Book Review of Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2 Edited by Kimberly Bracken Long

(I received this resource for free in exchange for an honest review)

Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Vol. 2--Trinity Sunday Through Reign of Christ
ed. by Kimberly Bracken Long
ISBN 978-0-664-23918-3
Westminster John Knox Press
Reviewed by Clint Walker

Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Year C, Vol. 2 is another in a long line of quality resources for Christian leaders seeking to lead other in worship and study of God's Word. First, Feasting on the Word put out several commentaries on Scripture that corresponded to the lectionary and the Christian Year. Then, they gathered together devotional resources for the devotional guide I have reviewed earlier. Now the folks with Feasting on the Word and WJK Press are developing worship resources for the local church as well. This volume is the second in the series, and completes year C's readings designed to support the Revised Common Lectionary.

What I like about Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Year C, Vol. 2 is that it offers relevant professional worship resources that both respect the need for reverence in such resources, while at the same time having readings that are easy to understand. In other resources like this, writers often make the mistake of being too cute or flowery on one end of the spectrum, or using too many big words that the average congregation can't completely relate to on the other. The Feasting on the Word staff does an excellent job of being sober, direct, and plain-spoken while also sounding intelligent and worshipful.

I also enjoy the inclusion of both semi-continuous and complimentary readings during ordinary time. Prior to discovering this resource, I was not aware of this distinction of readings within the Revised Common Lectionary. For those of you, who like me, were unfamiliar with this "other lectionary", you need to know that you will love having the additional resources. The semi-continuous readings include sequential readings of Old Testament lections, which is extremely helpful if you want to preach a book of the Bible, or section of Scripture, instead of having your Old Testament readings hop all around to "compliment" the New Testament themes.

Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Year C, Vol. 2 is a fairly expensive resource, but the reader of this book is getting a lot of bang for their buck. The book is hardcover, and thus designed to be durable. It has a bookmark built in, so you can keep your place for week to week. The book comes with a CD which has the whole book on a PDF file. This makes it easy to cut and paste the weekly resources right into worship bulletins or audio-visual presentations. At the back of the book there are additional resources for baptismal and eucharistic services.

For the church that uses liturgical resources, this book is a "must have". It is written in a timeless fashion, and will be useful for decades to come.