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Message from Pastor Larry – September 2007
Dear Saints:
Most of you have learned that the ELCA now has a new worship book. It’s called Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW), and is intended to replace our current Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW), which has been used since 1978, about 10 years longer than the ELCA has been in existence!
The time is right for a new worship book. A lot can change in 30 years, and the Lutheran church has seen its share. Some have been good—some not so good. But change we have, and the ELW was needed to accommodate some of them.
I presume people like red worship books, since this is what we have again after our interlude with the green LBW! Our congregation recently purchased 25 copies for our worship leaders and choir so we could begin to introduce a few elements of the new book and its music to our Sunday worship. You may have noticed, for instance, that the language and musical tone of the appointed psalm is different from that of the LBW. You may also have noticed that, during Communion, the choir has sung parts of liturgical setting 10 from the ELW. We hope to implement this entire setting in the near future, and will keep you informed as to the start date.
Some have asked why we need to get a new worship book if we’re printing the complete service in our Sunday bulletin. I’d like to take the remainder of this article to respond to this question. First, it’s important to keep in mind that the new ELW, like the other worship books that preceded it, is designed to be used not only in public worship, also in family and personal devotions. The hymns may be sung, the prayers read, and the psalms chanted or recited. A 3-year daily Scripture lectionary built around the Sunday readings is supplied for individual, family, or group use.
Many people, too, are unaware that the Sunday liturgy is scripturally based from start to finish, many times quoting directly from the Bible. There’s a section in the ELW entitled Scripture and Worship, which helps to show how the two are intimately intertwined.
Some of you may be familiar with the Thirty-Nine Articles included in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (that denomination’s worship book). The Thirty-Nine Articles are the main tenets upon which the world-wide Anglican Communion is established. They clearly identify what it means to be Anglican. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism has served this same purpose for Lutheran’s throughout the ages, and nearly every region of the world. Unlike the LBW, the new ELW has included this brief, but significant, teaching tool intended by Dr. Luther himself to be used for religious education in the home. His Smalcald Articles, written in 1537, should have been included, since he considered them to be one of his most important works, and a summary of everything the early Reformation stood for. But...maybe they’ll get it in the next time around!
I hope you can see from what is written above that the ELW has much more to offer than what we can experience in an hour-and-twenty minutes on any given Sunday.
Then, on a more practical note: some of you have asked if we could make the print-size of the hymns larger in the bulletins. I admit the words can be pretty hard to read sometimes. Unfortunately, we can’t make them larger and still fit them on the page. With the advent of the ELW we, therefore, will be printing everything but the hymns, which we’ll be able to read clearly from the worship book itself.
We’re still in need of donations to make the purchase of these new worship books a reality, so please pray about how much you can contribute. $25.00 will cover the cost of one book, and $100.00 will cover the cost of four books. You may wish to contribute more. We won’t turn you down! And remember, inside the cover of each book you buy will be a plate honoring or memorializing a loved one of your choosing.
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.— Colossians 3:16-17, New Living Translation
Faithfully,
Pastor Larry
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