Liturgy

Happy 2010! After a brief break to recover from the holidays and get the semester rolling, our colleagues in ministry across the country have once again put pen to paper to share their experiences, insights, and lessons learned.

In this month's issue, three writers grapple with what it looks like to create liturgy alongside young adults, to truly allow it to be the "work of the people" with a generation whose worldview is continuing to shift and find shape. We invite you to wrestle with the challenge of worshipping as one body in each of our, often very different, contexts.

Also in this issue, you will find some notes and resources from our Office. To the right we offer the Lenten devotional guide for young adults including original images by young adults from across the church for the Stations of the Cross, as well as some exciting opportunities in the world of campus ministry. Below you will also find a note from our office updating you on the reconfiguration of the Episcopal Church Center and some of our ideas for how we might better serve you in 2010. As always we look forward to your comments and feedback.

May this Lent be a time of quiet reflection, honest assessment, and continual growth for you and the young adults with whom you minister. We give thanks for you and your ministry!

Paz y fuego,

Douglas and Jason

Holy Stuff
The Rev. Amy McCreath, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Episcopal worship is full of “stuff.” Candles, crosses, special garments, bread, wine, water, and more. We like to worship God in the beauty of holiness, and we use many things from God’s creation in order to communicate meaning and deepen prayer..... >>>

Tradition
The Rev. Lucas Mix, University of Arizona

Where is our identity? Is it found in millennial march of the church, passing age to age through history, or is it found in the will and feeling of the people gathered? In seminary I was taught to be wary of tradition. Not the Tradition, mind you, that glorious arc of history that binds us together, particularly in the Anglican Communion. No, I was warned about tradition.... >>>

Gathered In
The Rev. David Umphlett, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC

Last week our young adult group met for dinner.  We left convinced that Domino’s new recipe really is better than their old one.  Other than the discussion of the virtues of one delivery pizza over another, I asked the group to name what it was that they liked about St. Mary’s.  The overwhelmingly common answer was its worship... >>>

Moving Forward
The Rev. Douglas Fenton and Jason Sierra, Office for Young adult and Campus Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center

Another six months have passed since we last wrote at length about our office’s vision for our shared work with the 18-30 year olds of our church and our world. Many things have changed in that time at all levels of the church. We again are reminded of our call to give thanks, to rejoice in blessings, and to seek out and serve the least of these... >>>