Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays
Ebook
This book calls Protestant churches, and the ELCA in particular, to a church-wide conversation about racism. It is a response to the 2019 book Dear Church by Lenny Duncan, a former Lutheran pastor who is Black and who, among other reparations, calls for changing the church's worship in order to address segregated Sundays.
Changes in worship affect theological foundations. Informed consideration is essential.
Because entering into life-changing conversations requires vulnerability and commitment, this book includes several narratives: my life as a White woman and pastor, the history of the Black church as defined by Black theologians, the development of the liturgical renewal movement, and my experiences as a professor navigating worship conflicts as my seminary struggled with financial constraints and a changing student body.
The seminary conflicts offered me a window into how better to address racism inspired by the example of post-WWII German truth-telling and how some US Southern states have come to grips with the history of the Jim Crow South (described in Susan Neiman's Learning from the Germans).
This book outlines a way forward for churches in responding to racism by encouraging healthy engagement with contentious relationships as a necessity for healing.
“Quivik offers the insights of a liturgical scholar on the origins of Christian worship, exploring the claims that it contains racist elements and providing further information regarding this important subject. She listens carefully, then speaks—and invites the reader to do the same. . . . It is ultimately a dialogue about love: our love for God and how we express it in worship, our love for neighbor and the desire to understand one another, and Christ’s love for his church.”
—Clay Schmit, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
“Martin Luther King said, ‘Nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance.’ Quivik leaves no room for ignorance. She confronts the critique that worship life in the Protestant church today is racist. I note her work with the Black church and how that witness becomes foundational for her premise. Hers is an intellectual exploration of the church at worship, avoiding the quick alliance with popular culture and experimentation. Quivik exposes a ‘sincere ignorance’ about racism in worship and graciously gives us a way forward.”
—Mark R. Ramseth, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, emeritus
“Quivik provides an honest, searching, and at times painful look at attitudes toward worship in the context of theological education, particularly in mainline Protestant seminaries. Many who teach and lead worship in these contexts will find her story familiar. Yet, in telling her particular story, Quivik invites others to undertake new conversations, to find new ways of hearing the diverse voices in our communities, and to the possibility for transformation.”
—E. Byron (Ron) Anderson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
“Melinda Quivik has written an engaging book on the intersection of worship and race. This is sometimes a difficult topic to discuss; however, Quivik shares stories of her struggle to present liturgical theology from a Lutheran perspective and to include a diversity of ideas about worship. Her stories communicate the difficulties inherent in such a task. I commend Quivik for challenging the church, especially the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to begin talking about a central dimension of what it means to worship.”
—Richard Perry, Lutheran School of Theology
- Title: Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays
- Authors: Melinda A. Quivik, II Joseph A. Donnella
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666792058, 9781666735208, 1666735205, 9781666792041, 1666792047, 1666792055
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666792058
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-05-02T22:10:20Z
Melinda Quivik, an ordained ELCA pastor who has served churches in three states, former professor of liturgy and preaching, and past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, is the Editor-in-Chief of Liturgy, a mentor with Backstory Preaching, and a freelance liturgical and homiletical scholar whose books include Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (2009), Leading Worship Matters (2017), and Remembering God’s Promises: A Funeral Planning Handbook (2018), among other publications.