Reformed Worship consultant Howard Hageman died December 20, 1992. We mentioned in the December issue (RW 26, p. 3) that he had undergone brain surgery more than a year ago and was not doing well. In that same issue, his meditations on the Seven Last Words, "We Call This Friday Good" (RW 26, p. 4), formed a major part of the Good Friday service that many of you will be using this year. He wrote those meditations for—and dedicated them to—the parish and congregation of the North Church in Newark, New Jersey, where he served as pastor from 1945–1973.
While still a pastor at North Church, he began teaching liturgics at New Brunswick Seminary. He became president of that seminary in 1973 and served in that office until he retired in 1985. For over twenty-five years Hageman wrote a weekly column in the Church Herald called "Focus on the World." His Pulpit and Table remains a classic of Reformed liturgy.
Howard Hageman was a great Reformed liturgical scholar at a time when very little attention was paid to the study of worship and liturgy in the Reformed tradition. His teaching and writing contributed to the liturgical renewal movement now also at work in Reformed churches. As worship issues become more urgent in our increasingly diverse congregations, his writing continues to provide us with a legacy of wisdom and understanding of what it means to worship God with integrity in the biblical and Reformed tradition.
We'll all miss the fresh insights of his creative mind.
