Word, Worship, World and Wonder: Reflections on Christian Living

Word, Worship, World, and Wonder is a book about the future of the institutional church. Part criticism, part inspiration, it addresses four core questions of Christian living: How do we keep alive the sense of wonder that connects us to the divine? What word(s) need to be spoken by the church, and how are they spoken? What are the requisites for good worship? How are we to be both 'in' but not 'of' the world? In this book from the heart, Karen Lebacqz draws on her training in ethics but speaks primarily as a layperson with a love-hate relationship to the church. She challenges readers to reawaken both curiosity and awe, suggesting ways to use the senses to achieve this end. She urges words that hold us accountable and help us see how injustice and privilege are interconnected. She urges words of poetry and passion that offer grace in the midst of conviction. Proposing the worship is both praise of God and positioning of ourselves in the world, Lebacqz explores the embodiment of church in worship - its need for both lifeblood and backbone. She explores the tensions between community cohesiveness and welcome of the stranger who shakes up our familiar patterns. Turning to the world, Lebacqz takes issue with some contemporary views of church and locates Christian living in compassion, liberation, and reconstruction. In a pluralistic world, she proposes modest norms for ethical life. Above all, Lebacqz argues that Jesus came to establish not the church but the Reign of God, and that it is our embodiment of Christ in justice, love, and humility that offers hope for the future of the church.