’ve begun to notice more and more is how devoid of “mystery” Protestant worship so often is. In particular, we of the Reformed Clan must have it in our genes to explain everything, and in so doing, we bleach out what cannot be explained but only

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-45672555642141417662010-02-28T13:38:00.002-05:002010-02-28T13:46:49.006-05:00

The bulletin bestowed upon me at the church I attended a while back prompted me to fire off a few more bullets about bulletins. This one was 20 pages (including the front and back covers, and one inside page with church information), worthy of being called a booklet. Why was it so bulky when four pages (including front and back covers) usually suffices? The answers are found in the following

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-8674381311367789462010-02-21T20:34:00.002-05:002010-02-21T20:42:50.128-05:00

When you and I talk about “corporate worship,” it’s a safe bet that we are referring to what takes place in a church on Sunday morning. That in itself is a sign of how the other tradition of corporate worship—daily prayer—has been neglected, at least by the likes of us.Sure, there are monks and nuns and a few others out there who gather morning, noon and night for prayer and a psalm or song.

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-21510527534293096762010-02-14T19:05:00.004-05:002010-02-14T19:14:55.432-05:00

Hospitality, as properly understood in the Christian sense, is a radical virtue. It’s not just welcoming friends into our homes. It’s the warm embrace for the stranger, the one who is different and therefore “strange,” the alien, foreigner, unbeliever, even sinner. It’s the hospitality Jesus showed to just about everybody.When we gather in his name on his day, we aspire, it is hoped, to

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-75847527439443827162010-02-07T18:19:00.000-05:002010-02-07T18:20:53.647-05:00

When I was ordained, the process of preaching included searching out that passage of Scripture that had the Good News to be announced the following Sunday.I was aware that the Book of Common Worship (1946) had a lectionary in the back, and I knew what it was to be used for if anyone wanted to use it. As far as I knew, there were few takers. It seemed that most preachers picked the text for the

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7288277791026557226.post-17329683912257490102010-01-31T21:17:00.003-05:002010-01-31T21:32:58.560-05:00

One of the nifty things about the Book of Common Worship 1993 is that it offers abundant choices throughout the liturgy.A particularly important choice, to my way of thinking, is presented in the three places one might use the familiar “Words of Institution.”*The instructions in the BCW introduction are terse, and not particularly helpful:“The minister, or the one authorized to preside, invites

Don Stakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07572472988507238331noreply@blogger.com2