Proceedings of the North American Academy of Liturgy 2020

Liturgical Language Convener: Rhodora Beaton, Associate Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology at the Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, MO Members in Attendance: Jennifer Baker-Trinity, Rhodora Beaton, David Bjorlin, Nancy Bryan, Lolly Dominski, Robert Farlee, David Gambrell, William Kervin, Judith Kubicki, Kimberly Long, Gail Ramshaw, Marit Rong Visitors in Attendance: Erik Christensen, Chad Fothergill, Ching Yu Huang, John Weit Description of Work: The Liturgical Language Seminar enjoyed a rich variety of papers and presentations this year. Paper topics clustered around the topic of inclusive and expansive language, and these principles were applied in discussion of the published and in-progress hymns that were presented by two members.

On the first day of our meeting, the seminar began with Judith M. Kubicki’s paper, “Images of Light and Darkness in Contemporary Hymnody,” which followed up on last year’s paper, “Images of Light and Darkness in Ancient Hymnody.”

The practice of using the image of light for Christ is evident in both ancient and contemporary hymns. However, in contemporary hymns, darkness is valued for teaching the value of suffering, the necessity of gestation, and the hidden growth that occurs in the womb and in the earth. God is God of both light and darkness.

Since Christ is light, the body of Christ is called to minister to all who “sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). Topics in Kubicki’s paper set the stage for a very fruitful discussion of inclusive and expansive language that continued throughout our time together.

At the end of the first day, Jennifer Baker-Trinity, in her role as Program Director for Resource Development at the ELCA and 1517 Media (Augsburg Fortress), led a discussion about the revision of some of the ELCA’s Frequently Asked Questions, provided on the website www.elca.org/worship. These FAQS are consulted by rostered leaders and lay people in the church. In the seminar this year, the group looked at possible updates and additions to the FAQ on language in worship. The seminar gave helpful feedback on how these particular FAQS could be revised or restructured for the church’s use. Baker-Trinity offered an additional contribution to the seminar on the second day when she led a discussion of Hear My Voice: A Prison Handbook which is a liturgical outcome of the 2013 ELCA statement on “The Church and Criminal Justice.”

The seminar also gave attention to the use of specific words in liturgical prayer and theological reflection. In her essay “Liturgical Considerations of the Word