The Church of the Affirmation is a project to develop liturgy that honors the unity and diversity of the PC(USA) Book of Order’s foundational principal F-1.0403, that “In Christ, by the power of the Spirit, God unites persons through baptism regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, geography, or theological conviction,” as well as overtures 11-12, and 11-13 of the 223rd General Assembly of 2018, “affirming and celebrating the full dignity and humanity of people of all gender identities” and “celebrating the gifts of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the church.”
While honoring these statements of inclusivity within the PC(USA), this project aims also to develop its liturgies in accordance with the patterns laid out in the Book of Order. In other words, the Church of the Affirmation represents an attempt to develop liturgies that are inclusive of all peoples while still feeling very much Presbyterian.
These liturgies draw on the Book of Common Worship, adding my own contributions as well as the contributions of others. In places I have drawn on resources from the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Matthew 25 initiative, More Light Presbyterians, and Many Voices. Contributions other than my own or quoted from the Book of Common Worship have been cited appropriately.
I invite you to make free use of the liturgies provided here. It is my hope that these liturgies will provide formative encounters of worship. It is my prayer that in praying together, congregations might come truly to find that “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:38 NRSVUE). Not in that our identities and particularities must be diminished in the institutional life of the church, but that these labels by which we erected barriers against each other become the names by which we affirm one another in Christ Jesus.
Corporate Worship
- A Litany of Transfiguration
- A Liturgy of Lament as Evening Prayer
- A Morning Liturgy of Thanksgiving
- Blue Christmas – The Longest Night
- Call to Be Reconciled and Prayer of Reconciliation
- Celebration of the Resurrection
- Holy Saturday
- Intercessory Prayer
- Lectionary Litanies for Advent
- Lenten Series of Grace and Healing w/ Jonathan Christmas and Andy Hill
- Liturgies of Belonging
- Queer-Affirming Invitation to Encounter
- The Day of the Lord – A Litany for Advent
- The Reconciling Community – An Affirmation of Faith
- World Communion Sunday – Mission as Hospitality
Private Worship
- A Time to Be Silent, and a Time to Speak
- Daily Prayer During Holy Week – Year B
- Household Prayer During Lent
- Prayer of Presence – All Saints Day
- The Magnificat – A Christmas Devotional of Reversal and Subversion in the Book of the Twelve
Spiritual Practice
- An Examen of Practice
- Dwelling in the Word
- Embodied Prayer
- Engaging Scripture as Prayer
- Following the Labyrinth
- Lectio Divina
- Meditative Writing
- Practices of Discernment
- Practices of Imaginative Prayer
- Terra Divina
Hymns with Original Composition
- Be of Good Cheer
- Blessings and Woes
- Exult in God, Who Looks upon the Lowly
- Let Nothing Separate Us
- Let the Children Come
- Never Again Will There come a Flood
- New Bodies, New Names
- New Bodies, New Names (Key of C)
- O God Who Like a Mother
- On the Road to Jerusalem
- Thou God, Who Art Our Shepherd
- To Pray without Ceasing
You can find mp3 files of these compositions at SoundCloud.
Hymns Set to Existing Tunes
Adaptations of Psalms
- Psalm 4: God of My Right
- Psalm 6: Rebuke Us Not in Thy Wrath
- Psalm 10: Turn Your Face upon the Wicked, Lord
- Psalm 12: God Protects the Poor and Lowly
- Psalm 22: Forsaken to Dust
- Psalm 28: The Lord, the Rock of Vindication
- Psalm 80: Restore Us, God
- Psalm 85: When Once You Showed Favor
- Psalm 85: When Once You Showed Favor (Key of Am)
- Psalm 88: Living Praises
- Psalm 90: Is Thy Wrath Everlasting
- Psalm 130: Redemption from the Depths
- Psalm 139: Lead me in Thy Path
- Psalm 140: Save, Guard, and Hear, O Lord
- Psalm 142: My Spirit Faints
Other Resources
- Authorized Liturgical Texts of the Anglican Church of Canada
- Call to Worship
- Lectionary Liturgies
- Many Voices
- Matthew 25
- More Light Presbyterians
- Rainbowing the Bible
- Rex A E Hunt
Mat Meyer (he/him) is currently a candidate for ordination under care of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery of the PC(USA) and is a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Mat is also a sometimes co-host of the podcast The Word in Black and Red. You may contact him at churchoftheaffirmation@gmail.com.
Please feel welcome to use any of the resources provided without permission. I only ask that you include a citation using the button below so that others might be able to find these resources as well. If you have found these resources to be helpful, please reach out and let me know. I would love to hear from you!
Site last updated 05/12/2024. Posted “An Examen of Practice” and “Following the Labyrinth.”
Church of the Affirmation 