Pentecost Sunday (Cycle A) - Mass during the Day

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Pentecost (Day) Lectionary:  63 Reading 1 -  Acts 2:1-11 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34 Reading 2 -  1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 Alleluia Gospel -  John 20:19-23 Receive the Holy Spirit LESSON: The Church's Work: Reuniting Mankind Today our 50 day Easter season concludes with Pentecost Sunday, commemorating that day in the early Church … when the Father and the Son poured out the Holy Spirit in a special way upon the Apostles … who then took up the mission of proclaiming the Gospel throughout the whole world.  This makes Pentecost one of the most significant moments in our Christian faith. However, before it was a Catholic feast, it was a Jewish feast … and when we look at Pentecost in that context, we add a deeper and richer understanding of what it all means for us today. In its Greek origin, the word “Pentecost” means simply “fifty” … and … for Christians … occurs 50 days after the Easter Resurrection of our Lord Jesus and marks ...
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Review: Historical Foundations of Worship

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Historical Foundations of Worship Historical Foundations of Worship by Melanie C. Ross

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is primarily a collection of 18 academic essays/chapters grouped into 5 parts and written by a different expert focusing on a specific element of christian worship (for most traditions, this means an examination of how the liturgy or worship service evolved) with a significant portion of the book (37%) given over to citations. This was an especially timely read for me as I had just finished my Liturgy and the Sacraments class and had just started my Canon Law class … so this fit right into what I was already learning about. The format of each chapter opened with a bit of context before digging into the subject at hand, then ending with a section on “Practical Implications for Worship” (sort of a where are we now review) and suggested Further Reading … which is great because the biggest complaint that I had was that I always wanted to explore the topic more after finishing the chapter. 

Part one of the book looks at what all of the main line christian denominations have in common: baptism, communion/eucharist and celebrations (aka liturgical time). Then in part two, we get a survey of what we think the early church looked like (as well as acknowledging that there is still a lot that we just don’t know). In the next three parts, we get a look at Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholicism and several flavors of Protestant churches. Sadly, the tradition I grew up in (the Stone/Campbell Restoration movement) doesn’t get much press here, but that is okay, because it actually pulls a lot from the traditions that are covered; namely Lutheran, Calvinist/Reform, Anglican/Episcopal, Methodists, Anabaptist, Baptists, Evangelicals and Pentecostals. That last one was perhaps the weakest of the essays (or I just didn’t get it … which is also possible). Still, this book is an easy to read primer on a wide variety of christian societies that would be useful to any academic or lay person interested in ecumenical outreach (which I am).

Introduction
Part 1 - Common Roots of Worship
- 1 Baptism
- 2 Eucharist
- 3 Liturgical Time
Part 2 - Early Christian Worship
- 4 Worship in the Early Church
- 5 Worship in Late Antiquity
Part 3 - Eastern Orthodox Worship
- 6 History of Orthodox Worship
- 7 Icons and Eucharistic Theology
Part 4 - Roman Catholic Worship
- 8 Medieval Catholic Worship
- 9 Reformation in the Catholic Church
- 10 Vatican II and the Liturgical Renewal Movement
Part 5 - Protestant Worship
- 11 Lutheran Practices of Worship
- 12 Calvinist and Reformed Practices of Worship
- 13 Anglican and Episcopal Practices of Worship
- 14 Methodist and Wesleyan Practices of Worship
- 15 Anabaptist and Mennonite Practices of Worship
- 16 Baptist Practices of Worship
- 17 Evangelical Practices of Worship
- 18 Pentecostal and Charismatic Practices of Worship

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#HistoricalFoundationsofWorship #NetGalley

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