What's New in the Resource Library: Worship and Preaching Aids
Speaking to Silence: New Rites for Christian Worship and Healing by Janet S. Peterman
Janet Peterman presents a variety of healing and comforting rituals that can be used in situations that are likely to be encountered in congregations, but yet are not typically treated in standard liturgies. Peterman offers her reflections on the significance of rituals and discusses new rituals. She includes a broad spectrum of rituals for personal use, for life in the home or at church, for use in the wider community, or for help in leading to transformation. She concludes by describing a seven-step process for creating new rituals and suggests ways to adapt existing worship materials for use in new settings. This much-needed resource will help pastors and lay leaders develop their own skills and insights for creating liturgies and rituals that provide relief, healing, and support for those in congregations who are faced with critical and life-altering situations.
Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching by Luke A. Powery
That the Holy Spirit is present in preaching is something we take for granted. How the Spirit is present is a question we seldom ask. Luke Powery suggests that we fail to ask that question to the detriment of our preaching. Drawing on the tradition of African American preaching, he locates the Spirit’s activity in the sermon in two primary places. First, in celebration, the joyous acceptance of God’s gifts to the church and to the world. But equally as powerful is the expression of lament, the lifting up of our sorrow, grief, and suffering. In these two experiences the Spirit plays the decisive role, enabling the preacher to lay the congregation’s joys and sorrows at the feet of the living God, and announcing God’s presence in both our celebration and our lament.