Worship Without Words: The Signs and Symbols of Our Faith

Many of us who are new to the liturgical church, through conversion or rediscovery, find ourselves surrounded by images and customs totally foreign to our experience of worship. This little guide presents a helpful explanation of the liturgical calendar and the signs, symbols, gestures, vestments, and architectural and sacramental elements that accompany the liturgy, as well as an insightful exploration of their historical and biblical roots.

Calling upon her literary background and her personal faith, Patricia Klein incorporates devotional readings to enhance our private worship and enrich our awareness of the timeless vitality of the Christian faith.

Patricia Klein has put together an immensely useful handbook for all elements of Christian worship. Using drawings, definitions, and brief historical explanations, she maps out the large landscape of liturgy with clarity and brevity. Chapter 1, for example, moves from the most obvious starting point (the church building itself, including explanations of the terms cathedral, basilica, and oratory) through monastic architecture, the interior and exterior spaces (buttress, cloister, apse, chancel) and then into church furnishings (ambo--"a raised desk from which the Gospels or Epistles were read or chanted") and liturgical furnishings (processional cross, alms basin). Subsequent chapters explore the altar, the cross, the liturgical year, liturgical worship, music, sacraments, vestments, as well as church dogma (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed). A delightful book for browsing and reference, it can get positively addictive for anyone with an interest in the outer forms of the inner faith. --Doug Thorpe