Comments on: Garrison Keillor on Liturgy

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:08:14 +0000

This is excellent, thoughtful writing. I find it articulates something that I have not been able to put into words concerning the praise style services that are a bit too much styled to entertain for my, older point of view. While one wants the services to touch and reach people in the era we are in, the non-liturgical services and forms are never really causing them to reach for the scriptures for themselves. This deprives them of the messages. They are satisfied to leave the Church after service and never participate in anything.

By: Why do we pray other people’s words?

Why do we pray other people’s words? — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:32:32 +0000

[...] Garrison Keillor talked about this in an interview with Christianity Today not too terribly long ago. (Keillor grew up in a Fundamentalist, free-church setting. He’s subsequently been a Lutheran and now he’s an Episcopalian.) Alastair quotes at length from this interview and then adds some observations of his own. [...]

By: Charlie’s Blog » alastair.adversaria » Garrison Keillor on Liturgy

Charlie’s Blog » alastair.adversaria » Garrison Keillor on Liturgy — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:44:10 +0000

[...] alastair.adversaria » Garrison Keillor on Liturgy. [...]

By: Fight Club 2: I Talked to God Today!!!!! « Everyone’s Entitled to Joe’s Opinion

Tue, 08 May 2007 06:47:21 +0000

[...] Next I would like to direct your attention to a post by Alastair at Adversaria on liturgical prayer versus freestyle prayer. Go ahead and read this one too, and then check back when you are done. I’ll wait. [...]

By: Confessing Evangelical » Blog Archive » News from Badger Falls

Confessing Evangelical » Blog Archive » News from Badger Falls — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:20:56 +0000

[...] Further to my previous post, Alastair Roberts has some good thoughts arising from the same interview with Garrison Keillor, in particular Keillor’s comments on liturgy as “say[ing] words together that are not my words and not your words”, as opposed to the “heroic pose” of much extempore prayer. [...]

By: The Boars Head Tavern » Blog Archive » Vindicated

The Boars Head Tavern » Blog Archive » Vindicated — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:16:39 +0000

[...] responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your ownsite. [...]

By: Repeat after me - Nary an Original Thought

Repeat after me - Nary an Original Thought — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:41:38 +0000

[...] One of the ways we receive this training is through liturgical worship. There’s [2] over at an excellent postadversaria in which Al comments on the “public language” of liturgy. He writes, The language of liturgy is public language, precisely because it does not belong to any one particular individual. It has been handed over to all of us and we are given to participate in it. Such language has a pedagogical purpose. As Candler puts it: ‘To enter into this pedagogy is to entrust oneself to a language which is not one’s own, yet which transforms one’s language and orders it to God.’ Such language is a gift and not our own possession. [...]

By: Everyone’s Entitled to Joe’s Opinion » My Reaction to The Brothers Karamazov–Part 15: The Russian Monk (cont’d)

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:50:43 +0000

[...] Alastair at Adversaria has an excellent post on his blog which addresses these issues of spontaneity versus formality in worship and prayer. I would strongly recommend that you read both the article and the comments. [...]

By: Mike S

Mike S — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:02:43 +0000

Al,

I found your remarks amazingly refreshing as well as plucking at a hunger in my soul that seems to grow as time passes.

Some background: I grew up in a liturgical church and was always bored unless I was allowed up front to serve with celebrant. Now, many years later after leaving the liturgical church, I recently took up the pastorate of an extremely non-liturgical church in which, as I have gotten to know them, the people seem bored in church. Obviously both sides of this discussion have the potential to generate a lack of interest.

My question is: How do you keep the liturgical worship style of service from degenerating into dull repetition with no passion?

I ask this because I sense a genuine lack of transcendance in my church, and most other non-liturgical churches with the possible exception of say Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis. Yet, at the same time, I am afraid of going over the other end and back into dull repetition of what should be great words of worship.

So how does it happen?

By: The Boars Head Tavern » Blog Archive »

The Boars Head Tavern » Blog Archive » — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 15:46:57 +0000

[...] If you haven’t kept up with Alastair’s continuing discussion on scripture reading, preaching and liturgy, then you need to go back and pick up all the comments. Alastair has several excellent continuing posts in those comments. John H and others have good comments as well. The distinction between “proclamation” preaching to the world, and “teaching/application/commentary” in the church is outstanding. [...]