How fearful a vocation is the writing of A LITURGY FOR THE

liturgies, O Lord, for it presumes the shaping

of words that others will speak to You.
Writing of
Liturgies
Therefore make me faithful to my craft,
O Great Architect of Truth & Poetry.
Let me be diligent to the discipline and
the labor required, but let me never CO PY R I G H T © 20 17
forget that all such measured faithfulness D O U G L A S M C K E LVE Y
yields only a polished stone, meaningless
until it is stirred from within by your breath,
until it is set by you in a crown of your own crafting.

Grant to me then, an unmerited wisdom

to anticipate the needs of your people
in their varied seasons of life. Let me find form
to convey their loves and fears, their thoughts
and hopes, their sorrows and their celebrations.
Inspire me to tell in words, of the holiness of
your presence made manifest in all tasks,
at all hours of all days.
For you, O Lord, are with us always.

Every sphere of life and creation is Yours,

and all are threads of the same bright weave:
our goings-out and our comings-in,
our fellowship and our loneliness,
our youth and our old age,
our passions and our vocations,
our chores and our entertainments.
You are equally present in our failures and
in our successes,
in our sleep and in our wakeful hours,
in our tears and in our laughter,
in our births, in our lives,
and even in the hours of our deaths.
You are everpresent with us.

May this book and these prayers therefore

serve to train the hearts of your people
to practice a mindfulness of your presence
in all moments.

Move within these liturgies, O Spirit of God!

Stir these pages. Stir hearts. Stir minds.
Stir imaginations.
Call your peoples to remember you always.
O peoples of God! Remember your God!
Remember him in all places.
Remember him at all times.
Remember his grace and his love.
Remember his comfort and his mercy.
Remember his beauty and his wonder.
Remember his instruction and his holiness.
He is here. He is with you every moment.

Every moment is holy.

Amen.

COPYRIGHT © 2017 DOUGLAS MCKELVEY

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LITURGY, VISIT;
WWW.EVERYMOMENTHOLY.COM