By Dietrich Kirk
The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a Presbyterian pastor and hymn writer, has published a new hymn lamenting gun violence and remembering “the beloved children of God who died in the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas”.
Rev. Elsa Anders Cook shares her own beautiful Prayers for the Incomprehensible Ascension, along with these words from Maren Tirabassi, Leah Robberts-Mosser, and Philip Hobson.
In November 2018 following a massacre in Thousand Oaks, California, Bishops United Against Gun Violence — an activist group of bishops in the Episcopal Church — offered a “Litany in the Wake of a Mass Shooting” to commemorate the dead, to comfort their loved ones, and to honor survivors and first responders.
Pastor Ruth Marston-Bihl wrote this litany following the school shooting on February 14, 2018, as a reflection on the candles on the altar at the evening worship service at First UMC Olympia.
The Plural Guild creates unique liturgies and music specific to the times and contexts in which we live. Several focus on lament.
Expansive Language Liturgy: Sighs Too Deep for Words
Pastor Tamika Jancewicz, Pastor Emilie Casey, and Anne Krentz Organ shaped this liturgy entitled Sighs Too Deep for Words (Romans 8:26). This resource gives special attention to women’s experiences in scripture and in everyday life, and it invites embodied prayer. This is a liturgy rooted in scriptural accounts of the breaths, sighs, groans, and shouts of God, humanity, and all creation. The writers have aimed to craft language and music that is not only theologically rigorous and aesthetically beautiful, but also clear, adaptable, and singable. May we pray and sing without knowing exactly what to say, for it is when “we do not know how to pray as we ought” that the “Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
Parity helps congregations and faith organizations, clergy, seminarians, denominations and seminaries become more LGBTQ+ sensitive and celebratory.
Find liturgical elements, full liturgies, tips for diversity inclusion, family and loved ones support, and more.
This series includes 3 original liturgies, title graphics, planning guide with hymn suggestions, promotional blurbs, and sermon starters.
Pairs well with God on the Move: Faith and Democracy, which includes 3 original liturgies, title graphics, planning guide with hymn suggestions, promotional blurbs, and sermon starters.
The Promise & the Practice offers a collection of worship materials by UU religious professionals of color.
enfleshed develops general-purpose, anti-racism and COVID-19 related liturgical elements.
Progressive Christianity offers an extensive online Service and Gathering Planning resource library, searchable by topic and element of worship.
Find Benedictions from around the country here.
The Plural Guild creates unique liturgies and music specific to the times and contexts in which we live.
Doing the Deeply Spiritual Work of Land Acknowledgment
Tracy Kugler, a member of St. Paul's UCC in St. Paul, MN
~includes a strong list of resources for congregational or personal learning
A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgment was compiled in conversation with a group of Minnesota Indigenous leaders.
The California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center offers this Toolkit.
Offers weekly liturgical prompts, Worship in the Home and Frequently Asked Questions, including How Is Lament included in Worship?
How to create worship experiences that embrace our bodies…all kinds of bodies…as God does.
How can worship become a catalyst for justice, racial equity, inclusion and peacemaking in our world today?
What does it really mean to be LGBTQIA inclusive? Versus just “welcoming…”
How practicing lament can transform our worship… and maybe even our world.
An open conversation on racism in the church and in worship and what we can do about it.
Making sure the songs we sing actually reflect what we believe. Plus, writing songs!
Opening our worship to mystery, beauty and belonging through inclusive language.
