"At the center is the full triad of Christian practices around the dead: the praise of God, the commendation of the dead, and the consolation of those who mourn. This fundamental theology of eternal life is central to the essays in this journal . . ."

Rural ministry today is more diverse than it was in [Virgil] Michel’s era, but it still presents a wealth of interconnections that he anticipated. The articles in this issue of Liturgy comprise a portrait from the fields, glimpses into the blessings of rural ministry plus new affirmations of the consistent value of worship across challenging situations.

Holy places draw us irresistibly toward encounter and transformation. In a time when digital interactions on social media extend and increasingly dominate our experience of people and place, the powerfully sacred act of putting feet on rocky path, one step after another, side-by-side with others, until we put our fingers on the holy, is irreplaceable.