Today’s blog post is from Megan Neubauer, Interim Program Associate for the ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS.

Each year, December 1^st marks World AIDS Day; a day to commemorate all of those who have and continue to be affected by HIV and AIDS. The day is a powerful one to remember, but also a day to look, with hope, toward the future. This year marks 35 years since the first reported case of what would come to be known as AIDS in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control. Since that time, we have learned much more about effective treatment and prevention. However, there is much progress to be made. HIV continues to affect many in our communities and throughout the world, including more than 1.2[i] million people in the United States alone, and approximately 36.7[ii] million worldwide.

In 2009 the Church Council passed the ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS. In it, we outlined the many ways that we must respond. Together we are called to reflection, and we are called to action. This year on World AIDS Day, let us join in prayer, worship and reflection for HIV and AIDS in our community. This church can be a resounding voice in speaking out against stigma and discrimination; Let us examine how we become or maintain a welcoming community for all affected. In remembering World AIDS Day in our worship, we continue to raise awareness. December 1^st is a day we join in prayer, reflection and remembrance, and we go forth renewed to continue the response.

World AIDS Day worship resources are now available at www.elca.org/hiv.

If your congregation will be commemorating World AIDS Day or wishes to integrate commemoration into your Sunday worship on Dec. 4th, prayers, a brief healing rite, hymn suggestions and more worship components are available here.

[i] Centers for Disease Control, 2016. HIV in the United States: At A Glance [10/5/2016]. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html

[ii] UNAIDS, 2016. Fact Sheet 2016[10/5/2016] www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet

Worship at the Center events give you the opportunity to explore topics and rites of worship in the church through worship, presentations and workshops. They are designed for pastors, musicians, worship teams and anyone else interested in vibrant worship in their communities.

Mark your calendars for:

Worship at the Center: Engaging Worship and Culture, Feb. 19-21, 2017, Santa Monica, California

and:

Worship at the Center: Exploring the Occasional Services, April 30-May 2, 2017, New Haven, Connecticut

Registration is $40 per person with a maximum of $100 per congregation.

More information is available on the ELCA Worship Facebook page under “Upcoming Events.” (https://www.facebook.com/elcaworship/)

As Advent approaches, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton has co-authored a devotional resource for your congregation with three other Lutheran and Anglican leaders.

Along with Bishop Eaton, the weekly devotions were contributed by the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop and primate, The Episcopal Church; the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, primate, Anglican Church of Canada; and the Rev. Susan C. Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. The resource is, in part, a way to celebrate the full communion partnership between the contributing churches.

As the bishops write in a joint cover letter, “May our prayers united be a modest but hopeful sign of what our churches can do together as we bear witness to the One who first reconciled himself to us.”

The themes of each week’s reflections are: “Liberated by God’s Grace,” “Creation-Not for Sale,” “Salvation-Not for Sale,” and finally, “Human Beings-Not for Sale.”

The Advent devotions, formatted for easy printing with your congregation’s bulletin, are available in PDF here:

http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/2016_Advent_devotions_all.pdf?_ga=1.80319888.683376320.1466460903

In September the ELCA released a new marriage resource intended to supplement the existing ELW marriage service with language suitable for all couples.

“These supplemental resources have been created to offer more inclusivity in language, pastoral care, and openness for all persons who seek to be married within this church,” said the Rev. Kevin Strickland, ELCA executive for worship. Strickland emphasized that the resources are supplemental to the marriage service included in both the Evangelical Lutheran Worship and the Evangelical Lutheran Worship Occasional Services for the Assembly.

The new resources offer materials for each section of the service, which include the gathering, word, marriage, prayer, meal and sending.

“It has been said that marriage is a gift of God, intended for the joy and strength of those who enter it and for the well-being of the whole human family,” said Strickland. “It is my hope that these supplemental resources help point us as a church, in offering this gift for the whole human family.”

See for yourself! A downloadable pdf of the new resource is available online here: http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Supplemental_Marriage_Resources.pdf

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.

Buy them together for $55 from Augsburg Fortress.