Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers in a monthly blog post.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981.

All are invited to join fellow singers for a day of inspiring, community-centered music-making at the LSM Choral Gathering. Led by Dr. David Cherwien, LSM faculty member and former Artistic Director of the National Lutheran Choir, this event offers a welcoming introduction to the music, people, and artistic life of Lutheran Summer Music at St. Olaf College.

Invite your choir members and join us! Register today: LSMacademy.org/choral-gathering

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song.

ALCM  2026 Conference “Now and Forever”

St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Celebrating the 1986 ALCM Constituting Convention
Overlapping with Lutheran Summer Music’s Festival Week!
Featuring Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Bach Collegium Valparaiso, Christopher M. Cock, artistic director. (Made possible through generous support provided by Pauline and John Kiltinen.

Registration is open.
The emphasis of this conference is on practical skill-building. Check out the nearly complete list of presenters and workshops on the conference website. Reasonably-priced, air-conditioned dormitory housing is still available and can be booked at time of conference registration or at a later date. Register now and make plans to envision the future of Lutheran Church music.

Music that Makes Community

Rooted in Christian contemplative and activist traditions, Music That Makes Community envisions a liberative culture that empowers individuals and communities to claim and use the power of singing to heal our spirits, nurture our common lives, and work for justice.

Music that Makes Community will be attending the ALCM Conference. Current and past Board members, Amy Steenson and Liesl Spitz, and a representative from The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery will present a workshop on the Sacred Lands Project partnership, a collection of paperless, aural tradition songs for community singing intended to inspire and compel communities of faith to organize alongside Indigenous communities defending sacred lands from extractive and leading rematriation efforts. Read more about the project and download it here.

The Hymn Society

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada encourages, promotes, and enlivens congregational singing by building supportive relationships and enabling networking and ecumenical cooperation which providing experience in performance practices to help in the introduction and leading of the congregation’s song.

Hymn Society Annual Conference
Rebirth: Singing Death, Singing Life
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J.
July 19-22

For eighteen years, we have seen Lutherans lead ecumenical worship with theological depth and musical excellence. This tradition continues at The Hymn Society’s 2026 Annual Conference in Princeton, NJ, from July 19–22.

The event features a strong Lutheran roster, including Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Gracia M. Grindal, Maren Haynes Marchesini, Lola Bobrow and Adan Fernandez. From veteran scholars to rising students, our voices are shepherding this year’s song.

Join your colleagues for a week of professional growth and spiritual renewal. Let’s show up and sing together. Watch this video announcement and visit The Hymn Society website to register. Information about registration fees, accommodations, meal plans and other important details are available on the website.

Advance registration through June 1
Regular registration starting June 2

Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers that support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from other partners in a monthly blog post.

Sundays and Seasons Year B 2027

Sundays and Seasons is your indispensable companion for planning worship with comprehensive content and ideas for liturgy, music, preaching, and visuals. A diverse group of more than 70 contributors from across the church has provided an expansive resource of daily and seasonal helps. Use Sundays and Seasons print edition together with sundaysandseasons.com for effective and efficient planning, preparation, and production of all your worship needs. Year B 2027 available now!

Sundays and Seasons: Guide to Worship Planning, Year B 2027

Sundays and Seasons supports comprehensive week-by-week worship planning with content and ideas for liturgy, music, preaching, and visuals. Shaped by the Revised Common Lectionary, the church year, and the assembly gathered around word and sacrament, it offers clarity, inspiration, and aid for worship planners. Worship planners and leaders, preachers, presiding ministers, worship committees, musicians, visual artists, sacristans and altar guilds, and those who create congregational worship folders will find an indispensable companion in Sundays and Seasons as they prepare for worship each week.

Sundays and Seasons: Preaching

Sundays and Seasons: Preaching is an annual resource in the Sundays and Seasons family that considers the sermon in the context of the day and seasons of the church year. This resource features new commentary and ideas for proclamation of word and sacrament contributed by a diverse group of contributors from across the church. This resource encourages and provides helps for lectionary preaching, taking into account all the readings for the day, in addition to the rest of the worship service and the day itself in the lectionary year, provides interpretation and helps, giving many points of connection for a diversity of worshipers and spiritual needs, and situates preaching within the larger task of worship planning.

Worship Planning Calendar: Sundays and Seasons, Year B 2027

Worship Planning Calendar serves as a planning guide, workbook, appointment calendar, and guide to daily prayer and is an important part of the Sundays and Seasons worship planning suite. Each weekly spread presents Monday through Saturday on the left-hand side and Sunday on the right-hand side, allowing space for notes about the music, liturgy, intercessions, and sermon. Includes prayer of the day, gospel acclamation, psalm refrain, preface, seasonal colors, principal festivals, lesser festivals, commemorations, observances, occasions, and more! 5⅜” x 8⅜” spiral bound.

Sundays and Seasons Print Subscription

Feeling too busy to remember to order your new Sundays and Seasons every year? Sign up for the Sundays and Seasons Print Subscription! You will receive each subsequent release of the Sundays and Seasons resources you have selected when the next volume is released. Your subscription begins with the next annual edition released in the spring.

Augsburg Fortress Music Clinics – 70th Anniversary Celebration!

Locations
Columbia, S.C. — July 24-25
Twin Cities, Minn. — July 27-28
Columbus, Ohio — August 3-4
Philadelphia, Pa. — August 6-7
Chicago, Ill. — August 10-11

More information about the event and registration for a FREE music clinic near you is available here.

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers in a monthly blog post.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981.

Blessings in this Easter Season from Lutheran Summer Music!

Please enjoy this joyful musical offering of “O Clap Your Hands” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed by the LSM 2025 Festival Choir, conducted by Dr. Shannon Gravelle, with Dr. Catherine Rodland, organ. Watch here!

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song.

ALCM  2026 Conference “Now and Forever”

St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Celebrating the 1986 ALCM Constituting Convention
Overlapping with Lutheran Summer Music’s Festival Week!
Featuring Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Bach Collegium Valparaiso, Christopher M. Cock, artistic director. (Made possible through generous support provided by Pauline and John Kiltinen.

Registration is open.
The emphasis of this conference is on practical skill-building. Check out the nearly complete list of presenters and workshops on the conference website. Reasonably-priced, air-conditioned dormitory housing is still available and can be booked at time of conference registration or at a later date. Register now and make plans to envision the future of Lutheran Church music.

The Hymn Society

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada encourages, promotes, and enlivens congregational singing by building supportive relationships and enabling networking and ecumenical cooperation which providing experience in performance practices to help in the introduction and leading of the congregation’s song.

Hymn Society Annual Conference
Rebirth: Singing Death, Singing Life
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J.
July 19-22

For eighteen years, we have seen Lutherans lead ecumenical worship with theological depth and musical excellence. This tradition continues at The Hymn Society’s 2026 Annual Conference in Princeton, NJ, from July 19–22.

The event features a strong Lutheran roster, including Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Gracia M. Grindal, Maren Haynes Marchesini, Lola Bobrow and Adan Fernandez. From veteran scholars to rising students, our voices are shepherding this year’s song.

Join your colleagues for a week of professional growth and spiritual renewal. Let’s show up and sing together. Watch this video announcement and visit The Hymn Society website to register. Information about registration fees, accommodations, meal plans and other important details are available on the website.

Advance registration through June 1
Regular registration starting June 2

Center for Church Music

The Center for Church Music, on the campus of Concordia University Chicago, provides ongoing research and educational resources in Lutheran church music.

 2026 Awards for College and Seminary Students

THE 2026 WILLIAM WOLFRAM STUDENT AWARD IN LITURGICAL ART
Recognizes student artists who evidence:
* Commitment to Christian faith and practice
* Excellence in artistic expression
* Commitment to creating pieces purposed for use within worship settings
$1,000.00 prize

Deadline: May 1st, 2026  Submit a single PDF with quality images of your work, one full image and one or two detail images along with title, media, dimensions, year created, and anything else you want the judges to know.  Send to Barry.Bobb@CUChicago.edu  (Recent grads—since May 2024—may also apply.)

THE 2026 RICHARD HILLERT AWARD IN STUDENT COMPOSITION
Submitted piece must be a church music composition (3-5 minutes in length) – suitable for a liturgical service.
$1,000.00 prize

Deadline: June 1st, 2026   Submit two copies (one with your name and one unattributed). Recordings are encouraged but not required. Send to Barry.Bobb@CUChicago.edu (Recent grads—since May 2024—may also apply.)

Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers that support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from other partners in a monthly blog post.

Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life

Taking us on a tour through the Psalms, Dangerous Songs explores three grand dimensions of human life–thriving, desolation and uncertainty. With an eye toward trauma theory, the psychology of recovery, practices of cultivating delight, and the inherent musicality of the Psalms, longtime Psalms teacher Richard Bruxvoort Colligan offers an integrative approach to the complexity of life and lifelong spiritual formation. People have long turned to the Psalms for comfort and consolation. Now Dangerous Songs also reveals how, if we read them with fresh eyes and a willing heart, these ancient texts will wreck our perfectly okay faith–and transform it into something deeper.

Preaching to the Choir: The Care and Nurture of the Church Choir, Second Edition

Preaching to the Choir imparts practical and pastoral wisdom to church musicians in their vocation as choir directors. With deep care for those who sing and a warm sense of humor, Wold invites all who work with choirs to discover the amazing responsibility and opportunity in this unique and wonderful ministry. This second edition attends to recent challenges choir directors have encountered and provides guidance as they look to the future, always with a sense of the Spirit’s presence.

For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions

Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other “seasons”–special occasions–arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion. Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer preachers a process for finding appropriate sermon texts for special occasions by considering the occasion itself, the listeners who might be gathered, and the ways God is at work in that time and place. Through this process, preachers can offer a word for every matter under heaven.

ChildrenSing Creation

This engaging collection for singers 8-12 years old provides 11 anthems that highlight a variety of themes related to creation from the delight of God’s creative activity to our role in honoring and caring for the earth. Composers include Helen Kemp, John Ferguson, and Mark Patterson. To facilitate the learning process, this collection includes both the complete score with accompaniment for the director and a reproducible melody line version for the singer.

Augsburg Fortress Music Clinics

Locations
Columbia, S.C. — July 24-25
Twin Cities, Minn. — July 27-28
Columbus, Ohio — August 3-4
Philadelphia, Pa. — August 6-7
Chicago, Ill. — August 10-11

More information about the event and registration for a FREE music clinic near you is available here.

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers in a monthly blog post.

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song.

ALCM  2026 Conference “Now and Forever”

St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Celebrating the 1986 ALCM Constituting Convention
Overlapping with Lutheran Summer Music’s Festival Week!
Featuring Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Bach Collegium Valparaiso, Christopher M. Cock, artistic director. (Made possible through generous support provided by Pauline and John Kiltinen.

Registration is open.
Early Bird registration deadline is March 17!

The emphasis of this conference is on practical skill-building. Check out the nearly complete list of presenters and workshops on the conference website. Reasonably-priced, air-conditioned dormitory housing is still available and can be booked at time of conference registration or at a later date. Register now and make plans to envision the future of Lutheran Church music.

Institute of Liturgy Studies

An ecumenical conference on liturgical renewal for the church today.

The Feast of Creation – liturgy as creation groans
Valparaiso University, Ind.
April 13-15, 2026

Registration is still open with a small number of spaces available.
Regular Registration: $450
See website for other registration categories.

The 77th meeting of the Institute of Liturgical Studies will consider the possibilities of such a festival and season. We will reflect on creation, incarnation, and Jesus’s death and resurrection, all received by us through the created materiality of our sacramental life together. Furthermore, we will examine how petroleum culture has influenced our sacramental life and begin to envision ways to counter its impact. A model lectionary will be used, and sample liturgies will be celebrated.

The schedule, plenary speakers and workshop information are now available.

To receive notifications when new information is added to the site, add yourself to the mailing list here.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981.

Youth musicians from across the country are headed to St. Olaf College this year for the 2026 Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival (LSM). Students in grades 8-12 will be immersed in a supportive community, that nurtures their musical growth, and invites them to share their musical gifts in performance and in worship. The Standard Enrollment deadline is March 1, and spots are filling fast. Do you know young musicians who would thrive at LSM? Nominate them today at LSMacademy.org/nominate, or remind them to submit a free application by March 1 at LSMacademy.org/apply.

The Hymn Society

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada encourages, promotes, and enlivens congregational singing by building supportive relationships and enabling networking and ecumenical cooperation which providing experience in performance practices to help in the introduction and leading of the congregation’s song.

Hymn Society Annual Conference
Rebirth: Singing Death, Singing Life
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J.
July 19-22

For eighteen years, we have seen Lutherans lead ecumenical worship with theological depth and musical excellence. This tradition continues at The Hymn Society’s 2026 Annual Conference in Princeton, NJ, from July 19–22.

The event features a strong Lutheran roster, including Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Gracia M. Grindal, Maren Haynes Marchesini, Lola Bobrow and Adan Fernandez. From veteran scholars to rising students, our voices are shepherding this year’s song.

Join your colleagues for a week of professional growth and spiritual renewal. Let’s show up and sing together. Watch this video announcement and visit The Hymn Society website to register. Information about registration fees, accommodations, meal plans and other important details are available on the website.

Early registration through March 15
Advance registration through June 1
Regular registration starting June 2

Center for Church Music

The Center for Church Music, on the campus of Concordia University Chicago, provides ongoing research and educational resources in Lutheran church music.

 2026 Awards for College and Seminary Students

THE 2026 WILLIAM WOLFRAM STUDENT AWARD IN LITURGICAL ART
Recognizes student artists who evidence:
* Commitment to Christian faith and practice
* Excellence in artistic expression
* Commitment to creating pieces purposed for use within worship settings
$1,000.00 prize

Deadline: May 1st, 2026  Submit a single PDF with quality images of your work, one full image and one or two detail images along with title, media, dimensions, year created, and anything else you want the judges to know.  Send to Barry.Bobb@CUChicago.edu  (Recent grads—since May 2024—may also apply.)

THE 2026 RICHARD HILLERT AWARD IN STUDENT COMPOSITION
Submitted piece must be a church music composition (3-5 minutes in length) – suitable for a liturgical service.
$1,000.00 prize

Deadline: June 1st, 2026   Submit two copies (one with your name and one unattributed). Recordings are encouraged but not required. Send to Barry.Bobb@CUChicago.edu   (Recent grads—since May 2024—may also apply.)

Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers that support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from other partners in a monthly blog post.

That Divine and Most Excellent Gift: Martin Luther, Music, and the Arts

This posthumous compilation of writing by beloved scholar, teacher, and musician Mark P. Bangert explores how, in addition to his other contributions, Martin Luther expressed a theological valuation of music that can inspire and inform today’s understanding and use of music, especially in Christian worship. Luther’s preface to Symphoniae iucundae (“Delightful Symphonies,” 1538) presents the clearest explication of this theology. At the time of his death, Bangert had composed core components of a book on Luther’s preface. Drawing on this work and other writings by Bangert on Luther and music, Martin Seltz has edited a collection that pays tribute both to Luther’s theology and to Bangert’s important body of scholarship.

All Creation Sings Leaders Edition

The sturdy leaders edition includes everything needed for the worship leader to conduct the services. A section of Notes on the Services offers information and guidance to enhance leadership of the liturgies. Full rubrics and proper prefaces are included for the communion services. Expanded indexes facilitate worship planning. Enlarged print makes for ease of reading.

A Living Faith: Piano Settings

This second piano collection by John Helgen provides settings of seven familiar tunes that are compelling and exciting as well as useful for worship and easily learned. Included are a delightful and spirited setting of “Angels We Have Heard on High” and an engaging and quiet setting of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”

Sundays and Seasons for Times of Crisis

In times of crisis, we search for words and rituals to ground us. Pastors and other worship leaders are often stretched in too many directions; moments for creativity can be hard to come by. In these times, we can turn to words and liturgies carefully crafted for such moments as these. Sundays and Seasons subscribers have access not only to resources published in current and past Sundays and Seasons volumes but also to numerous prayers and services in All Creation Sings, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and This Far by Faith, just to name a few. Hymns and songs are available from over twenty-five song collections!