Liturgy and Worship Commons^™

Theology As A Form Of Prayer, Melissa Tovar-Guerrero

Obsculta

This piece reflects on the essential tasks of theology to foster practical expressions of prayer, to establish a fruitful and transformative dialogue with the Trinity through Christian meditation.

Enhancing Corporate Prayer Of The Clearwater Church Of Christ, Lyle Hinsdale

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was designed to enhance corporate prayer in the Clearwater Church of Christ. The dissertation explores the formative role of corporate prayer in congregational life and how intentional engagement with the Psalms can deepen the theological and spiritual practice of prayer within a local church. Corporate prayer can slip into habitual practice with limited theological range or emotional depth. This project investigates whether structured use of the Psalms as a model for prayer can expand the language, theological imagination, and engagement in the prayers of a worshiping community. The study used participatory action research methodology and was conducted within …

Three Mothers Who Prayed, James M. Taylor

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

Creating A Cultural Liturgy Of Intentional Prayer: Leading Grace Lutheran Church Into Greater Understanding And Engagement With The Surrounding Community, Keith Aschenbeck

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Aschenbeck, Keith D. “Creating a Cultural Liturgy of Intentional Prayer: Leading Grace Lutheran Church into Greater Understanding and Engagement with the Surrounding Community.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2025. pp. 166

Grace Lutheran Church, like many churches, has historically approached mission and ministry with the consumer-driven approach model of attraction. The result has often had them looking at how to shape and form how the world sees them so that they would be appealing as a place to worship. This way of approaching ministry has become a cultural liturgy that forms many decisions about what ministry programs …

Jewish Worship, Music, And Technology During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jeffrey A. Summit

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Jewish worship and considers a range of worshippers’ reactions to livestreamed and Zoom prayer services. Focusing on the Jewish Emergent Network, innovative communities who are known for cultivating vibrant, participatory music in worship, leaders discuss the challenges of not being able to sing together online, the Jewish legal ramifications of using technology on the Sabbath and the on-going changes they believe could occur as virtual worship returns to in-person prayer. These leaders also discuss surprisingly positive developments in online prayer, as congregants deepened interpersonal relationships in discussion breakout rooms, discovered …

Homily For Mass Of The Holy Spirit, Dale Launderville Osb

Obsculta

This year, the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, the sponsoring religious order of the Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary, convened to elect a new abbot, after the retirement of the previous, who had served for twenty years. This homily was given by Father Dale Launderville, OSB at the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which both opened the official election process and was the culmination of a year-long process of discernment and prayer that enable the monks to enter the voting confident of the aid of the Holy Spirit.

Epilogue: A Litany For Faithful Engagement With Artificial Intelligence, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

A litany is a thoughtfully organized prayer for use in public worship by the church, or as a personal devotional practice by individuals. This seems a fitting way to close our reflection on AI, faith, and the future. Prayer will be essential to our faithful response to the new opportunities and challenges AI brings. Our hope is that this litany will serve as a practical guide to thoughtful invocation of the Holy Spirit in prayers for wisdom and discernment, and in the daily disciplines of spiritual growth.

The Baffling Blessing Of Petitionary Prayer, James M. Ennis

Religious & Theological Studies Student Work

Petitionary prayer can be characterized as many things. On one end of the spectrum, it holds out tremendous hope full of promise and potential, but on the other end, it can also be puzzling and problematic. Bewildered by lingering questions and doubts, at times we experience prayers of petition as precarious and paradoxical, and at other times, powerful and prevailing. Petitionary prayer requires persistence, patience, and persuasiveness. Depending on how some of Jesus’ parables are interpreted, it can even be reduced to pestering an indifferent God until he reluctantly responds and acts on our behalf.

There is a fairly common …

Is Wisdom Silent?: Apophatic Glossolalia, Ryan Lytton

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Drawing on both similarities and disagreements between the apophatic theology of Dionysius and Gregory of Nazianzus, I will demonstrate how glossolalia can be better understood through the lens of apophatic theology. Gregory and Dionysius both recognize the failure of human language, but each follows that concept to a different conclusion. Dionysius switches from categories of knowledge to categories of experience and focuses the mystical life on ascetic practices in the hopes that they promote an experience of God’s presence. Pentecostals, with our emphasis on experience, often find a kinship with thinkers like Dionysius. In contrast, Gregory of Nazianzus switches from …

At Worship With Thomas Merton, Tom Ryan Sm

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Biblical Preaching, Teaching, And The Charismatic Gifts : Prioritizing The Essentials Of The Great Commission, Sylvester T. Toe

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Prayer Of Redemption, Glenn Morrison

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Praying Together In Unity, Greg Peters

White Papers

No abstract provided.

Reformed Worship (Rw) 136 - Prayer (June 2020), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Worship Series: Worship 101 by Joy Engelsman and Joan DeVries....3

Trinitarian Worship by Cornelius Plantinga Jr.....12

The Lord Be with You by Chris Schoon....18

Come to the Altar by Chantel Varnado....32

Articles

Guest Editorial: The Neglected Element? by Leonard J. Vander Zee....2

Q&A: On Songs from Questionable Sources by John D. Witvliet....20

Corporate Confession of Sin: Why Do It? by Chris Walker....22

The Importance of Corporate Prayer by Martin Boardman....24

By Whose Authority? by Scott Hoezee....30

Hiding Spinach by Satrina Y. Reid....34

Resources

Two Pulpits: The Prayers of George …

Longings, Letters And Prayers: Visitor's Books At Hungarian Marian Shrines, Krisztina Frauhammer

Journal of Global Catholicism

The following study seeks to show the flow of contemporary rituals associated with pilgrimage shrines. I will consider how visitor’s books placed on display at shrine churches are being utilized in the modern context by pilgrims and tourists alike. Requests, words of thanksgiving, and testimony are coupled with an honest, reflexive style that lends to the formation of these individualized prayers. These prayers are original, specific and peculiar as they follow patterns that are informal in nature. These prayers allow pilgrims to initiate contact with the Transcendent through the act and practice of writing. An idiosyncratic form of sacred communication …

Praying At The Table, Praying At The Font, Lester Ruth, Esau Mccaulley, John D. Rempel, Lisa M. Weaver, John Witvliet

Symposium on Worship Archive

For 2,000 years, one central component of Lord’s Supper and baptism liturgies has been compelling doxological prayers modeled in part after the pattern of the psalms and Jewish prayers of thanksgiving. But for Protestants who are a bit allergic to pre-written or set prayers, these symphonic doxological prayers may seem unusual or strange. Come to this session to explore with four worship teachers from four Protestant traditions some insights and learning about introducing or re-introducing robust prayers of thanksgiving at the font and the table in ways that can also introduce children and new believers to the grand metanarrative of …

A Lion And A Donkey Are Standing On The Road, Calvin Institute Of Christian Worship, Jeff Barker

Symposium on Worship Archive

This vesper worship service includes an enactment of one of the most mysterious ancient Hebrew dramas. We focus initially on this biblical text, newly translated by Tom Boogaart. We embrace the text and then respond to it with music, prayer, testimony, and more scriptures.

Mimicry As Movement Analysis, Rosa Abrahams

Faculty Publications

The analysis of movement to music often stems from examinations of video-recorded events. This allows the analyst an opportunity to re-watch, pause, and slow down the movements of their participants, and to produce descriptive notation that appears alongside a score (e.g., Roeder and Tenzer 2012). Unlike prescriptive forms of dance notation (e.g., Laban 1928), such transcriptions of movement often illuminate metrical connections between music and movement. However, when video-recording is not permissible, other methods of movement analysis must be developed. This paper pilots a new technique for rigorous analysis of the interaction between movement and music, which may be used …

Late Anglo-Saxon Prayer In Practice: Before The Books Of Hours, Kate Thomas

Richard Rawlinson Center Series

This monograph examines the practice of Anglo-Saxon prayer outside of the communal liturgy. With a particular emphasis on its practical aspects, it considers how small groups of prayers were elaborated into complex programs for personal devotion, resulting in the forerunners of the Special Offices. With examples being taken chiefly from major eleventh-century collections of prayers, liturgy, and medical remedies, the methodologies of Anglo-Saxon compilers are examined, followed by five chapters on specialist kinds of prayer: to the Trinity and saints, for liturgical feasts and the canonical hours, to the Holy Cross, for protection and healing, and confessions. Analyzing prayer in …

Prayers Of A Person, Prayers Of The People, Jane Zwart

Symposium on Worship Archive

What does it mean for any of us as one person—a person with particular quirks and gifts and blind spots—to offer the prayers of the people? How do we voice prayers that move toward generosity without sliding into the generic? How do we craft prayers that offer up our firstfruits as writers or orators without letting them become showy? How do we pray without furthering or ignoring the divisions that run through our congregations? This workshop will weigh these questions as well as explore some provisions for the person called upon to pray on behalf of all God’s people.

Sr. Anne Jones: Prayer In Action, Chloe Anderson

Ask a Sister: Interview Wisdom from Catholic Women Religious

This paper includes part of an interview with Sr. Anne Jones, a woman religious belonging an order with a history in education. This interview includes a key moment in her discernment process and her opinions on the misunderstanding that only cloistered nuns are contemplatives.

Measuring The Value Of Guided Preparation On The Worship Experience At First Baptist Greenville, Sc, Matthew Rollins

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Worship is a central part of the life of the church. There exists an understanding that the church will provide a time and space for regular, meaningful worship to occur, as well as an expectation that the people will attend and engage, open to an encounter with God, alongside their brothers and sisters in Christ. This study investigates the latter responsibility - that of the people to fully participate in worship that gives worth to God, listens to God, and responds to God. In this project, volunteers from First Baptist Church Greenville, SC, engaged with specially designed pre-worship guides to …

Christian Versus Heathen Ways Of Praying: A Look From The Age Of Postmodernity, Yuri N. Drumi

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In many respects, postmodernity resembles paganism, but certainly it does not totally overlap with it. People around us are searching, but they do not search for answers and explanations as much as they are searching for people who are living answers. If prayer is a metanarrative, then my life must be a metanarrative too. In this context, I find helpful the analogy drawn by Crossan between Paul’s metaphor of spiritual maturation and that of an individual Christian growing in prayer. Paul says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as …

Learning To Pray The Lord’S Prayer For Spiritual Transformation At Tachikawa Church Of Christ, Naoyoshi Fukushima

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis describes a project to lead the members of Tachikawa Church of Christ to learn and experience the power and blessings of praying the Lord’s Prayer for spiritual edification and maturity. The program consisted of eight weeks of learning the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and doing spiritual exercises. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I delivered eight sermons on the Lord’s Prayer with strong emphasis on the relational nature of the prayer.

Those who engaged in the spiritual exercises were given opportunities to experience joy, peace, and correction as they tried to live in harmony …

How Churches Around The World Pray For Churches Around The World: How We Pray In Argentina For Churches Around The World?, Nina Ciesilski, Dwight Kelly, Hanns Lessing Phd, Gerardo Oberman, Kathy Smith, Ester P. Widiasih, N. T. Wright, Anne Zaki

Symposium on Worship Archive

Intercessory prayer is an essential part of public worship, and we are called to pray for the flourishing of Christians all over the world. This seminar begins with a brief reflection by theologian N.T. Wright on Ephesians 6:18: “Pray . . . with all perseverance and intercession for all God’s holy ones. . . .” Then learn from church leaders from Argentina, Indonesia, Egypt, Jamaica, Germany, and Scotland about how their communities pray for the worldwide church, and also how they would like others to pray for them. Come to see the world from several different perspectives, from voices that …

Meditation And Contemplation: Framework For A Coping Mechanism Among Small Groups At The Mount Moriah Baptist Church In Spartanburg, South Carolina, Gary W. Jordan

Doctor of Ministry Projects

“Don’t say God is silent if your Bible is closed.” - Church Sign This project aimed to encourage and enable a small group class at Mount Moriah Baptist Church to adopt meditative and contemplative prayer as a framework for a coping mechanism. In practicing this type of prayer life, participants anticipated to receive the benefit of being better able to cope with stressors of life. Utilizing a small group study, Lectio Divina, biblical examples, breathing techniques and various surveys, participants were enabled to experience a deeper interaction with Scripture, aided by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to hear God …

Antoniyar Kōvil: Hindu-Catholic Identity At The St. Anthony Shrine In St. Mary’S Co-Cathedral, Chennai, Pj Johnston

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article combines ethnographic description of the practices of Hindu and Christian visitors of the St. Antony Shrine in Chennai with the observation that this material cannot be understood using the standard world religions paradigm that essentializes Christianity as exclusivistic. Drawing upon the visual and material culture of the shrine in light of premodern and Vatican II templates for inculturation and the negotiation of religious difference, the article highlights overlap between Tamil Hinduism and the Tamil Popular Catholicism of the site to argue that the beliefs and practices documented should inform descriptive and normative accounts of Catholic Christianity. Because Tamil …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Transformative Change Of Lectio Divina In The Context Of Transformative Learning Theory, Joyce M. Chen

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How To Spend An Hour In Prayer., S. Joseph Kidder

Faculty Publications

"Jesus often spent time alone in prayer early in the morning (Luke 5:16) and in the evening (Matt. 14:23). He also spent entire nights in prayer (Luke 6:12). “His humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege. He found comfort and joy in communion with His Father. And if the Saviour of men, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mortals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer.” And yet we, who look to Christ as an example, ask, “How can anyone possibly pray all day—or even for an entire hour?” Below …

Imagery, Prayer, And Mind Wandering: Kataphatic Prayer, Martha M. O. Duah

Honors Theses

Mind wandering—reduced attention to external events—during prayer could pose a problem for Christians. However, different types of prayer make different cognitive demands. Kataphatic prayer, a common type of evangelical Christian prayer, makes use of mental imagery in hopes of experiencing God in a richer sense. Because both mind wandering and kataphatic prayer require imagery, tying up imagery resources in kataphatic prayer should block mind wandering thereby improving focus. Participants in this study prayed as they normally do, viewed a visual task, or engaged in kataphatic prayer while self-monitoring for mind wandering.