Speak It Words for Worship and Life Together delivers prayers, blessings, litanies, and liturgies for key moments in corporate worship and intimate gatherings of God's people. This collection is intended as a companion to other resources already being used for planning worship and living together in Christian community. Meta Herrick Carlson invites pastors and other leaders to pay attention to the great theology that sometimes is hidden beneath our high church language, patriarchal customs, and insular questions. Her language models healthy boundaries and marks life events, such as separation or divorce, political or civic grief, and anointing people in transition. She hopes her prayers and litanies will help you speak it plain, that the weight of unspoken trauma will lose its power, the work of the people will be reclaimed by the people, and the assembly will be inspired to deeper connections between worship and the questions we are asking today.
The book includes prayers for many occasions, seasonal blessings, and a variety of litanies and liturgies for use in various worship settings and special services. Selections intended for group use with group responses will be available for download for all purchasers of the book.
The book is divided into two (2) sections: Section I: Poems, Prayers and Seasonal Blessings Section II: Liturgies, Litanies and Special Services
I didn’t see much that I recognized as prayer or blessings in section one (1) and I will admit that I don’t really care much for simple prose and poetry, so I ended up skimming the first third of the book. I am sure the words could be inspirational; however, I lack the faculty to properly evaluate them (seriously, they just don’t do anything at all for me). Section two was more like what I thought the entire book would be like and focused on liturgy, litany, prayer and blessings for more structured worship with the main headings being:
The Church Confesses (sexual shame, white supremacy and self preservation) Celebrating Baptism (I am not sure an alternative liturgy is usable here) Teaching Liturgy in Worship Litanies for Worship Special Services
Of these, the Litanies for Worship and Special Services were the most helpful; especially installations and prayers to different aspects of a neighborhood.
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. #SpeakItPlain #Edelweiss+