Tuesday, October 17, 2006
'Evangelical Lutheran Worship' brings new life to worship
During the past five years, the ELCA News Service has written several stories about "Renewing Worship," a multi-year project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) aimed at developing new worship resources. Last week, a key piece of this project became a reality for the church when the pew volume for "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" was released.
This is a positive for the church, and the quality of this volume speaks to the dedication of many people who worked on this for several years. Among them are the ELCA's worship team, editorial teams, artists, writers, designers, composers, and of course, the publisher, Augsburg Fortress.
The new burgundy-colored book is an attractive volume that's full of all kinds of worship resources for Lutheran congregations in the United States and Canada. Following an introduction that describes how the book was created, there is a detailed listing of the church year; 10 settings for Holy Communion, plus a Service of the Word; services for baptism, healing, funerals and marriages, plus special services for Holy Week. There are prayers, and in the back of the book is Martin Luther's Small Catechism.
There are almost 900 hymns (!), encompassing traditional favorites and newer hymns, some of which are written in languages other than English. Interestingly the editors decided to include The Psalms as the first 150 hymns -- since they are intended to be sung -- followed by hymns arranged by season or subject. I looked through the book and found a variety of familiar hymns. In the "National Songs" section, there are several well-known patriotic hymns familiar to those of us in the United States. There is also "O, Canada" the national anthem of Canada.
In the introduction to the hymn book, it states quite clearly that Evangelical Lutheran Worship is a "core" rather than "comprehensive" resource, which suggests there will be more resources in the future. And, we should remember that there are electronic versions of the Evangelical Lutheran Worship due out very soon, too.
There's a quote in the pew volume that sums it up for me: "Evangelical Lutheran Worship bears the rich tradition of Christian worship practiced among Lutherans, and, at the same time, seeks to renew that tradition in response to a generation of change in the church and the world."
Finally, the pew volume itself is well done -- it's a work of art that any Lutheran should be proud to show. Beth Lewis, president and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, says the book is sewn and not glued. It has a special bright white paper that takes several weeks to import. Careful attention went into the book's ingredients so that it would not become too big -- but it's rich.
What's the response of the church been? The Rev. Michael Burk, ELCA director for worship, says nearly 600,000 copies of the pew volume had been ordered through Oct. 6. That is something to be proud of and to cheer about. I hope you'll take a look at this new worship book in the near future.
John B.
This is a positive for the church, and the quality of this volume speaks to the dedication of many people who worked on this for several years. Among them are the ELCA's worship team, editorial teams, artists, writers, designers, composers, and of course, the publisher, Augsburg Fortress.
The new burgundy-colored book is an attractive volume that's full of all kinds of worship resources for Lutheran congregations in the United States and Canada. Following an introduction that describes how the book was created, there is a detailed listing of the church year; 10 settings for Holy Communion, plus a Service of the Word; services for baptism, healing, funerals and marriages, plus special services for Holy Week. There are prayers, and in the back of the book is Martin Luther's Small Catechism.
There are almost 900 hymns (!), encompassing traditional favorites and newer hymns, some of which are written in languages other than English. Interestingly the editors decided to include The Psalms as the first 150 hymns -- since they are intended to be sung -- followed by hymns arranged by season or subject. I looked through the book and found a variety of familiar hymns. In the "National Songs" section, there are several well-known patriotic hymns familiar to those of us in the United States. There is also "O, Canada" the national anthem of Canada.
In the introduction to the hymn book, it states quite clearly that Evangelical Lutheran Worship is a "core" rather than "comprehensive" resource, which suggests there will be more resources in the future. And, we should remember that there are electronic versions of the Evangelical Lutheran Worship due out very soon, too.
There's a quote in the pew volume that sums it up for me: "Evangelical Lutheran Worship bears the rich tradition of Christian worship practiced among Lutherans, and, at the same time, seeks to renew that tradition in response to a generation of change in the church and the world."
Finally, the pew volume itself is well done -- it's a work of art that any Lutheran should be proud to show. Beth Lewis, president and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, says the book is sewn and not glued. It has a special bright white paper that takes several weeks to import. Careful attention went into the book's ingredients so that it would not become too big -- but it's rich.
What's the response of the church been? The Rev. Michael Burk, ELCA director for worship, says nearly 600,000 copies of the pew volume had been ordered through Oct. 6. That is something to be proud of and to cheer about. I hope you'll take a look at this new worship book in the near future.
John B.
