Speak It Plain
Words for Worship and Life Together
- Preaching & Worship
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
Speak It Plain: Words for Worship and Life Together delivers prayers, blessings, litanies, and liturgies for key moments in corporate worship and intimate gatherings of God's people. This collection is intended as a companion to other resources already being used for planning worship and living together in Christian community. Meta Herrick Carlson invites pastors and other leaders to pay attention to the great theology that sometimes is hidden beneath our high church language, patriarchal customs, and insular questions. Her language models healthy boundaries and marks life events, such as separation or divorce, political or civic grief, and anointing people in transition. She hopes her prayers and litanies will help you speak it plain, that the weight of unspoken trauma will lose its power, the work of the people will be reclaimed by the people, and the assembly will be inspired to deeper connections between worship and the questions we are asking today. The book includes prayers for many occasions, seasonal blessings, and a variety of litanies and liturgies for use in various worship settings and special services. Selections intended for group use with group responses will be available for download for all purchasers of the book.
Endorsements (6)
“Authentic and genuine are words I use to describe the blessings that Meta Carlson has gifted us with through her writing. There’s truth and honesty spoken in these blessings and liturgies that point to Whose we are and feed our hungry spirits for today.”
Rev. Karen Stevensen
“Speak it Plain invites us into the life of God and the lives of God’s people. These blessings, prayers, and rituals are for our real and shared human experience. Meta Carlson’s words plant us in the soil on which we already stand, bidding us to grow deep and to reach wide.”
“Speak It Plain is a gift to Christian leaders who want to create, grow, and nurture more inclusive and welcoming congregations. You will find compassionate blessings and poems for those who come to our faith communities, new understandings of the liturgical service, and more. Meta Carlson, a gifted parish pastor, offers insights and tools to Christian leaders to better connect the teachings of the church to how we live our lives today!”
“There are no perfect words, for they are as ordinary and broken as the vessels that carry them. Yet in Speak It Plain, Meta Carlson reminds us with her reclamation that the cosmic mystery of our gracious God meets us precisely here—in plain words. Truly, Meta is the wordsmith the church has been waiting for, offering elegantly earthy ways to speak the living Word anew among the worshiping body of Christ.”
“For such a time as this, Speak It Plain has come to us to remind, reveal, and reaffirm all the areas of our life in need of God’s great and gentle love. It is an invitation to steep ourselves in this love. This is exactly the book I am looking for when I’m invited to share a devotion or wanting to share a word of hope with a friend, colleague, or family member when words escape me. Meta Carlson has a divine gift and a honed talent that translates to the heart.”
“With words both revelatory and full of remembering, Meta Carlson gives us a lively collection of promising paths toward a deeper understanding of how we might do church in a rapidly changing world. Her plain-spoken, transparent style allows empathic, hopeful insights to shine easily through.”
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