Re-membering God: Human Hope and Divine Desire

by Tobias Stanislas Haller

• Reflections on tradition and change for the twenty-first-century church• Something for both newcomers and those familiar with liturgy and spiritualityLike the scribe and master of the household cited by Jesus in Matthew 13, Re-membering God “brings out of treasure what is new and what is old,” and empowers us to go and do likewise. As both critique and encouragement for the church in the early part of the twenty-first century, it seeks to reclaim the foundational riches of the church’s liturgy and spirituality in the face of cultural change. These resources, some lost or neglected and others under-utilized, can help rebuild the church, raising up what has been cast down and renewing what has grown old. This series of reflections explore with discernment what is “fashionable,” and acknowledge the deepest and most endur-ing human needs and hopes, which only God can answer. Re-membering God puts liturgical and spiritual practice into terms easily understood by both newcomers and seasoned devotees, for the benefit of this and future generations. Understanding the value of the past and with an eye to the future, this book will inform our next conversations about evangelism and church growth.

203 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2019

About the author

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG retired from full-time ministry after 16 years as Vicar at St James Fordham (Bronx NY). While in New York he served diocesan leadership as a trustee and on the Standing Committee, as Deputy to sessions of General Convention for over a decade, and a five-year term on the Anglican Communion Indaba Reference Group. Now living in Baltimore, he continues to supply and is an associate at Church of the Advent. He is a life-professed member of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory, and a Commander of the Order of St John. An iconographer, visual artist, and musician, he blogs at “In a Godward Direction.” His publications include Reasonable and Holy (Seabury 2009), Shared Governance (Church Publishing 2012), The Episcopal Handbook Revised (Church Publishing 2015), Preparing for a Wedding in the Episcopal Church (Church Publishing 2017), and What About Sex? — A Little Book of Guidance (Church Publishing 2017). His most recent, Re-Membering God: Human Hope and Divine Desire (Church Publishing 2019) includes chapters on art, music, and architecture as human articulations of this quest.

Reviews

[David Allen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this along to read on a retreat and I couldn't put it down. I read it in one day. It combines liturgy and spirituality, with a certain amount of humor. I recommend it for my Anglican friends.

[Daniel Weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prepare to be challenged

Haller, not surprisingly, has provided us with reflections on liturgy that move through discussions of rite and ceremony to challenging explorations of the limits of theological language, the relationship of liturgy to mission, and the theology, often overlooked, in the Lord's Prayer. This is a book.that I will return to often.