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.

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

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

One-day local workshops for church musicians to learn new skills, share best practices, build relationships and support systems, and introduce others to the ALCM Community. Workshops are scheduled all across the country.  Sign up for upcoming events.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival

Nominate students for Lutheran Summer Music

It’s not too soon to nominate a student for LSM 2024. With enrollment for next summer already over 50% full, it will be important for interested students to apply early! Know a high school student who would benefit from the life-giving and joyful musical community at LSM? Nominate them today or contact admissions@lutheransummermusic.org for more information. LSM 2024 takes place at Valparaiso University from June 30 through July 28, 2024.

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

An interdisciplinary study and ministry center that promotes the scholarly study of the theology, history, and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.

The Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is designed to foster, strengthen and sustain well-grounded worship in congregations Grants to worshiping communities stimulate thoughtful and energetic work that will result in worship services that exhibit renewed creativity, theological integrity, and relevance. Learn more about Worshiping Communities Grants. The next deadline for proposals is October 15. Future dates include Feb. 15 and June 15, 2024.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

As Music that Makes Community plans future offerings and resources, we invite you to answer the question, “What do you need?” through a short survey we’re offering until the end of September. As musicians, clergy, community leaders, composers, and organizers, we know you are listening deeply to your community and context. We want you to know we’re also listening and eager to hear how MMC’s programming might find deeper resonance!

As always, find upcoming MMC offerings on our website calendar. Morning Grounding has resumed, and there are workshops, webinars, and retreats offering resources for your congregation, as well as spaces for rest and renewal.

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Gather Together: 8 Intergenerational Events to Explore All Creation Sings provides opportunities for children, youth, and adults to come together around topics of worship, images for God, being a global church, experiencing life transitions, creation care, and more! Enjoy coming together as a faith community for learning and fellowship with this new and timely resource.

Ashes to Action: Finding Myself at the Intersection of the Minneapolis Uprising

Call to Allyship: Preparing Your Congregation for Leaders of Color

Come, Emmanuel: Devotions for Advent 2023-2024

Remind Me Again Facilitator Guide: 41 Sessions Based on the Poetry of Joe Davis

Unscheduled Grace: 40 Devotions and Prayers for College Students

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.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

Our late summer and fall offerings are now updated on the website, including a special offering at Holden Village, our annual Advent Worship Planning Webinar, a Three-Day Retreat in Albuquerque, and in-person events in Seattle, the Boston area, and Chicago.

Visit the MMC calendar to learn more and register!

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

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

Treasures All Around: Hymns Reimagined for Native Ears”
August 25, 2 PM, Eastern time
Omaldo Perez

Register at alcm.org/2023-webinar-series/ to watch live and receive recordings of past webinars. Members — $25; Non-Members — $39.

One-day workshops for musicians to learn new skills, share best practices, and build relationships.

Workshops scheduled all across the country.  Sign up for upcoming events.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival

Archive recordings from concerts, recitals, and worship services from LSM 2023 are now available.

A complete schedule and links to archive recordings are available at lsmacademy.org/2023.  

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

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

As choir directors and music leaders look forward to musical groups resuming rehearsals in the fall, be prepared with this Second Edition of Preaching to the Choir. Wayne Wold offers practical tips and pastoral wisdom and inspiration for all who lead choirs or musical groups.

Gather Together

Lectionary Mosaics

Sale on ELW Gift and Pocket Editions

Luther’s Small Catechism App

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.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

Livestream concerts, recitals, and worship services from LSM 2023.

A complete schedule and links to archive recordings are available at lsmacademy.org/2023.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

We take a deep breath of gratitude for the renewed energy and growing connections Music that Makes Community saw in the first half of 2023. We have facilitated vibrant, in-person workshops in Olympia, Columbus, and Nashville, as well as multi-access offerings in Portland, OR and Minneapolis. We hosted our first Intergenerational Worship Webinar in March, and in early June teams of MMC leaders were present at two biennial conferences focused on faith formation and worship for all ages.

Our late summer and fall offerings are now updated on the website, including a special offering at Holden Village, our annual Advent Worship Planning Webinar, a Three-Day Retreat in Albuquerque, and in-person events in Seattle, the Boston area, and Chicago.

Visit the MMC calendar to learn more and register!

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

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

ALCM SUMMER 2023 WEBINARS

Register to watch live and receive recordings of past webinars.

Members — $25; Non-Members — $39.

One-day workshops for musicians to learn new skills, share best practices, and build relationships.

Workshops scheduled all across the country.  Sign up for upcoming events.

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Sundays and Seasons:Guide to Worship Planning

Sundays and Seasons supports comprehensive week-by-week planning with content and ideas for liturgy and music, preaching and visuals, shaped by the Revised Common Lectionary, the church year, and the assembly gathered around word and sacrament. The 2024 volume is now available in print.

Augsburg Summer Music Clinics

Lectionary Mosaics

Sale on ELW Gift and Pocket Editions

Luther’s Small Catechism App

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.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

We conclude the first half of the year with a One-Day Workshop at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh on Saturday, June 24! Share an enlivening day of singing and learning, and bring new songs and skills back to your community. While we don’t have workshops scheduled over the summer, you’ll find MMC leaders at conferences and gatherings around the country, including the ALCM Biennial Conference, Lutheran Summer Music, and Holden Village, among others. Visit our website to register for fall offerings or to find additional resources and songs.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

LSM 2023 is less than three weeks away! As we countdown the days to welcoming this year’s class to campus, LSM promises to be an exciting four weeks of events, concerts, and worship services. All events are free and open to the public: join us on campus or via livestream.

And recently announced, Artistic Residency & Public Concert with Apollo’s Fire. Musicians from the award-winning Apollo’s Fire ensemble will join the LSM community from June 30-July 2 to work with students and present a public concert on Saturday, July 1 at 7:30pm. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity! Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY-winning period-instrument orchestra dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in its listeners. Apollo’s Fire brings to life the music of the past for audiences of today. This residency is underwritten by the Bach Institute at Valparaiso University.

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

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

Register for Virtual Conference access! All are welcome!

Resources from the Center for Church Music

The Center for Church Music is a place where one can tap into an expansive online (or on-site) library of resources and perspectives on the music and art of the church, with a focus on a Lutheran context.

This month it highlights the centenary of Richard W. Hillert (1923-2010), a liturgical composer who served as music editor for Lutheran Book of Worship and whose legacy continues in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the music for Holy Communion: Setting 3 and parts of Setting 5, and the hymn “Alleluia! Voices Raise” (ELW 828). The feature includes “Profiles in American Lutheran Church Music” video interviews with prominent ELCA church musicians, including Lorraine Brugh (interviewed by Anne Krentz Organ), Robert Buckley Farlee (interviewed by Zeb Highben), and the sainted Scott Weidler (interviewed by the Rev. Jerry Spice).

Journey to Baptismal Living

Journey to Baptismal Living is an ecumenical community of Christians seeking to support formation in discipleship by exploring the meaning of baptismal identity, faith, and mission. The leadership offers training programs and events to develop skills and resources for baptismal preparation and for deepening faith in baptismal living.

How do you meet a seeker where they are? What do they know and what do they need to know? How do you find out their history, discern their questions, and begin to accompany them on their journey with Jesus?  JBL can help you make the successful next steps when approached by a seeker.

Our next JBL community chat, Monday, June 26 at 7 PM (central time), will focus on how to lead a productive initial conversation with a seeker. Julia Acuna, a member of the catechumenate team at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, will role-play such a conversation with a recent seeker. You don’t want to miss this! The basis for the conversation will be a section from JBL’s new Ecumenical Guide for Accompanying Any Seeker, available soon on our website.

Please register by Friday, June 23, 8 PM (central time). Thank you.

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Lutheran Mosaics: Three Readings Juxtaposed for Reflection and Proclamation

Lectionary Mosaics began as reflections made available for those not able to gather in their worshiping assemblies during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet its wisdom extends into our current time and beyond. Holding together all three readings of the Revised Common Lectionary for each Sunday and festival, these brief mosaic paragraphs invite you to faith in the triune God, love of neighbor, and care for our earthly home.

Sunday and Seasons Print Subscription

Sale on ELW Gift and Pocket Editions

Luther’s Small Catechism App

Kids Celebrate All Creation Sings

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.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

Lutheran Summer Music is pleased to announce the creation of The Eugene and Mary Sukup Church Music Program through a grant from the Sukup Family Foundation of Sheffield, Iowa. The Church Music Program will expand LSM’s curriculum and educational offerings, including the creation of a new Liturgical Composer-in-Residence position, with Anne Krentz Organ serving during this inaugural year, and funding a guest artist residency from nationally known church musician Paul Vasile. The Church Music Program will also respond to enrollment growth (LSM 2023 saw a 300% growth in applications from organ students compared to LSM 2022) by supporting scholarships for organ students, helping LSM further invest in preparing the next – and current – generation of church musicians and organists.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

MMC continues our focus on intergenerational worship with a One-Day Workshop in Nashville on June 11, followed by worship and workshops at the Intergenerate Conference. And, we just added another One-Day Workshop at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh on June 24! You can view the MMC calendar to find more, including upcoming in-person and virtual learning opportunities.

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

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

Register at alcm.org/2023-webinar-series/

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Luther’s Small Catechism App

Operation Restoration VBS Starter Kit

Kids Celebrate All Creation Sings

Sale on ELW Gift and Pocket Editions

After perhaps a year or more of not gathering on-site for Ash Wednesday services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, worshiping communities across a large swath of the US are dealing with or expecting severe weather that would prevent gathering on-site. This solemn observance is a treasured one in the liturgical year, a day to be gathered with one another and to have the ashen cross marked on our forehead, reminding us of the dust from which we came and to where we will return. 

Conversations on social media have begun, as fellow worship planners ask one another what they are doing when assembling for worship on-site will not be possible. Below are some ideas to consider.  

Incorporating elements of Ash Wednesday Worship into the First Sunday in Lent Ash Wednesday begins the forty-day journey to Easter, but elements of this service could begin the Sunday worship service on the first Sunday in Lent. Consider beginning the service for Lent 1 with Psalm 51 or another penitential psalm and the Invitation to Lent (Evangelical Lutheran Worship p. 252; Leaders Desk Edition, p. 617). Instead of what you had planned as an order for confession for that day, consider using the extended confession (pp. 252-253) followed by the Imposition of Ashes. 

Following the Imposition of Ashes, the service would continue with the prayer of the day for Lent 1 and then move into the Word portion of the service. It may be desired to use the Lent 1 scripture readings or a combination of Ash Wednesday or Lent 1 depending upon your context. 

Online worship options
Perhaps the best option for your assembly is to provide an online option, just as you may have done during the past few years. 

Although not essential, you may wish to find ashes, soil, or water to mark the sign of the cross on your own forehead, either during an online service, an individual meditation time or family worship at home, or at another point during the day. All three signify death and new life — the ashes from the palm branches of last year; common soil since human beings in Genesis 2 are earth creatures made of dust; and, water which in baptism joins us to the death of Christ.   

You may have access to ashes from a local congregation or by burning palms from a previous Palm Sunday service. Soil can simply be dug from the earth near where you live.  Water can be any water, perhaps from the tap in your home. 

Transferring to another time
Some assemblies might consider offering an on-site worship option at another time prior to Lent 1 if weather conditions have improved.  

Others might look to moving the observance a week later. If doing so, note that the language for the Invitation to Lent (ELW LE p. 617) would need very slight adjustment to acknowledge we have already begun the Lenten season.  

As you begin these days of Lent in many and various ways, blessings as you remember and are remembered by the God who is gracious and merciful, and abounding in steadfast love.