How to Use Little Liturgies
The Soil and The Seed Project nurtures faith through music, art, and Little Liturgies for daily and weekly use in the home. These weekly “Little Liturgies” are created to help establish new rhythms of faith to allow God’s Word to take root. They work best when you can pick a night/day and a time to do each week. There are four parts to each “Little Liturgy,” each designed to help cultivate ‘good soil’ so that God’s Spirit can grow good fruit in us.
Seed // “A farmer went out to sow his seed.”
In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches that the Good News is like scattered seed. You’ll notice there are scripture references across the top of each Little Liturgy that represent some of the Lectionary texts* for that week. You can choose how deeply you engage those passages during that time and through the week.
The first section, “The Seed,” is a short prayer that can be read aloud in whole by one voice or call and response with many voices repeating a simple refrain. Each prayer draws elements and language from some of the themes found in the scripture passages from the lectionary for that week.
2. The Soil // “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.”
Being “Good Soil” is about welcoming the seed of the Good News and allowing it to take root in us and grow. We hope that as you hold and consider these questions individually and together with others, you will practice listening to God and others. We hope you’ll also practice speaking about faith in God even as you create space for and welcome questions. We hope God will reveal how you can live out the Good News of Jesus in concrete ways wherever you are.
3. The Sprout // “This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
The sprout is the tangible sign that something is growing. The seed is no longer dormant, new life is springing out! This section contains an idea for a physical activity or posture to help embody what we are hearing and reading. As you do these simple, tangible practices, we hope that they will help the Good News to grow in your life. Some of these are geared towards the younger ones among us, but we encourage everyone to engage in these spiritual practices regardless of age.
4. Roots: Weekly Listening // “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream.”
The final section is music that roots us! Each collection of songs teaches 12-16 verses of the Bible to help root us in God’s Word and the Good News of God’s Love. Some songs are written to:
- help create new daily rhythms (morning & evening songs, sung prayers for mealtimes, etc)
- songs for when we are afraid
- songs that form faith in Jesus
Some songs are great for singing with a group of people, others work better with 1-2 voices. We have chosen one song from the song collections for each week that connects with the text. We hope that as you listen and sing along, you will commit the words to memory as it soaks into your being. You can also listen to the CDs in the car throughout the week, download it, or listen to it online.
