Today’s post is from Gwen Arneson, Pastoral Assistant at Christ Lutheran Church in Cottonwood Minnesota.

A transformative experience in worship

Our congregation’s sanctuary is filled with connected but individual padded leather theater seats rather than wooden bench pews or other chair-type seating. For 60 years, this has facilitated a physically comfortable worship service experience, but it also results in a substantial communal “whoosh” as everyone sits down at the same moment in time. A pastor once quipped that it sounded like the Holy Spirit was blowing through the room each time the words, “Please be seated” were uttered!

We know and pray, of course, that the Holy Spirit is always blowing in our midst just as the wind blows continually across the prairie where we live. Active and persistent, the Spirit stirs us up, working in and between us, and inspiring each of us in our daily lives of faith.

Come, Holy Spirit, we pray as we inhale – inspired – and guide us.

Recently I’ve been in two worship service settings where I’ve had the privilege of sitting in the congregation rather than at my normal perch on the organ bench in the balcony. As a church musician, what a powerful internal message and blessing these opportunities were to me! It was lovely to sing shoulder to shoulder with those worshiping beside me. The most poignant moment for me that left a lasting memory in my mind and on my heart was when the congregation inhaled together to begin singing each new hymn stanza or liturgical response! As one gasping body, we breathed in the breath of the Spirit among us and filled our lungs with the energy and power to lift our voices in praise to God. We became one organism, replenished in spirit and capacity by the One who calls, gathers, enlightens and sustains us each day. It was pure joy to fervently sing the texts that followed with the renewed awareness of this deep common bond.

A simple sensory reminder of our living God at work across God’s church fills my heart with deep gratitude. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray as we inhale – inspired – and guide us as we draw in the world’s needs to serve as we are equipped, to sigh with those who sigh, and to give breath to all that brings honor and glory to God.

“Come now, and fill our spirits; pour out your gifts abundant.
O living Breath of God, Holy Spirit, breathe in us as we pray.”
(Evangelical Lutheran Worship #407)

Have a transformational worship experience to share? Email it, in around 300 words, to Worship@elca.org.

As you’re gathering resources for worship planning in Year A 2017, save nearly 20% on the Sundays and Seasons planning guide and Sundays and Seasons: Preaching when you buy them together!

Sundays and Seasons: Preaching takes into account all the readings for the day, the worship context and liturgical season to provide preaching helps and ideas for each Sunday, including perspectives from a scholar and preacher as well as lectionary notes from Gail Ramshaw.

The Sundays and Seasons worship planning guide provides comprehensive planning helps for the entire year, including weekly and seasonal content for readings, prayers, preaching, children’s participation, environment and song.

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Today’s post is from Angela Storer, Pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Alliance, Ohio.

Abiding Savior will still be lighting candles, but also celebrating homecoming.

For All Saints, Sunday, we are intentionally inviting anyone who has worshiped with us in the past ten years for Homecoming.  A former pastor is coming back as our preacher, and the current pastor is presiding.  With all of this in mind, we have added elements to our worship to our worship with a Homecoming theme in mind.

At the beginning of worship, we will have an extended welcome.  We give God thanks for all of the people who have been a part of our ministry.  The pastor lifts up each group of people and the congregation responds by giving thanks to God.  Our prayer of the day intentionally lifts up our ministry and all of those who have been a part of it throughout the years.  Following the Hymn of the Day, we will have the traditional lighting of candles in the remembrance of the saints who have gone before us.

Today’s post is from Mary Shaima, Diaconal Associate at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Encinitas, California. 

In early October, I cleared the decks for two days to travel to Denver for the first of the “Strong Center, Open Door” events commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship.  The event not only celebrated the anniversary – it also reminded us of our baptismal identity and how that continues to form and re-form us for service in the world through worship.

As a candidate for the roster of Ministry of Word and Service, I’m all about baptismal identity.  My diaconal project explored the question of how worship is one of the primary places God’s Holy Spirit shapes us to be sent to love our neighbor, and that all begins with our baptism.

One of the most useful aspects of our time together was the reminder to look and listen for those things that made a deep impression on us.  What might we take back to our own synods or congregations to put into practice?  We heard not only specific ideas, but broad concepts.  Here are just a few:

*Think of baptism not only as promise, but invitation – of/to a future that is already and not yet, just as water exists for us in an already/not yet way.

*What are areas of life together that could benefit from an affirmation of baptism?  Blessing for a mission trip might be one.  Perhaps a couple could incorporate some symbol of baptism into their wedding (Luther has a lot to say about marriage as vocation!).

*Think of the ordo – the order of worship, specifically Gather-Word-Meal-Send, as a skeleton onto which are added a variety of options (muscles, ligaments, fat).  Sometimes the resulting body is full and corpulent (Easter) and other times it might seem lean (Lent).  What seasons or events might suggest different “body types” of worship?

*What do the lessons say?  What images are in the day’s scripture?  How do those relate to our contextual environment?

The plenary sessions (“Strong Center”) and the workshops (“Open Door”) both emphasized the importance (and the fun!) of a deep examination of all the elements of our worship.  They also reminded us that while Evangelical Lutheran Worship is considered the church’s core resource, there are literally countless resources available online from all over the world that can be new wineskins for us.  This is reformation in its truest sense – holding what we know to be true, but holding it in the light of our context today.  We hold together as church our Strong Center in Christ.  What does your Open Door look like?

Registration is still available for the final Strong Center, Open Door event in Lansdale, Pa. Nov. 4th and 5th. Go to http://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Worship/Evangelical-Lutheran-Worship

Ever wondered, “Why the water?”

Asperges (noun, pronounced ah-SPUR-jes) is the sprinkling of baptismal water upon worshipers as a reminder of their baptism. The ministers who are performing the apserges may use a pine branch or a special sprinkler called an aspergillium (often a bound bundle of straw that resembles a small broom). Sprinkling with water is an option in worship any time the assembly participates in an affirmation of baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ and it is particularly suitable during the Easter season.

To sprinkle the water, a minister dips the branch or sprinkler in the bowl of water then flings it over the heads of the assembly. It is helpful for the minister to use a large arc-type action with the arm rather than just flicking the wrist so that large groups of people can feel the touch of the water at the same time.

Some worshippers find it helpful to trace the sign of the cross on themselves as they are sprinkled as a way of reminding themselves that they have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.

Today’s post is by Scott Weidler, outgoing Program Director for Worship and Music in the ELCA. An excerpt from an article written for CrossAccent, the journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, it addresses the ELCA’s unification of diaconal rosters which was later approved at the 2016 Churchwide Assembly.

How, Weidler asks, does the concept of deacon as a minister of word and service fit with the vocational self-understanding of Lutheran church musicians?

Ministers of Word and Service

Clearly, the phrase “ministers of word and service” is parallel to the common descriptor of pastors as “ministers of word and sacrament.” While some musicians have had a hard time trying to understand how they fit on this roster, the benefit of positioning the ministries included on this new roster, including music, side by side with the Word and Sacrament roster in the ELCA constitution is significant.

Since “word” is also a part of the pastor’s description, our minds go immediately to preaching which is, of course, a significant part of a pastor’s call. For some deacons, preaching may also be a part of their ministry. However, I believe that Lutherans—perhaps more than any other Christian tradition—ought to easily understand musicians as among those who proclaim the word through song. Musicians proclaim God’s word regularly by leading congregational hymns and songs, directing the choir and instrumentalists, and often through teaching and perhaps, in some settings, an occasional sermon.

The “service” half of the phrase is usually further articulated as “service to the world.” Certainly, ministries of justice—like feeding the hungry and raising up the poor—are at the heart of a biblical understanding of diakonia, being a deacon. This focus on ministries in the world, beyond the walls of the church, are an important aspect of this newly emerging roster, just as it should be for all the baptized. Anyone serving in the church (including musicians, rostered or not) will, at their best, understand that their unique ministry has connections to service in the world.

This can, however, start to feel a little distant from our actual work. A document that supports this proposed change includes this statement:

it also includes service in local congregational and other gathered faith community settings through the proclamation of the Word in preaching, leading public prayer, teaching, and leading music as well as through leadership in such areas as education, administration, and youth ministry.

The connections between worship and service are clear in our Lutheran roots, especially through the German word for worship, Gottes- dienst (literally “service of God”), which connotes a multidirectional understanding of service from God to the worshippers, from the worshipers to God, and from the assembly of worshippers to the world.

The ALCM statement on the role of the cantor also affirms this broad understanding of the musician’s ministry: “The cantor’s work is a worthy service to God, God’s people, and the world.” I believe musicians can rightly understand their work as service to the church for the sake of the world.

The full article can be found on the ALCM web site.