Pastoral and Occasional Liturgies: A Ceremonial Guide

In this third and final volume in a series of ceremonial guides to worship in the Episcopal Church according to The Book of Common Prayer, Leonel L. Mitchell focuses on the pastoral and occasional liturgies. Beginning with the celebration of the Daily Office, he goes on to discuss the seasonal liturgies beyond the Lent-Easter cycle, including Advent Lessons and Carols, Candlemas, and Rogation processions. The pastoral offices include baptism, marriage, the blessing of homes, reconciliation, ministry to the sick, and burial. Finally, Mitchell concludes with the services involving bishops, including celebrations of new ministries, consecrations of churches, and ordination rites. Like its two companion volumes, Howard E. Galley’s The Ceremonies of the Eucharist and Mitchell’s Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and the Great Fifty Days, this new guide offers clear descriptions of ways of celebrating the rites as well as the theological and historical reasons behind them. The book is designed to be useful in churches of all sizes, small and large.