Jesus invites us into a life of justice and joy, a table of community broader than any of us have dared to imagine, and the messy risk-taking of discomfort and vulnerability in service to the building (and birthing) of the Kin-dom of the Holy One. How can we move toward such openness? How can we develop the radical hospitality demanded of us? Inclusive liturgy may not be the whole answer, but it represents an important piece of the puzzle.

I can support your inclusive liturgy needs in either or both of two ways. I can offer a workshop or training to help your congregation deepen its commitment to inclusive liturgy, providing guidance about questions to ask and steps to take. Alternatively (or in addition), I can help your congregation create new inclusive liturgy tailored to your local culture and traditions. I take commissions for new liturgy development in any area related to worship or church life more broadly.

Workshops include:

• “A House of Prayer for All People: Working toward Truly Inclusive Liturgy" (can range from a one-hour introduction to a weekend intensive)
• “Welcoming the Difficult: How Inclusive Churches Can Be Hospitable to Non-Inclusive Visitors”
• “Inclusion and Inequality: Why Radical Inclusion is the Christian Response to Systemic Inequality”
• “Beyond the Light: Darkness, Blackness, and Racism”

Sample writings and prior trainings on inclusive liturgy include:

• Hymn Society in the US and Canada: 2021 annual conference sectional “A Holy Discomfort: The Spiritual Work of Singing Welcome” (June 24)
• Juniper Formation Prophetically Reimagining the Church Conference: “A House of Prayer for All People: Working Toward Truly Inclusive Liturgy” workshop (September 19, 2025)
• Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PC(USA)): “A Holy Discomfort: The Spiritual Work of Singing Welcome” (updated version), pp. 35-45 in Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts vol. 57 no. 4, “Queering the Liturgy,” 2024
• United Church of Christ Musicians Association:
  • Saturday Sharing: “Singing Welcome as an Antiracist Practice,” January 20, 2024
  • “Singing Welcome to Outsiders Within the Congregation,” Worship Music and Ministry (UCCMA journal), Winter-Spring 2024
  • “Our Work: Creating Inclusive, Antiracist Liturgical Materials” (2024 Summer Conference Workshop, June 18, 2024)
  • “Beyond the Light: Music and Liturgy in Praise of Darkness,” Worship Music and Ministry, Winter-Spring 2025
• First Congregational United Church of Christ, Sarasota, Florida: virtual training (March 2025) and in-person workshop (June 2025) on inclusive language. Virtual training included the sessions, “Worship: Comfort and Discomfort” and “Inclusive Language: What It Is, Why It Matters.” A video of the second virtual training can be found here: Inclusive Language in Liturgy: What It Is, Why It Matters: a talk by Amanda Udis-Kessler. Contact me for a free detailed outline of the in-person workshop. 

Find some of my inclusive liturgy in the 2023 anthology A Liturgy for All Bodies: New Words for a New World (Cyclical Publishing) and the new United Church of Christ collection The Book of Love.