 The purpose and aim of this blog is to provide worship in liturgies and other resources that are grounded in just peace. Traditional and even Contemporary Worship has been unfortunately an expression of the masculine. Language is such a basic part of life and experience, giving us words that serve as signs and symbols to communicate. Our communication in worship, specifically, is about God, humankind, all of creation, and the relationship between each of these realities. Thus, it is less than ideal for the language we use in worship, and elsewhere, is shaped by masculine words and ideas.
My goal here, therefore, it to be sensitive to the lexicon we use to worship God as an act that is justice and peace oriented. In following the words of Scripture, in the Book of the Prophet Micah, Chapter 6, Verse 8, my attempt to broaden the scope of biblical lections, liturgical texts, and the acts of praise and thanksgiving is understood to employ the meaning of "loving kindness, doing justice, and walking humbly with our God." That said, this is certainly an imperfect exercise in doing that very thing. As it is, there are some things of worship that do not translate readily into inclusive or expanded language. This is particularly true in hymnody. With music adding such a wonderful dimension to our worship, many of the songs that are in public domain, and thus able to be used here, retain the masculine images and pronouns in reference to both God and humankind. While every week will not include hymns, some weeks just have no useable songs accessible, when hymns are included there may very well contain the songs of tradition which employ exclusive language.
As including such hymns, as seems to add to our worship experience, I apologize upfront that those songs exclude such things as the femininity of God and the human people as having multiple genders that simply cannot be represented by male pronouns. Nonetheless, I hope the material shared here will be liberating and empowering as to make our worship together more inclusive and contemporary in language.
Gary L Lake Dillensnyder + Advent, 2018 |
WORSHIP IN INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE AND PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
WHY A BLOG?
As a clergyperson with a disability now retired, this is my humble attempt to provide a ministry that some will find helpful. I have always focused on be inclusive and have struggled with the church's tradition of referring to God and humankind with masculine names and pronouns. Since the 1970's, thanks to my dear sister-in-law, I have been aware of the discrimination of women and have worked in the parish and community for equal rights with an equity of access to the resources that add blessing to life. I hope this site is of meaning to those who read it and worship with me and others within it. Peace.