Jan. 8 Gathering: Deconstructing Liturgy

crop black man praying at home

While we may not all use “deconstruction” language to describe our spiritual journeys, folks in the New Wineskins community certainly identify as spiritual/religious exiles of some sort. Whether we’ve left the institutional church altogether (or never joined in the first place), or we remain there for our own reasons, most of us feel a profound disconnect between much of how the modern church behaves and what we believe to be the way of Jesus.

Still, many of us continue to find meaning in the rituals and rhythms that help us remember and retell our spiritual autobiographies. Whatever our relationship to “church,” we remain connected to those liturgies—literally, “the work of the people”—that enliven our spiritual experiences.

For 2023, our theme for New Wineskins will be Deconstructing Liturgy. Together, we’ll examine those rituals, routines, and rhythms that continue to give significance to our spirituality as individuals and as a community. Specifically, we’ll be asking the following questions:

  • How can we infuse our liturgies with new meaning?
  • How can we engage tradition through fresh eyes focused on justice and liberation?
  • What spiritual practices can help us connect more deeply to the Divine and to one another?
  • How do we encounter Divine Presence through our rituals, routines, and rhythms?

This week at New Wineskins, we’ll kick the year off with an introduction to the concept of Deconstructing Liturgy, what it means, and how we’ll journey through it together.

Please join us this Sunday, Jan. 8, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom for a conversation about how we can engage our liturgical practices in fresh ways that inspire us to do the work of justice and liberation to which we are called.

Click here to view our video for this week, ”What’s Saving Your Life Today?” featuring Barbara Brown Taylor.

6:00pm EDT: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm EDT: Presentation & conversation begin


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Feature image by Monstera on Pexels.com

Published by Joe

Hi, I'm Joe. I write blogs, cast pods, and help people who are done with the institutional church find faith outside the fences.

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