There is a tension in many of us — I call it the “Willo-palian” problem. What is it? The yearning for many of us low church types to experience a liturgical life. Many of us are not willing to go the whole way to shift into the Episcopalian Church, or (even further) move into Orthodoxy or Catholicism. But, we still love liturgy and colors and the church calendar, and we know we are missing something the church has always had at its center. So, I’ve got a book recommendation for you if you want to know what it is all about…

Mark Galli, Beyond Smells and Bells. Mark Galli is the senior managing editor at Christianity Today and is an evangelical Anglican, a member at the Church of the Resurrection in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
This book of his is for the beginner and it is written clearly and well and briefly and covers all the important topics. He gives us introductions to:
The Liturgy itself
The church calendar
The liturgical community
The mystery of liturgy
The relevancy of liturgy
The liturgy’s influence on time
The liturgy’s impact on space
The liturgy’s infusion of grace
The liturgy’s use of the whole body
The liturgy’s capacity to teach faith
The liturgy’s spiritually formative impact
The liturgy’s sanctification of imagination
The liturgy’s ability to create a poetic reality
And all of this in 142 pages; in a small book that fits in your hand and on your desk and into your heart.