Stan Hallisms

Many of the APTS blogging community have made comments about the death of beloved professor Stanley R. Hall. He was an editor of the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship and was the one who taught me (and many others) to love and respect liturgy and worship. Since taking The Church as Worshipping Community my junior year, I have looked at worship and worship space differently.

One of the fun things about class with Stan was his quirky turns of phrase, what have been lovingly dubbed "Stan Hallisms." You never knew when one would be uttered, but some of them were absolutely priceless. Here are some of my favorites.

• Presbyterian worship, boredom to the glory of God
• Nothing is as new as what is old
• To gather as a community we commit theology
• No prejudice against the merely dead in Christ
• Prayer – doing deals with God
• To make a difference, that if we closed our doors we would be missed
• Never neglect the use of strange funny words
• Latin is a good language for offering sacrifice
• Big sucking font
• Great God org
• The 70’s brought in a lot of balloons and grab-ass liturgy
• Jesus soup
• Rich visceral stuff
• Wigged out over worship
• Gifts to the church are your enemy
• Aesthetically slightly ugly
• Enough water to drown a cat

So to Stan who has transferred membership to the church triumphant, thank you for a new look at boredom to the glory of God, for an appreciation of the rich visceral stuff that happens so that we would indeed be missed if we closed our doors. I promise not to relive the 70's or to create church architecture that is aesthetically slightly ugly. Stan Hall will be missed, but I am richer for having known him.