This blog post was co-written by Rev. Charbel Zgheib of the ELCA and Rev. Hakim Shukair of The Episcopal Church. 

Our faith is shaped by our prayer. For Arabic-speaking Christians in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Episcopal Church, worshiping in their native language deepens this connection. As the number of Arabic speakers grows in the U.S., creating a meaningful Arabic liturgy has become more than a translation task—it’s a vital step toward honoring and empowering faith communities.

The Power of Language in Worship
When Immigrant Christians in the United States pray in their native language, they engage with their faith at a deeper level, allowing worship to resonate in personal and culturally relevant ways. Arabic has become one of the most widely spoken languages in the United States, with over 1.4 million people now speaking Arabic at home, according to Pew Research. [1] Recognizing this, leaders in the Episcopalian and Lutheran traditions saw the importance of translating liturgy into Arabic. This translation ensures that Arabic-speaking members can pray, learn, and connect in a language that speaks directly to their hearts.

The Art and Challenge of Faithful Translation
Effective translation of liturgical texts is more than word-for-word substitution. Literal translations can feel rigid or unnatural, often failing to capture the original essence of the prayers and rituals. Collaborating with Arabic-speaking translators with theological backgrounds and editors who understand church language helped ensure that these translations are not only accurate but also spiritually meaningful.

The main resources used for translation were The Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer and Evangelical Lutheran Worship, particularly focusing on the Eucharist, which is central to both traditions. This careful approach aimed to bring the richness of these texts to life for Arabic-speaking worshipers, crafting liturgical resources that feel at home in their cultural and linguistic context.

A Tangible Outcome: Arabic Resources for Worship
The work resulted in essential Arabic-language resources for significant parts of Christian life and worship. These include:

• Seasonal Bulletins and Feast Days: Liturgical bulletins for different seasons of the Church year and key festivals/feasts.
• Life Passages: Liturgies for Baptism, Marriage, and Funerals, which are foundational rites in the Christian journey.

These resources are currently used by two Arabic-speaking communities within the Episcopal and Lutheran churches: Salam Arabic Church in Brooklyn, New York, and Mother of the Savior Church in Dearborn, Michigan. For these communities, having an Arabic liturgy is not only a means of worship but a message that their culture and language are valued within these churches.

Building Bridges Through Language
By investing in Arabic liturgical resources, the Episcopal and ELCA churches demonstrate a commitment to cultural inclusivity. For Arabic-speaking members, this work communicates a sense of belonging and acknowledgment that their mother tongue, traditions, and identity are respected and integrated into the fabric of worship. This liturgical translation project fosters unity, bridges cultures, and makes the Church a welcoming home for all, no matter their native language.

In this way, the Arabic-speaking communities not only receive spiritual nourishment but also find a voice within the broader Church.

The Rev. Charbel Zgheib – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Rev. Halim Shukair – The Episcopal Church

[1] Pew Research Center. “5 Facts About Arabic Speakers in the U.S.” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/18/5-facts-about-arabic-speakers-in-the-us/

This blog post is written by Dr. Benjamin M. Stewart. Stewart is Distinguished Affiliate Professor of Worship at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and pastor to Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

A view of Assisi the day before the Feast of Creation Ecumenical Seminar began in March 2024

With growing mainstream awareness of environmental crises, several experiments with a liturgical “Season of Creation” have emerged. Now, a significant ecumenical movement is championing the inauguration of a liturgical “Feast of Creation” to be shared across Eastern and Western branches of Christianity. The possibility of the new festival is being discussed by church leadership in the major global denominations and is being considered for introduction as part of the commemoration of the 1700^th anniversary of the Council of Nicea in 2025.

The potential new feast would likely be associated with the time between September 1 and October 4, already observed by some as a season of creation. The dates have ecumenical significance: September 1 is the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year, and in recent decades the date has become associated with care for creation among the Orthodox. It has even more recently been adopted as a day of prayer and action for creation by the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church – though usually without a liturgical celebration. October 4^th is the commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most popular occasions on the church calendar associated with care for creation.

Photo of the in-person participants at the Feast of Creation Seminar in Assisi, March 2024

An ecumenical conference – with participation by LWF and ELCA theologians – convened in March 2024 in Assisi, Italy, to study the possibility of a new liturgical festival of creation. (A report designed for wide readership about the conference and next steps is available online here as a PDF.)

There was considerable enthusiasm at the Assisi conference for the new ecumenical festival. Some ongoing questions included:

• How would the potential feast balance the emphases on creator, creation, and creation’s woundedness/healing?
• What would the festival be called? (e.g. “The Feast of Creation” or “The Feast of the Mystery of Creation” or “The Festival of God the Creator,” etc.)
• Would the date of the festival be associated with September 1^st or with the September equinox, a day of global balance between light and darkness? Would the festival be marked on a precise date or the Sunday following?
• Which scriptural themes – and specific readings – should anchor the festival? (This is where the first question above gets very real!)
• How might the festival be introduced in the relatively short time before September 2025, and to what extent is ecumenical consistency important in the introductory process and in the liturgical practice of the feast?

It is worth remembering that our existing chief festivals already include creation themes at their heart: the chief gospel reading at Christmas is John 1 (“In the beginning was the Word”), and the first reading of the Easter Vigil is from Genesis 1 (“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth”). As early as Justin Martyr some Christians have noted that every Sunday is a feast of creation as much as it is a feast of the resurrection:

“We hold this meeting together on the day of the sun since it is the first day, on which day God, having transformed darkness and matter, made the world. On the same day Jesus Christ our savior rose from the dead.” (1 Apology 67. Translation in Lathrop, Holy Things, 45.)

The most recent feast to be introduced ecumenically was Reign of Christ / Christ the King, in response to rising fascism in the 1920s (though it was only adopted by Western churches). The possibility of a new Feast of Creation being inaugurated across the global church in both Eastern and Western Christianity holds profound theological promise – even as it too comes at another moment of global crisis.

Created to Be

At the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering where the theme “Created to Be” inspired young people to be their brave, free, authentic, disruptive, and discipling selves, there was a place in the Interactive Learning space that invited them to be “Drawn In! Moving Out!” It was an absolute joy to once again bring the vision of a worship learning experience I brainstormed in 2016 to life for the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. We staffed the booth with an incredible team from the ELCA Worship Staff, Lutheran Summer Music, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and the ELCA Spiritual Renewal Team.  

Activities included the ever popular “Acolyte Olympiad” with new competitive categories for pastors and bishops. The “Vestment Photo Booth” was, once again, a youth favorite as we witnessed so many young people seeing themselves in church leadership no matter how many silly poses or creative vestment combination choices they made. In the “Music Corner,” (where we always clap on 2 and 4), youth could show off their musical skills or learn how to use a new percussion instrument. We even had a few spontaneous hymn sings! The ELCA Spiritual Renewal Team brought new ways to pray with fun things like Jenga, coloring, and labyrinths. Before youth left our area, we encouraged them to grab a button to write their own dismissal with the encouragement to take them home and use them in worship. Additionally, we had a baptismal remembrance table, information about Lutheran Summer Music, and even the tall twirly poles with ribbons to try out. 

Welcoming Youth Fully

Worship belongs to everyone; it is our collective work to glorify, praise, pray, and receive the love and grace of God. The goal of this space was to welcome youth in and give them permission to try everything. From wearing vestments to learning a new way to sing a familiar hymn, we welcomed exploration and encouraged youth to claim their place in worship both at the Youth Gathering and at home. Youth love to help and should be encouraged in their gifts to be fully part of worship wherever they find themselves.

I thank the team that came together to make it happen even when travel snags had us working late. The team included John Weit, Jennifer Baker-Trinity, AJ Olson, Omaldo Perez, Lawrence Clark, Becca Ehrlich and myself. I do hope we will get to it again! 

 With gratitude,
Annemarie Cook
Interim Pastor
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Marlton, NJ

As you make plans for worship in the autumn months, consider the following ways to explore All Creation Sings.

Time after Pentecost-Autumn

Sing “God’s Work, Our Hands” (ACS 1000) on September 8 in worship or at other congregational service events. Set to the tune EARTH AND ALL STARS, singers will readily learn this new text by Wayne Wold. Learn more about the hymn at https://elca.org/dayofservice.

Explore the many creation-care activities in Kids Celebrate Creation. This is especially fitting if your congregation is focusing on care for the earth leading up to the commemoration of St. Francis on October 4.

Read or re-visit the 2020 Augsburg Fortress blog post, “The Animals Will Teach” for more creation-themed song ideas in ACS.

Reformation

Sing one of two short songs based on Psalm 46 as a psalm refrain on Reformation Sunday: “Though the Earth Shall Change” (ACS 1035) or “Be Still and Know” (1083). The verses of the psalm can be sung on a tone or spoken by all or a leader(s) while the whole assembly sings the song as a refrain.

Introduce two new songs with reformation themes, “By Grace We Have Been Saved” (ACS 1006) and “Born, Reborn.” (ACS 956). The introductory videos will assist you with learning and teaching in your context.

Teach your choir a setting of “God Alone Be Praised.” (ACS 1023).  Commissioned for the 30^th anniversary of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and the 500^th anniversary of the reformation, this anthem setting includes a part for the assembly and violin. You can listen to it as well.

All Saints

Learn the hymn “Death Be Never Last.” This video provides an introduction. If you’d prefer to have a choir sing it first, consider this anthem arrangement. Find additional anthem suggestions for several hymns in All Creation Sings in this curated PDF.

Remember a loved one by purchasing copies of the pew edition in their memory. What a gift it is for people of all ages to open a hymnal, read the name of a fellow child of God, and be connected to the community of saints through song.

Familiarize yourself with several prayers in ACS that address loss and times of transition (see pages 52–55 in the pew edition). As we remember those who have died or those near death, these prayers can give us words when we are struggling to name what is on our hearts.

As you make plans to celebrate the festivals of Pentecost and Holy Trinity and look ahead to summer worship, consider the following ways to explore All Creation Sings. 

Day of Pentecost 

Try worshiping in multiple languages through either song or spoken word. Has your assembly worshiped using ACS Setting 11, a fully bilingual setting in Spanish and English? Watch this video from Bishop Felix Malpica as he gives pointers for beginning the process of bilingual worship. Audio recordings of the music in Setting 11 are available to support your introduction process.

Sing “Come, Holy Spirit” (ACS 940) as a gathering song or around a time of prayer. This video from Music that Makes Community shows how it can be taught to an assembly. 

Teach your choir “As the Wind Song” (ACS 943). A lovely two-part arrangement by Helen Kemp in the St. Olaf Choirbook for Women can be enhanced with free instrument parts for chime tree and glockenspiel. Subscribers to Prelude Music Planner can download this anthem (titled Wind Song) as well as an arrangement for SATB choir and handbells (Published by Choristers Guild). 

Holy Trinity 

Explore rich imagery for God by getting to know the “Scriptural Images for God” (p. 268 in the Pew Edition). This blog post gives one pastor’s perspective on this helpful appendix. Another post written prior to the publication of ACS gives helpful background on the inclusion of this content. 

Experience more fully the richness of Trinity in ACS through Kids Celebrate the Trinity, a booklet for kids but also super helpful for their grown-ups. Purchase in advance and have available for kids in worship that day and throughout the year.

Sing the hymn “The Play of the Godhead” by Mary Louise Bringle. This video will introduce you to the text and tune.    

Summer 

Discover All Creation Sings outside of worship with an intergenerational event using Gather Together: 8 Intergenerational Events to Explore All Creation Sings. Perhaps you have a session close to Trinity Sunday and use “Image-ine the Possibilities: An Event about the Images of God.”  

Plan for next year’s choir season by choosing some anthem arrangements of hymns in ACS. This is an excellent way for the choir to introduce unfamiliar texts and tunes to the assembly.  This PDF available from Augsburg Fortress offers several suggestions from multiple publishers. 

Use the Service of Word and Prayer as the scaffolding for a brief summer outdoor worship. This video gives help for using the service. 

Dig Deep into the All Creation Sings website, especially if ACS is new to you. You’ll find many more articles, videos, and webinars as well as PDFS and image files to assist in any introductory events.

As you are planning for Lent, the Three Days, and Easter, All Creation Sings provides several resources for your assembly’s worship.

Lent

Explore the collection of “short songs” in All Creation Sings. These could be incorporated into a weekly Service of Word and Prayer (ACS pp. 42-45) for a Lenten midweek service or during communion, gathering, or other times in Sunday worship. This blog post provides video links and tips for using these songs in ACS. 

Enrich your use of Setting 12 in All Creation Sings with the Ensemble Setting arranged by Anne Krentz Organ. You don’t need a full orchestra; even a single instrumentalist or a few handbells would be a lovely addition. Read this blog post for one congregation’s experience using this setting.  Watch the composer share more about Setting 12. 

Pray using several of the new prayers in All Creation Sings. Several collects, laments, and thanksgivings are offered. This video gives a very brief introduction to this content.  

Holy Week and The Three Days 

Teach a “paperless” setting for the procession with palms. Both “Pave the Way with Branches” (ACS 928) and “Blessed is the One” (ACS 929) could be taught and sung by rote, with harmonies being added as it becomes more familiar. Children could lead these as well. 

Sing from All Creation Sings as part of your Easter Vigil service. This blog post provides several ideas. If you are considering “Earth Is Full of Wit and Wisdom” as an assembly response to the creation story, this video offers a brief introduction. Do you have a children’s or unison choir? See this setting in ChildrenSing Creation.  

Consult the Indexes to Evangelical Lutheran Worship and All Creation Sings to see several suggestions from ACS for this week and throughout the year. 

Easter 

Teach a new Easter hymn such as “Woman, Weeping in the Garden.”  This video provides background on the text and a singing of the tune. There is a short description of this and every hymn/song in All Creation Sings through Sundays and Seasons. This Augsburg Fortress blog post describes the value of these brief descriptions. 

Introduce your congregation to other new Easter hymns through choral settings. “Touch That Soothes and Heals” by Thomas Keesecker offers a more meditative expression of Easter and is especially suitable for Easter 2. With its beautiful piano accompaniment and setting for SAB choir, a choir could introduce the assembly to this new hymn. Take a listen. Curious about what other ACS hymns and songs have anthem arrangements? This listing would be a great help to church musicians.  

Discover All Creation Sings outside of worship with an intergenerational event using Gather Together: 8 Intergenerational Events to Explore All Creation Sings. Perhaps you have a session close to Earth Day and use the Creation Care event or Climate Justice event. You could have a “kick off” session in Easter and plan other sessions throughout the year.