
Saints on Sunday
Voices from Our Past Enlivening Our Worship
Gail Ramshaw(Author)
Liturgical Press
Published on 8. August 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-0-8146-4558-1 (ISBN)
Description
How might Ambrose of Milan, Hildegard of Bingen, and Catherine of Siena inspire us to improve Sunday worship? What about Lawrence, John of Damascus, Thomas Cranmer, Johannes Kepler, Margaret Fell, and Dorothy Day? Even Amy Carmichael can point our assemblies toward more profound worship. In Saints on Sunday, Lutheran laywoman Gail Ramshaw, listening to twenty-four sainted voices, proposes how our past might enliven our future. Characterized by rigorous scholarship and no-nonsense honesty, her essays suggest ways to enrich the gathering, word, meal, and sending of our assemblies on Sunday.
Reviews / Votes
"Here is a book to make us think-with Gail Ramshaw, in the company of saints, and for ourselves-about what `Sunday' could be if we took to heart the wisdom from the past assembled in these pages. As sagacious as ever, and in the most personal voice in her own writing since Under the Tree of Life twenty years ago, Gail Ramshaw continues to offers us vivid, winsome, lively reading. A wonderful book."Stephen Burns, Professor of Liturgical and Practical Theology, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia "Here is some of the richest fruit of Gail Ramshaw's fifty-some years spent studying and constructing liturgical language. "In her wise and sparkling treatment, these twenty-four saints ask us to examine our ways of worship to consider adopting faithfully the practices of other communions, accommodating both introverts and extroverts, noticing the poverty of liturgical rigidity, and much more."If not for the vast historical and theological information Ramshaw offers, this book would be valuable just for her questions: Can yards of red cloth speak Holy Spirit? Are individual chairs for worship best for families? Is `ordinary' the best word for the green season?
"This book makes me want to know my Christian ancestors."
The Rev. Melinda A. Quivik, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Liturgy, President, North American Academy of Liturgy "Gail Ramshaw delights and challenges as she probes the lives and writings of saints through the centuries, inviting her readers to think deeply about what Christians say and do in Sunday worship. With more questions than answers, she encourages her readers to re-imagine and re-invigorate their worship practices."Ruth Meyers, Dean of Academic Affairs and Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics, Church Divinity School of the Pacific "Gail Ramshaw enjoys conversations. The gathering around the table with her and other guests generates conversation with fascinating stopping points and vistas, which always return to a center point of a love for the church and liturgy. This book offers a series of conversations with friends of Gail Ramshaw. These `twenty-four elders' (Rev. 4:4), invited from the list of the church's long history, each provide the starting point for a spirited interchange on the liturgical traditions and faith convictions their lives embody. An ancient friend like Justin Martyr speaks of Sunday while a modern one like Dorothy Day muses on prayers of intercession for those homeless and in need. Anecdotes and observations about contemporary liturgical concerns limn a portrait of the liturgy of life. This series of conversations will provide hours of thought, prayer, and occasional smiles for those who pull up a chair at the table and join in."Rev. Michael G. Witczak, SLD, Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology, The Catholic University of America "Through all these prominent members of the past belonging to different Christian confessions, Gail Ramshaw illustrates the experience of Sunday in the presence of Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Calvinists, etc. with their diversity of currents and approaches. It is an original presentation of Christian models that history has bequeathed us, with an ecumenical vision, so that their message does not remain silent and they remind us what dimensions must be present to Sunday believers thus enriching the cult assemblies, the celebrations of the word, the breaking of bread, or other liturgical forms proper to the Lord's Day."
Ecclesia Orans
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Collegeville, MN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Adult education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
259 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8146-4558-1 (9780814645581)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2018
1st Edition
Liturgical Press
€17.49
Available for download
Person
Gail Ramshaw studies and crafts liturgical language from her home outside of Washington, DC. A Lutheran laywoman, a past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and recipient of its Berakah award, and professor emerita of religion at La Salle University, she has published extensively about biblical metaphors, the Revised Common Lectionary, and parish liturgical practice.
Content
Contents
Preface vii
1 Assembling on Sunday with Justin 1
2 Acclaiming the Trinity with Catherine of Siena 8
3 Speaking of Christ with Ambrose 14
4 Invoking the Spirit with Symeon the New Theologian 20
5 Renouncing the Devil with Perpetua 27
6 Confessing Sin with Martin Luther 34
7 Welcoming All Genders with Margaret Fell 41
8 Assessing Emotion with Julian of Norwich 49
9 Worshiping in Translation with Catherine Winkworth 56
10 Comprehending the Readings with Jerome 63
11 Chanting the Psalms with Benedict 70
12 Preaching the Faith with Mary Magdalene 76
13 Revering the Cross with Radegund 83
14 Singing Hymns with Philipp Nicolai 90
15 Honoring Images with John of Damascus 97
16 Reciting the Creed with Johannes Kepler 105
17 Praying the Intercessions with Dorothy Day 112
18 Presenting the Offerings with Lawrence 120
19 Passing the Peace with Francis of Assisi 123
20 Fostering Ecumenism with Brother Roger 130
21 Praising and Thanking with Thomas Cranmer 137
22 Greening Our Communion with Hildegard 143
23 Recessing for Service with Amy Carmichael 150
24 Treasuring the Triduum with Egeria 157
Afterword 165
Acknowledgments 169
Notes 171
Preface vii
1 Assembling on Sunday with Justin 1
2 Acclaiming the Trinity with Catherine of Siena 8
3 Speaking of Christ with Ambrose 14
4 Invoking the Spirit with Symeon the New Theologian 20
5 Renouncing the Devil with Perpetua 27
6 Confessing Sin with Martin Luther 34
7 Welcoming All Genders with Margaret Fell 41
8 Assessing Emotion with Julian of Norwich 49
9 Worshiping in Translation with Catherine Winkworth 56
10 Comprehending the Readings with Jerome 63
11 Chanting the Psalms with Benedict 70
12 Preaching the Faith with Mary Magdalene 76
13 Revering the Cross with Radegund 83
14 Singing Hymns with Philipp Nicolai 90
15 Honoring Images with John of Damascus 97
16 Reciting the Creed with Johannes Kepler 105
17 Praying the Intercessions with Dorothy Day 112
18 Presenting the Offerings with Lawrence 120
19 Passing the Peace with Francis of Assisi 123
20 Fostering Ecumenism with Brother Roger 130
21 Praising and Thanking with Thomas Cranmer 137
22 Greening Our Communion with Hildegard 143
23 Recessing for Service with Amy Carmichael 150
24 Treasuring the Triduum with Egeria 157
Afterword 165
Acknowledgments 169
Notes 171