Worship That Cares: An Introduction to Pastoral Liturgy

Worship that Cares is in introduction to the principles and skills of 'pastoral liturgy'. It offers an overview of the ways that worship can be a means of pastoral care, such as ways that Sunday worship can extend care to those who attend, but is focused on those acts of worship which begin with a particular pastoral need. It goes on to consider how the principles which underlie these 'standard' rites can also be applied to what might be considered 'new' pastoral contexts or needs (such as rites to mark retirement etc.) and those situations which are not acknowledged in church circles (such as divorce etc.). A final chapter discusses ways that the church can move out into the community, offering 'apt liturgy' to help community groups to mark crises and joys with non-churchy rituals which nonetheless help people to connect with a world beyond themselves, with the divine and with the Christian story. Mark Earey provides a toolkit of principles and skills which can be applied across different denominations and Christian traditions, in both formal and informal contexts, and to meet traditional and non-traditional pastoral needs