Timothy Matthew Slemmons

Planning worship is one of the more rewarding and enjoyable tasks of my vocation as a pastor. And yet it can also be challenging, week after week, to communicate faithfully and coherently the same story in fresh ways. Slemmons' new book is a great help with this task. It not only provides liturgical elements for use in worship, but it also (implicitly) commends and inspires the practice or discipline of writing these elements specifically for your worship community each week. The attention Slemmons devotes to the biblical texts and to each liturgical element is evident throughout. In fact, it makes you feel guilty (as it ought) during those busy weeks when you might otherwise resort to merely choosing prayers hastily to put together the bulletin.

Another highlight of the book is the series foreword. This short essay provides a defense of the Reformed tradition's special attention in worship to confession and pardon. Slemmons lifts up the "essentially repentant orientation to the Christian life" and the necessary connection between repentance and joyful freedom. He articulates his conviction that "repentance, self-examination, confession, and the good news of forgiveness deserve far better than to be reduced to the formulaic" and the rest of the book serves to equip worship planners to avoid this bad habit.

If I have one critique of the book, it is the lack of prayers for illumination. This would have been a particularly appropriate way to highlight one of the Reformed tradition's most distinctive contributions to the liturgy. Even so, I highly recommend this book not only for pastors and worship planners, but also for anyone who might follow the Revised Common Lectionary in public worship or private devotions.… (mehr)