Post-Graduate Diploma and MA pathways in Worship & Liturgical Studies (University of Durham, Common Awards).
If you want to improve your skills and understanding of worship and liturgy this is an exciting new programme leading to a post-graduate qualification which is tailored to practise and theology, answering the questions worship poses today, is for you.
Drawing on an international and ecumenical team of specialists, we will enable you to understand Christian liturgy and provide you with the skills to develop it in your church community.
This will be wholly distance learning, mostly on-line, but with an optional summer-school based in Mirfield, home of the Mirfield Liturgical Institute, an integral part of The College of the Resurrection. We have a long tradition of teaching liturgy dating back to the 1890s; we have the largest liturgical library in England and many other resources for teaching liturgy and worship including striking liturgical spaces.
For further information, please contact:
The Revd Dr Jo Kershaw (Course Director)
College of The Resurrection
Stocks Bank Road
Mirfield
WF14 0BW
Tel: (+44) (0)1924 481910
Email: jkershaw@mirfield.org.uk
www.college.mirfield.org.uk
Join the Brothers of the Community of the Resurrection currently resident at Mirfield for their round of monastic prayer.
Praxis North re-launch resource
Here is a link to the 10 minutes video presentation, God's Tent, made at the recent Praxis North re-launch event by Canon Benjamin Carter of Carlisle Cathedral.
Resources from the Praxis South event "Liturgy for celebrations: being creative with diverse resources!"
From Helen Bent
From Rebecca Swansbury
Resources from the Praxis South event "Daily Prayer: An Ancient Tradition for Modern Times?"
From The Very Rev'd Dr Robert Willis
From the Reverend Dr Jeremy Law
- Paul Bradshaw, Daily Prayer in the Early Church: A Study of the Origin and Early Development of the Divine Office, (Eugene: WIPF & Stock, 2008)
- Nathan Chase, ‘Another Look at the “Daily Office” in the Apostolic Tradition’, Studia Liturgica, 49 (2019).
- Stig Simeon R. Frøyshov, ‘The Cathedral–Monastic Distinction Revisited Part I: Was Egyptian Desert Liturgy a Pure Monastic Office?’, Studia Liturgica 37 (2007) 198-216.
- Jens Zimmerman, Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford: OUP, 2015)
From James Newhook of the Church House Publishing Digital Team
Resources from the Praxis South event "Lamenting the past, embracing the future"
Tim Coleman's Propers for Eucharist as Lockdown Eases
Bryony Taylor's PowerPoint slides, including video
Salisbury Cathedral's Prayer Stations
Loss and Hope website
Support website of Southwark Diocese
Praying on a day of reflection
Christ yesterday and today,
the beginning and the end,
Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him, and all ages.
From the Easter Vigil, Common Worship
God of all that has been, that is, that is to come
as we reflect on the year that has past,
those we have lost,
those we have missed,
the contact not made,
the hopes dashed,
new things discovered,
new opportunities seized,
new love embraced,
we thank you that you have been with us
and brought us to this day.
Stay with us
as we step into your future
with faith and hope and love
and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayers from the Liturgical Commission for times of Remembering
Although these prayers were written for particular occasions, they can easily be adapted for other situations.
Prayer for Hiroshima
commemorating the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the 6 August, 1945
(Feast of the Transfiguration)
God, you are the Father of all the families of the earth,
and call the nations to live in peace and unity.
We remember with sorrow the devastating destruction and death
unleashed on this day upon the city of Hiroshima, and later upon the city of Nagasaki.
We pray for the people of Japan, and all whose lives are disfigured by war.
We pray for ourselves, the often unwise stewards
of the powers of the universe.
Transfigure the lives and cities scarred by conflict by the revealing of your glory
and move us by your uncreated energies to advance your sovereign purpose of peace.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our light and our salvation.
Amen.
A Prayer for VJ Day
God our Father, in the dying and rising
of your Son Jesus Christ,
you have brought life and salvation out of cruelty and death.
We mark Victory in Japan in gratitude for the courage of the Allied forces
who suffered for freedom in the Far East campaign
and in sorrow for all that hinders the coming of your kingdom of peace.
Give us wisdom to learn from the bitter memories of war, and hearts that long for the unity of all nations.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus, in whom there is no east or west,
no north or south,
but one fellowship of love across the whole earth.
Amen.
A Prayer for Peace and Reconciliation
Heavenly Father,
you have called us in the Body of your Son Jesus Christ
to continue his work of reconciliation and reveal you to the world.
Forgive us the sins which tear us apart; give us the courage to overcome our fears
and to seek that unity which is your gift and your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Liturgical use of projectors and screens
An article by Edward Green from Issue 61 (spring 2019) of Praxis News of Worship. Illustrations of his PowerPoint slides can be downloaded from this link.
An increasing number of churches are embracing the use of screen technology for liturgical worship. In the past such technology was principally used for the display of song words in periods of contemporary sung worship. The needs of a gathering rooted in words, response and movement can be quite different.
The placement of screens is the first consideration. They need to be located in a way that does not block the visual focus of the worship space. Equally they need to be of a size and number so as to be clearly seen by all members of the congregation, including those leading the service (musicians and sacred ministers), and flexible enough to enable liturgical movement (for gathering around the font or facing west for the dismissal.)
Much of the software used to drive screens in worship is ill-suited for the presentation of liturgy. PowerPoint however can produce clear ‘pages’ that reflect the textual layout that congregations are accustomed too. Text should be on a dark background (blue or black), and congregational responses in yellow. Transitions and animations should be used sparingly. Use of images, loops and video can be powerful but should never compete with the text: it is better to have images and text side-by-side. A free-to-use template is available at http://www.signandspirit.com/2016/03/worshpr-powerpoint-template.html
Well-formatted PowerPoint slides will take into account readability of text at the furthest points from the screen, and with suitable printer settings can form booklets for those who find screens difficult to look at. The legacy of the Prayer Book is to present the whole liturgy to the people, so sacred ministers do not need a separate altar book.
Smooth control of the liturgy is vital. A good quality laptop with an SSD, i5 CPU and 16gb of RAM is a minimum. The laptop is best situated close to the altar party, with a server given the role of changing slides. This individual needs to have good liturgical sense: the flow of worship can be harmed by the task being undertaken badly. As always things can go wrong, but the intention should be to do things well.
At All Saints we have found that the use of screens enables engagement from the congregation, especially for people who are not used to church. A screen over the font has transformed baptism services, and the screens are requested for the majority of weddings and funerals.
Edward Green is Vicar of All Saints, Leavesden.
