A Little Bit of Liturgy
I’ve read, as maybe you have, that the word liturgy means “the work of the people.” And I’ve read, as maybe you have, James Smith’s You Are What You Love, a book that insists we broaden our definition of liturgy, understanding the recalibration of heart that liturgy is—and does—takes place not just in church but in the whole of our life together.
This means, of course, that the people with whom we do this work are, yes, our fellow parishioners, but also a much larger congregation. And for us at the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing, that congregation includes you. A gift.
So I’m hoping that for some of you this may be a small gift offered in return.
This Advent, my little bit of work—which borrows from the work of so many other people: pastors and poets and strangers and kin—has included writing prayers, which have been appearing, weekly, on The Reformed Journal’s blog. That is, I’m trying to calibrate my heart in the company of people who help me to be faithful, and I’m sharing these prayers with you in case they prove useful to your heart, too.
Lighting Birthday Candles in Slow Motion
A prayer for the first Sunday of Advent.
As If Birth Were Not Risky
A prayer for the second Sunday of Advent.
What We Now Call Joy
A prayer for the third Sunday of Advent.
