Plenaries

Following the birth of a child, family members may reach out to a congregation for the first time — or the first time in a long time — with a request for baptism. Drawing on qualitative research with both clergy and occasional religious practitioners, this presentation explores the tensions associated with the occasional practice of baptism. Is baptism giving the child a choice, or making a choice on behalf of the child? Is being a godparent a spiritual role, or a family responsibility? Does baptism locate the child at the threshold or the center of the church community? Is this sacrament covenantal or kenotic?

Speaker Bio:
Sarah Kathleen Johnson serves as Assistant Professor of Liturgy and Pastoral Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario. She is a practical theologian who studies Christian worship in the context of a changing North American religious landscape. Her research at the intersection of liturgical studies and the sociology of religion employs qualitative methods that value everyday religious experience. Commitments to interrogating the relationship between liturgy and ethics and engaging ecumenically across Christian traditions ground her research, teaching, and church leadership. Sarah is ordained for ministry in Mennonite Church Canada.

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Long uncomfortable with death, our society––and our churches––have been moving away from “funerals” and toward an event around death that is often called a “celebration of life.” Despite the fact that funerals are a celebration of life, in a culture that is increasingly unfamiliar with the biblical narratives, imagery, and poetry that tell about God’s unfailing compassion and mercy, many people have a hard time seeing the point of what the church has to say about endings. We grab onto the image of “passing on” to avoid speaking of death. The reluctance to baptize or to be baptized, and the pressure to commune those who haven’t been baptized, and the increase in thinking of the virtual as real enough all contribute to greater distance from the church’s profound witness. We need not panic about diminished numbers. An expansive theology of death and of life, giving heft to the symbols treasured by the church, is possible. Honoring death can lead to new life.

Speaker Bio:
Melinda Quivik, PhD, is an ordained ELCA pastor who has served churches in three states, including a UCC/Presbyterian congregation in Michigan. A former professor of liturgy and preaching and past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, for 15 years she has been an independent scholar of liturgy and homiletics and the Editor-in-Chief of Liturgy. She is a mentor with Backstory Preaching (backstorypreaching.com). Among her publications are Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays (2023), Remembering God’s Promises: A Funeral Planning Handbook (2018), In Sure and Certain Hope: A Funeral Sourcebook (2017), Leading Worship Matters: A Sourcebook for Preparing Worship Leaders  (2013), Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (2009), and many commentaries such as the Scholar’s View in Sundays & Seasons: Preaching.

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In moments of crisis, we often discover that we need to pray together and that we don’t know how to pray together. Rituals during or following a crisis often call together an assembly with a wide variety of religious beliefs. This presentation will uncover some of the reasons people seek out rituals in moments of crisis, outline some features of crisis rituals that set it apart from ordinary Sunday worship, and discuss examples of rituals that are evolving to meet crises in North America and beyond.

Speaker Bio:
Kimberly Hope Belcher, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and 2025 Kimberly Hope Belcher is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and 2025 President of the North American Academy of Liturgy. She researches liturgical theology, ritual studies, and ecumenism. She serves on the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Board of the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship and represents the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Methodist-Catholic, Episcopal-Catholic, and Pentecostal-Catholic dialogues in the United States. Recent publications include “Ritual Techniques in Affliction Rites and the Lutheran-Catholic ecumenical Liturgy of Lund, 2016,” Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies (2022) and Eucharist and Receptive Ecumenism: From Thanksgiving to Communion (Cambridge, 2020).

Registration for the 2025 Institute is at capacity. If you have not registered, but would still like to attend, please contact the ILS staff at ils@valpo.edu.