Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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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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