PASCHALTIDE 2009 ISSUE 45, VOLUME XII, #2 • Evangelical Lutheran Worship: New Worship Resource • On Doing Liturgy Canada Liturgy in a Postmodern Evangelical Lutheran Worship: Context A Treasure for Our Times Paul Bosch Inside this issue: Evangelical 1 By the time you read this, Lutheran Evangelical Lutheran Worship , the Worship Book: A new worship resource of the Treasure for our Evangelical Lutheran Church in Times by Paul Canada, will have been in the pews Bosch of many North American churches for more than a year. This issue of A Significant 3 Liturgy Canada explores some of its Achievement by treasures, and offers judgements on Peter Wall its usefulness and proprieties. Here’s my personal “take” on the Toward the 4 book. For a fuller review of this Contextualization new resource, see my extended and Globalization comments on the Web at of Worship by worship.ca. Mark Harris First, Evangelical Lutheran Worship Website Highlight 5 is all under one cover. Both rites www.textweek.com and hymns are presented here in one volume: a real boon to visitors Musical Settings 6 unfamiliar with liturgical worship. of the Holy The graphic design is both Communion by handsome and accessible, with Karen Johnson rubrics in red, printed tabs at page Lesfrud edges for separating sections, and a very helpful ‘Pattern for Worship’ Strong Centre, 8 preceding each set of rites. It is an Open Door: elegant example of the art of On Doing Liturgy publishing. in a Postmodern Context by Second, like its predecessor Lutheran Book of Worship , ELWorship is thoroughly Gordon Lathrop ecumenical. It owes a debt to the magisterial Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry produced a generation ago by the World Council of Churches. The “Pattern for "Order & Chaos" 17 Worship” clearly lays out for each rite an ordo or shape that makes sense even to the by Peter Wall uninitiated. Bring on the 18 continued on page 2 Ritual by John Moscowitz Upcoming 19 Conferences Liturgy Canada Page 2 Evangelical Lutheran Worship: A Treasure for Our Times continued from page 1 Third, it is packed with resources: An How fitting it is, then, for ELWorship to enlarged calendar of Festivals and forsake Latinate terms and locutions Commemorations enriches our journey altogether (“Benediction”) in favour of Lutheran Book through the year. All 150 psalms are good old Anglo Saxon (“Blessing”)! of Worship is here, pointed for singing, and presented How prescient - and how courageous! as the first of more than 800 hymns. - it was of LBW to begin the difficult - almost without (Hebrew psalmody: the first Christian and contentious! - process of casting hymnal!) Martin Luther’s Small psalms, hymns and liturgical texts in question the Catechism appears as an appendix: “the inclusive language, so as to make real watershed finest exposition of Christian faith since worship more welcoming to all. the New Testament”. The three-year ELWorship follows in these footsteps. Revised Common Lectionary is included, volume for I’d be willing to point to some and features a Collect (“Prayer of the weaknesses in the new book. (My Lutherans in Day”) for each Sunday and Festival in Teutonic temperament misses fuller each of the three years. Stewardship of rubrics, for example—especially that North America. creation is among the concerns lifted up “Stand” and “Sit” in LBW margins, in in the Eucharistic Intercessions, as well ELWorship boldface italics no less!) Other as in many of the Additional Prayers for authors in this issue do as much. But acknowledges worship. all in all, ELWorship is a splendid new and honours And there are no fewer than 10 musical resource that needs no apologies. It’s settings of Eucharist ("Holy a Lutheran gift to the ecumenical that priority, Communion"), plus 11 Eucharistic treasury! prayers ("Thanksgiving at the Table") and and enlarges it. five options for Thanksgiving at the Font. The book includes full Rites for Baptism, Welcome to Baptism, Affirmation of Baptism, Corporate Confession and Paul Bosch is a retired pastor of the Forgiveness, and Individual Confession Evangelical Lutheran Church In and Forgiveness - this last a significant Canada, Emeritus Dean of the Chapel part of Lutheran liturgical piety from the at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary in sixteenth century. Morning Prayer, Waterloo, ON, and a member of the Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer Executive of Liturgy Canada. (Compline) are each set to be sung. Rites for Lent, Holy Week, and the Three Days feature the people’s roles only. And “Life Evangelical Lutheran Worship is also Passages” offers rites for Healing, accompanied by a growing library of Funeral, and Marriage. supporting resources: a massive 3 X 9 X 12 ELWorship Leader's Edition (Altar Finally, ELWorship honours its Book) and its small photo reduction, predecessor, LBW . LBW is almost ELWorship Leader's Desk Edition . The without question the real watershed familiar pew edition is also available in volume for Lutherans in North America. a 4 X 6 leather bound "pocket" edition. ELWorship acknowledges and honours A growing library of interpretive that priority, and enlarges it. volumes is also available, plus a How right it was, for example, for LBW to growing library of supporting musical abandon Tudor language and to opt resources: Psalm settings, descants to instead for an elevated but contemporary liturgical music and hymns—the form of English speech! (Immigrant elaborations seem unending! Scandinavian and Continental Lutherans never felt the ties to Tudor English that Anglicans did.) Liturgy Canada Paschaltide 2009 Page 3 Evangelical Lutheran Worship: A Significant Achievement Peter Wall One of the commitments made by both participate in workshops the Anglican Church of Canada and the presenting this book to Lutherans, to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Canadian House of the Bishops, and to a in 2001 at the historic signing of The Diocesan Synod. In various places, after Waterloo Declaration calls on both the House of Bishops enthusiastically Canadian churches to freely use each other's authorized the book for use in the liturgical materials, subject to proper Canadian Anglican church, several local Anglicans have local authorization. In the seven years Bishops have authorized it for occasional a particular since this historic agreement, much has use throughout their Dioceses. It happened across this country in both provides Canadian Anglicans with reason to churches by way of sharing joint liturgies whose shape and form will be welcome this liturgical opportunities, and members of easily recognized, and whose actual each church have learned about and content will be both consistent with new book. experienced each other's liturgies in Anglican understandings of liturgical Sunday celebrations, special liturgies, texts and easily adaptable to local and joint services. No resource has the customs. As the Anglican Co-Chair of potential to be such a valued part of this the Joint Anglican Lutheran liturgical library than Evangelical Commission, I am persuaded that the Lutheran Worship . It is a well conceived, presence of this resource helps researched, compiled, and edited book enormously to further the aims of The which is not only a superb worship Waterloo Declaration and helps provide resource for the ELCIC, but also is a our churches with easily used and much great gift to all the Church. Canadian appreciated resources. Anglicans across Anglicans have a particular reason to this country should learn and explore welcome this new book: it is all in one this new book - sing some of the hymns, volume. A skill which seems to elude use (with permission of the ordinary, of Anglicans, the production of a course) the eucharistic and daily prayer comprehensive worship resource in one liturgies, experience the wonderful new volume is a significant achievement, psalter. As our two churches continue to particularly when one realizes the grow together, Evangelical Lutheran extensive nature of the inclusions in the Worship is a great gift! new 'Worship Book'. From all of the settings of the eucharist, through the forms for Daily Prayer and Pastoral Offices, a complete liturgical Psalter (pointed!) replete with tones for singing, Peter Wall is Dean of Christ Church and a complete hymnal with service Cathedral (Anglican) for the Diocese of music and an amazing selection of Niagara, Co-Chair of the Joint Anglican- hymns. It has been my pleasure to Lutheran Commission, and member of the Executive of Liturgy Canada Lutheran Book of Worship is published by Augsburg Fortress ISBN : 9780806656182 Liturgy Canada Page 4 Evangelical Lutheran Worship: Toward the Contextualization and Globalization of Worship Mark Harris In this article, I will provide a very brief Canada. By 1962, the majority of overview of the history which led to the Lutherans in North America were development of Evangelical Lutheran members either of the Lutheran Church Worship , as a way of illustrating the in America (LCA), the American Lutheran manner in which this worship book both Church (ALC) or the Lutheran Church: demonstrates continuity with its Missouri Synod (LCMS). predecessors and reflects the changing character of Lutheran worship in the In 1965, LC-MS invited the LCA and the North American context. ALC to join in working toward a common service book. The Inter-Lutheran When Lutherans first began to establish Commission on Worship, influenced by their churches in North America, the liturgical renewal and growing immigrants from Germany, Sweden, ecumenical consensus that had emerged Denmark, Norway, Finland, and many from Vatican 2, worked toward the other non-English speaking countries, publication of a resource that would organized churches and worshipped in effectively serve to standardize Lutheran their mother tongue. However, as the liturgical practice across North America. children and grandchildren of these immigrants began speaking English in Published in 1978, the Lutheran their everyday lives, many felt that North Book of Worship (LBW) carried American Lutherans needed a common English-language liturgy and hymnal.