Worship in Communion with Creation

Melanie C. Ross is an associate professor of liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut. Her research examines ecumenical liturgical theology, North American evangelicalism, and the worship of contemporary congregations, which resulted in the publication of Evangelical versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy (Eerdmans, 2014) and Evangelical Worship: An American Mosaic (Oxford University Press, 2021). She is the editor of On Earth as in Heaven? Liturgy, Materiality, and Economics (Liturgical Press, 2025).Karen B. Westerfield Tucker is professor of worship at Boston University School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts. A former editor-in-chief of Studia Liturgica (2005–2013), she is the 2023 recipient of the Berakah Award from the North American Academy of Liturgy. She coedited (with Geoffrey Wainwright) The Oxford History of Christian Worship (Oxford University Press, 2006), authored American Methodist Worship (Oxford University Press, 2001), and has published numerous essays in the areas of Methodist/Wesleyan liturgical history and theology, hymnology, and ecumenism.

“This outstanding edited volume is a fitting tribute to one of the most creative scholars in the academy working at the intersection of a theology of creation and liturgy. The themes running through this work reflect Teresa Berger’s ongoing concerns to develop both theological and liturgical arguments relevant for pressing contemporary investigations at the intersection of ecology, gender and art. Written in the spirit of ecumenical openness and generosity, this book is a vitally important contribution to a growing body of ecotheological literature at the intersection of theory and practice. Both established and emerging scholars offer novel insights, creating a rich kaleidoscope of different ways of seeing the way creation intersects with and interprets liturgical practice. The reader will inevitably respond to the book’s fresh and hopeful message, making this an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and ministers alike.”Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si’ Research Institute and Senior Research Fellow, Campion Hall, University of Oxford

• ContentsForeword   ixMartin JeanAcknowledgments   xiList of Contributors   xiiiPart I. Theological Considerations1. Theological Foundations of Creaturely Worship   3Kathryn Tanner2. “We Knew Water”: Liturgy between Melancholy and Hope   12Willie James Jennings3. Liturgy, Ecology, and Ethics at the End of the World: Toward an Apocalyptic Liturgical Theology   24Antonio Eduardo Alonso4. Creation, Liturgy, and Leukemia: Decentering the Liturgical Person within Themselves   42Nathan P. Chase5. “Across the Border”: Death and the Cosmic Song   58Kimberly Hope BelcherPart II. Liturgical Investigations6. “Groaning in Labor Pains”: Womb Imagery and Cosmic Worship in the Gelasian Sacramentary Baptismal Rite   77Phoenix Gonzalez7. When Creation Stills: Midnight Prayer, Bimodal Sleep, and the Eschatological Imagination in Eastern Christianity   92Nina Glibetić8. “It Is Not the Earth That Has Sinned . . .”: Ritual Responses to Weather Extremes—Medieval Antiphons concerning Drought and Excessive Rain   107Harald Buchinger9. Liturgy and the Gendered Cosmos: Celestial Luminaries in Near Eastern Christian Thought and Prayer   142Gabriel Radle10. The Rogation of the Ninevites: An Ecological Rite?   154Mark Roosien11. Recovering the Divine Ecosystem in the Eucharistic Prayer: Reflections and Musings on the Theme of Creation in the Syrian Orthodox Anaphoras   172Bryan D. Spinks12. The Fivefold Shape of the Eucharist: Abundance, Rubbish, and Ecology   192Andrew B. McGowan13. “Are There Not Twelve Hours of Daylight?” Observations of Synchrony and Clock Drift in Liturgical Timekeeping   220Benjamin M. StewartPart III. Artistic Explorations14. Flowers, Stones, and Scorpions: Nature and Cosmos in Baroque Passion Settings   239Markus Rathey15. “Listen to the Voices of the Earth”: Creation in Hymns by Methodists Dan Damon, Colin Gibson, and Andrew Pratt   269Karen Westerfield TuckerPart IV. Teresa Berger: Liturgical Scholar, Theologian, Ecumenist, Environmental Advocate16. Teresa Berger’s Scholarship—An Overview   295Melanie C. Ross17. 2025 Berakah Award Address Liturgical Studies on a Planet in Peril: Reconceiving the “Cosmic” in Worship   314Teresa Berger18. Works by Teresa Berger   325