Liturgies from Below - UK Edition. Carvalhaes, Claudio
and liturgies in this book were written in a collaborative process, with multiple people worshiping, praying, and sharing together. The process was facilitated by Cláudio Carvalhaes and others, and the spoken words were recorded and written out as part of these spontaneous sessions. There are very few direct lines of authorship in this work. It is the spirit work of the people. If we learn after publication of any alternative attribution for any part of this work, we will update the acknowledgments accordingly. Contact [email protected].
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To Sudipta Singh, a shining light, whose passion, creativity, and love for the poor is a gift to the world
CONTENTS
Foreword by Collin I. Cowan
Preface: Worship Creates Counter-Imperial Alternatives by Sudipta Singh
Praying with Unwanted People: What It Means and Why It’s Important
Praying at the Ends of the World: The Locations and Methods for Creating These Prayers
Praying in Your Community: What This Book Can Do, and How to Use It
PART ONE: Prayers for the Beginning and Ending of Worship
Invocations, Calls to Worship, Gathering Prayers
PART TWO: Prayers of Confession, Thanksgiving, and Intercession
Prayers of Confession and Petition
PART THREE: Liturgies of Baptism and Eucharist
PART FOUR: New and Adapted Psalms
PART FIVE: Topical Prayers and General Prayers
PART SIX: Prayers Based on the Liturgical Calendar
Prayers Based on the Liturgical Calendar
PART SEVEN: Praying through Poetry
PART EIGHT: Praying through Scripture
PART NINE: Complete Liturgical Sequences
Please visit www.reimaginingworship.com, to find prayers and liturgies not included in this book. You’ll also find reflections and testimonies from participants, visual art, songs, and theater compositions created as part of this project, plus photos and videos from the locations. You’re invited to engage with all the content, to write your own prayers and liturgies, and to share them in your faith community and social networks.
FOREWORD
Worship is central to Christian discipline and service to God. According to William Temple (1881–1944), it is the sum total of our adoration, “the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.”1 In that sense, worship is counter to idolatry, the ultimate expression of loyalty, and an outright display of defiance to all “authorities” and “powers” (Eph 6:12)—all forces of domination and control, that which the Council for World Mission (CWM) labels as Empire. In other words, worship is subversive because, through the act of worship, the worshipper says yes to God and in so saying automatically says no to empire and all the “ungods” of our time, all the systems and forces that claim supremacy.2
In the book of the Revelation, worship is interwoven throughout the entire book in an uncompromising message to Caesar that the Christian community could and would pay homage and pledge allegiance to God and God alone. To heed the words “Be faithful even to the point of death” (Rev 2:10) was to declare and devote primary, unconditional, and selfless loyalty to God alone.
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea—I heard everything everywhere say,
“Blessing, honor, glory, and power
belong