We’ve got loads on our plates, and as much as we enjoy writing together, it’s just been a bit much. If something’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing well, right?

Juan will still continue to blog at Day1.org, and we hope you read & comment on his thoughts there.

You’ll still be able to follow us on Twitter, with interesting links and thoughts (check out the recent thread about Starbucks’ appropriation of ritual) @LiturgicalNerds

Remember, you can read our personal blogs:
http://expatminister.org (@expatminister on Twitter) – Josh
http://spiritstirrer.org (& at @spiritstirrer) – Juan

And there are some other bloggers tackling some of our concerns (liturgy, mission, theology, spiritual formation) honestly and creatively, notably
Emerging UMC
The United Methodist Worship Blog
United Methodeviations
The Virtual Abbey

Feel free to hunt us down there, and we look forward to a day sometime this side of the eschatological banquet when we pick up writing here again!

…but until then, grace and peace from Josh & Juan +

We are excited about possibilities for the upcoming year. We’re especially looking forward to our Lent series, which this year will focus on the mystery of Christian Initiation: catechesis. This will be anchored by some guest bloggers, most notably Taylor Burton-Edwards OSL, Director of Worship Resources for the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church.

We’re still looking for field reports on innovative, contextualized, tradition-catapulted-into-contemporary-situations worship; the first of these will be coming up at the end of January, on a baptismal liturgy for firefighters…in the firehouse!

If you are interested in writing for LN, please contact us at liturgicalnerds [at] gmail [dot] com or hook up with us on Twitter @LiturgicalNerds — we look forward to this new year together, in the holy name of Jesus Christ:

Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect for the Naming & Circumcision of Jesus from Common Worship

A reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 11 (NRSV):

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Eternal God,
in the stillness of this night
you sent your almighty Word
to pierce the world’s darkness with the light of salvation:
give to the earth the peace that we long for
and fill our hearts with the joy of heaven
through our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen!
[Collect for Christmas Night from Common Worship]

We’re excited about what the future holds for Liturgical Nerds–if you have anything you’d like to share with us, comment below or email us at liturgicalnerds [at] gmail [dot] com.

Grace and Peace, Josh+ & Juan+