Overview

Preachers, worship leaders, and actors are all trying to do one thing: make the words on the page come alive, making the texts of their respective authors """"flesh"""" in real time and space. To do it successfully takes a mixture of natural talent, skills training, and lots of rehearsal. It's the work of communication, and the purpose is always to invite the audience or congregation into an experience of some mix of truth, beauty, hope, and reconciliation. Performers take years training in the skills needed. Ministers, unfortunately, often receive very little help or support in developing their own unique way of taking what is inside them--their faith and questions, their love and wisdom--and using that depth to open the living word of God. This book offers a journey through the wisdom and practice of theater for their benefit. A script, after all, is just a starting point. It is neither a play nor an act of worship until it has a body with breath to give it life. Each of us is that body, called to play with the Author to find meaning in the words. Consider this an invitation to come and play!

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Reviews

""There are so many layers of revelation in this text that it is difficult to point out those which so vividly captured my attention. I do LOVE the 'Holy Days of Opportunity' and the questions posed: 'How do I remind myself that I'm in a relationship with the Divine Other, whose day, like every other, this day is? How do I make it holy as my gift back to God, for God's gift of this day to me?' This work has captured a creative, constructive, complex, complementary, and charming interpretation of the influences that theater can bring to holy liturgy."" --Linda Potter, retired Episcopal priest ""Keeping the Ink Wet is a brilliant must-read for all 'cast' in liturgical ministries, exploring effective communication, human engagement, and trusting mystery as we strive to answer real human spiritual hungers and thirsts in liturgy. With a very engaging, readable approach, this book is for all who want to freshen their liturgies and stave off the monotony of the 'long runs' endured by presiders and preachers."" --Jayme Mathias, pastor, Holy Family Catholic Church, Austin, Texas ""As a member of the Order of Preachers, I found Kevin's book insightful and challenging yet practical and joyously free of jargon. He articulates the theater communication skills presiders and preachers could usefully develop to more fully engage the faith community when celebrating both word and sacrament. This book is a real gift and profound invitation for us, ministers new or seasoned, who want to become more effective in our work."" --Sharon Casey, OP, past president, Dominican Sisters of Tacoma ""Theatre and liturgy inhabit the same soul-expanding space, and Kevin Yell brings a passionate engagement to this examination of how dramatic practice can transform the roles of liturgical performer, presider, and preacher. Yell moves easily between a wide range of authorities, from Pope Francis to Richard Rohr, and he also brings a wealth of personal experience to his powerfully argued plea that ministers should learn from the nuts and bolts of an actor's craft."" --Margaret Wiedemann Hunt, editor, Radius Performing ""As a pastor and worship leader, how can I plan worship to enflesh the living Word for our time and place? Kevin Yell brings his own experience of the theater to the sanctuary to help us encounter the divine. His style is conversational; his personal examples will spur my imagination. Yell helps us create the space and then invites us to let Spirit work. I'll add this to my worship resources!"" --John Reutter-Harrah, Lutheran pastor, West Linn, Oregon

Author Information

Kevin G. Yell, originally from the United Kingdom, is a minister with the independent American Catholic Church as well as a playwright, performer, and director. He is the author of Acts of Salvation (2001). His plays include Vexilla Regis, Gate 13, Entanglement, and Can't Say I Do.

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