Worship for All Seasons, Vol. 1: Selections from Gatherings for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany

J.R.C. Perkin is past-president of Acadia University and the author of
Reflections and Insights.

In 1983, the United Church of Canada began to publish three times a year
a collection of materials for congregational worship under the title
Gatherings: A Packet for Worship Planners. The material, contributed by
various individuals and groups, is widely used in the United Church by
those who lead worship. This is the first of three volumes to reproduce
items that have already appeared in Gatherings.

The first chapter provides a brief overview of official helps to
worship from the Book of Common Order (1932) to Sunday Liturgy (1984).
The remainder of the book is arranged in three chapters, dealing with
Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Each chapter includes comments about
the season and its historical development; practical suggestions for the
use of symbols; contemporary hymns, for use either with familiar tunes
or with printed music; and prayers for each part of the service, from
the call to worship to the benediction.

While this volume has much to offer, users should exercise
discrimination. First, the materials come from many different sources
and individuals; there is, therefore, no obvious set of common
presuppositions. Second, the quality of the language in the prayers
varies greatly. The truly great prayers of the church are characterized
by brief clauses and have very few polysyllabic words. In this book,
some of the prayers make heavy use of biblical phrases; one wonders how
many worshippers recognize them. Prayers for use by the congregation
should be printed in a kind of blank verse. One may also ask whether
putting calls to worship and benedictions in the section on prayer may
further confuse the issue of prayer; presumably the former are a kind of
summons and the latter an assurance in the form of a declaration.

Worship for all Seasons, while containing material of uneven quality,
has many excellent ideas and suggestions. Used with care and
imagination, the volume may become a source of enrichment to leaders and
congregations alike.