Joyce Borger

Historically, this final issue of the liturgical year has been dedicated to one topic, such as psalms (RW 96), faith formation (RW 92), or the Lord’s Supper (RW 88). In that vein, this issue is focused on our gifts and how we use them for the glory of God. In a way, that’s the subtext of every issue of RW, but this issue takes a closer look, expressing the theme in four related subthemes.

It’s hard to have a relationship with ants. Try as you might, they’re just not very good listeners, and they seem to pay little mind to humans. Granted, ants are marvelous creatures with amazing strength and a way of communicating and working together for the good of all that serves as an object lesson for humans. But since they can’t communicate with us, there is no relationship.

Christian or not, you can’t help but wonder if the world is about to implode.

No, this isn’t another Harold Camping-esque attempt at prophecy. It’s just a simple statement of fact. The world as we presently know it will end. This truth is as certain as the birth and resurrection of Christ.

All good celebrations include the giving of gifts. As we pondered what to give our readers to help celebrate Reformed Worship’s twenty-fifth anniversary, we concluded that nothing says “thanks” quite like a new look and website upgrade.

Encounters with the Holy: A Conversational Model for Worship Planning
by Barbara Day Miller.
Alban Institute, 2010. 142 pages.

“Help us not to be so overwhelmed by the details of ministry that we forget what is central. And help us to find that which is central, even in the details.”

—Maryann McKibben Dana (p. 40)

Help us not to be so overwhelmed by the details that we forget what is central. . . .

What language shall I borrow to thank you,

  dearest Friend,

For this, your dying sorrow, your mercy

  without end?

Lord, make me yours forever, a loyal servant true,

And let me never, never outlive my love for you.

—Medieval Latin poem