In this third and final volume in a series of ceremonial guides to worship in the Episcopal Church according to The Book of Common Prayer, Leonel L. Mitchell focuses on the pastoral and occasional liturgies. Beginning with the celebration of the Daily Office, he goes on to discuss the seasonal liturgies beyond the Lent-Easter cycle, including Advent Lessons and Carols, Candlemas, and Rogation processions. The pastoral offices include baptism, marriage, the blessing of homes, reconciliation, ministry to the sick, and burial. Finally, Mitchell concludes with the services involving bishops, including celebrations of new ministries, consecrations of churches, and ordination rites. Like its two companion volumes, Howard E. Galley's The Ceremonies of the Eucharist and Mitchell's Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and the Great Fifty Days, this new guide offers clear descriptions of ways of celebrating the rites as well as the theological and historical reasons behind them. The book is designed to be useful in churches of all sizes, small and large.
LEONEL L. MITCHELL is Professor Emeritus of Liturgics at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL.
This is a useful reference book. More descriptive than prescriptive, it combines sound liturgical principles with encouragement for readers to take account of their particular situation in all liturgical planning. -- Ruth A. Meyers Seabury-Western Theological Seminary In this ceremonial guide Mitchell helps the reader to construct occasional and pastoral offices, expands the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, and describes the use of material from the Book of Occasional Services. Apart from the more obviously pastoral liturgies, he covers the celebration of the Daily Office, the sanctification of the year, and Episcopal services. The model assumed for these prescriptions is a mid-sized and middle-church Episcopal parish... A member of the Episcopal clergy or a lay liturgical minister will thus find a reliable and sensible guide to the planning of worship... -- Mauricio Wilson General Theological Seminary As a priest-scholar with a lifetime of deep involvement in liturgical matters, Mitchell brings a breadth of historic, theological, and practical wisdom to all he writes... "This brief, comprehensive, and well-written guide should be read and carefully applied by all who plan and lead worship, especially members of worship committtees, seminarians, and clergy. Through study and attentive use of the guide, a worshipping community can gain an added measure of spiritual depth and richness in its liturgical life. -- Raymond F. Glover, Professor of Music Virginia Theological Seminary
