What do you think?
Rate this book
When Heaven Stands Open
Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship is a series of four liturgical resources: three consisting of liturgical elements for Years A, B, and C of the Revised Common Lectionary, and a fourth, the first such resource to support the implementation of Year D: A Quadrennial Supplement to the Revised Common Lectionary (Cascade Books). Each volume consists of a Call to Worship, Opening Prayer, Call to Confession, Prayer of Confession, and Declaration of Forgiveness, with Years A-C including additional elements (A Prayer in Preparation for Worship, The Offering, Prayer of Dedication, and a Blessing) suitable for Presbyterian, Reformed, and other Protestant worship. Each of these practical volumes is intended for use by pastors, liturgists, and other planners and leaders of worship. ""Timothy Slemmons has done us all a great favor with these winsome and moving resources for every Sunday of Year B. Every prayer and response grows from his own close and reverent meditation on the varied texts of the lectionary. Whether used as is or adapted to local contexts, they will push us all to a richer life of public worship."" --Gary Neal Hansen, Associate Professor of Church History, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary ""How wonderful that God's people should have words by which to hear and respond to the living Word. Fresh, varied, rich in imagery, the liturgy offered here is also deeply familiar as it articulates truth in the relationship between God and his people. Timothy Slemmons has loosened our tongues with honest, biblical, joyful language with which to worship the Lord. Our worshiping community will be eager to find their voice in this liturgy."" --Beth McCaw, Pastor to Students, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary ""Pastors looking to shape all the elements of worship into one, integrated whole need to look no further than Slemmons's creative and utterly faithful volume. Written with beauty, yet also with an informality suitable as a guide for contemporary worship, this is a great resource for anyone approaching the relentless task and terrific privilege of planning weekly worship."" --Charles B. Hardwick, Director of Theology, Worship, and Education, Presbyterian Church (USA) Timothy Matthew Slemmons is Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Worship at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. He is author of Groans of the Spirit: Homiletical Dialectics in an Age of Confusion (2010).
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2013
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 9, 2013
I have had some time to read this resource and I can say I am excited to have a resource on my shelf that I can turn to for solid, scripturally based, and Reformed prayers and liturgical pieces. I find myself at a dearth of that kind of resource and as a new member of the solo pastor club I find it refreshing and helpful to now have a go to book from which to round out worship on a weekly basis.
I know that I will use other resources but the prayers and other pieces in this resource I believe will become key elements in the rotation of worship leadership. Many of those other resources, especially the Book of Common Worship, seem to provide prayers that don’t seem to fit in the contexts that I have served. They don’t feel right. The prayers I have been able to read feel right. They feel like they speak to me and will speak to my community.
I was especially drawn by this quote from the Series Forward regarding the nature of this resource, why it was created, and my belief that in order to move a more complete God-consciousness we first acknowledge our weakness.
"It is from this point of deep conviction that this series of liturgical resources is sent forth, not because every element will necessarily do justice to the sense in which perpetual repentance is the most frequently overlooked and distinctive “essential tenet” of the Reformed tradition (and because the most distinctive, therefore the most essential, so to speak), but for the simple fact that repentance, self-examination, confession, and the good news of forgiveness deserve far better than to be reduced to the formulaic." pg. xii
I hope this resource will give voice to my Reformed roots as well as open up those roots to growth as I, as a pastor, seek to shepherd those in my care to follow Christ and share the Good News of the Gospel.
I know that I will use other resources but the prayers and other pieces in this resource I believe will become key elements in the rotation of worship leadership. Many of those other resources, especially the Book of Common Worship, seem to provide prayers that don’t seem to fit in the contexts that I have served. They don’t feel right. The prayers I have been able to read feel right. They feel like they speak to me and will speak to my community.
I was especially drawn by this quote from the Series Forward regarding the nature of this resource, why it was created, and my belief that in order to move a more complete God-consciousness we first acknowledge our weakness.
"It is from this point of deep conviction that this series of liturgical resources is sent forth, not because every element will necessarily do justice to the sense in which perpetual repentance is the most frequently overlooked and distinctive “essential tenet” of the Reformed tradition (and because the most distinctive, therefore the most essential, so to speak), but for the simple fact that repentance, self-examination, confession, and the good news of forgiveness deserve far better than to be reduced to the formulaic." pg. xii
I hope this resource will give voice to my Reformed roots as well as open up those roots to growth as I, as a pastor, seek to shepherd those in my care to follow Christ and share the Good News of the Gospel.
Displaying 1 of 1 review