highway of saints
thoughts on worship through its hymns, prayers, & patterns
From the Heavens to the Heart (a moment with Maureen)
Maureen’s whirling arrangement of “I Sing the Mighty Power of God” reflects the energy of a trembling web spun by nothing other than God’s imaginative and creative Spirit.
Into the Wilderness — the Call Into Lent
Perhaps the season of Lent — this one in particular, with its harsh realities and conditions, and like the desert, profoundly marked with extremes — is calling to us. Perhaps our answering it can offer life-enlarging change. Perhaps. However to know, but by finding out?
The Ashes of your Life (Ash Wednesday Resources)
Ash Wednesday The Season of Lent February 17, 2021 The season of Lent commences this week with Ash Wednesday — the ashes traditionally made from the discarded, dried up, burned up palm branches that were picked up from last year's Palm Sunday chants and lauds....
Moment with Maureen: “Be Thou My Vision”
A Transfiguration reflection featuring MAUREEN HOWELL’s arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision”
Don Your Crash Helmets
EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE those of us who are planners of worship are reminded of how much our care and attention to detail is predicated upon the mistaken presumption that all systems will be normal. But I think God gets bored with normal. In her essay An Expedition to the Pole, Annie Dillard writes . . .
The Open Door to Gratitude (Psalm 111)
To the befuddled guests of God, wisdom is in the not knowing. Not in the answers as much as in the questions. The very seat of understanding, yet hidden from the eyes of the living . . .
Star-crossed, We Sing: Choral Music for Sundays After Epiphany
HERE’S A DIVERSE list of choral anthem suggestions for choirs of various sizes and abilities from the 2021 FAITHELEMENT.NET Worship Resources for the season after Epiphany Year B.
Psalm 139 – Held in the Net of God’s Care
With all of our bundle of complexity we can trust in the goodness of God to redeem, renew, and reimagine each of us beyond the horizon of our short lives.
Epiphany Prayer
In this new year, let me look up to find you eternal. And let me look down to find you new. Let me see you in the star overhead and in the small lamp right here. Help me let go of tired ways of thinking. Amen.
Once in Royal David’s City – Andrew Howell, horn
When Jesus was born, God demonstrated not only the desire and capacity to share in our tears and smiles, our griefs and joys, but also gifted us with the miraculous capacity to do the same for one another.
The Darkness Before the Dawn
Don’t lose hope. Hold to the wisdom that darkness is deepest before the dawn. Hopeful hearts, draw meaning from the skies just before morning. The world is about to turn. The sun is coming.
Moment with Maureen — “Wexford Carol”
Maureen Howell, performs “Wexford Carol” arranged by Mark Hayes. May it be that in this season, we also stop to listen, because the story contains a gift that is unpackable with every telling of it.
worship resources
Warren Howell curates a collection of lectionary-based worship resources at Faithelement. Find prayers, litanies, hymn and anthem suggestions, and more.