ELCA Worship News: November, 2022
ELCA Worship shares their news for November, 2022, featuring: Prompts for Prayers of Intercession, Readings for the Assembly (Emended) is available for provisional use; All Creation Sings; Resources for multi-religious ministry; Common prayer at the World Council of Churches, 11thAssembly; Lutheran Summer Music Program; Music that Makes Community, and worship resources from Augsburg Fortress.
Greetings,
In only a matter of days we will cycle once again into a new church year at the beginning of Advent. In your worshiping community, Advent and Christmas may feel different than they have the previous two years in a pandemic. Some worship practices and rituals may return for the first time since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Other rituals and practices may be refreshed for a new day. Blessings as you explore new and old ways to anticipate with hope the Christ child.
In peace,
Deacon John E. Weit
Executive for Worship
“Prompts for Prayers of Intercession”
Since last fall ELCA Worship has provided “Prompts for Prayers of Intercession” each week on its Worship blog and linked to them from its Facebook page. We’d especially value your feedback regarding how these prompts are used in your context, feedback you can provide by completing a very brief survey. The survey will close Nov. 23.
Readings for the Assembly (Emended) is available for provisional use
Readings for the Assembly was first published in the mid-1990s and presented the Revised Common Lectionary texts in a version emended from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. While these texts are still available, the provisional Readings for the Assembly (Emended) is newly available to subscribers in downloadable PDFs from the Sundays and Seasons Library. A helpful blog post from Augsburg Fortress provides further information about this emended version, including a link to additional background and principles. Content will be added to the Sundays and Seasons Library in quarterly installments.
The All Creation Sings family of resources is available for purchase from Augsburg Fortress. This includes the Pew Edition, Leaders Edition and Accompaniment Edition. Also available is the volume Indexes to Evangelical Lutheran Worship and All Creation Sings. Newly available are the All Creation Sings Booklets for Kids. These four booklets—Kids Celebrate Worship, Kids Celebrate Hymns and Songs, Kids Celebrate Creation and Kids Celebrate the Trinity—are designed to be used as activity books with the pew edition of All Creation Sings.
You can learn more about All Creation Sings at its webpage, now with user-friendly filtering capabilities that enable you to more easily access informative articles, teaching videos and webinar recordings. Downloadable introductory materials and image files are also available, as are links to all ACS-related products.
Resources for multi-religious ministry
The ELCA offers several resources to guide our ministry with our neighbors of other faiths. "ELCA Guidelines for Ministry in a Multi-Religious World" is a helpful starting place for our inter-religious relationships. These guidelines were called for as part of "A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment," adopted at the 2019 Churchwide Assembly, and are consistent with the church's policy as expressed in the declaration.
As we consider our relationships with Jewish neighbors, the new resource “Preaching and Teaching ‘With Love and Respect for the Jewish People’” explores challenging topics, lectionary selections, and Bible passages to inform Christian preaching and teaching so that they respect the integrity of Jewish tradition and avoid anti-Jewish interpretation of New Testament texts.
Common prayer at the World Council of Churches 11thAssembly
The 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches recently took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, under the theme "Christ's Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity." A volume of spiritual life resources, Oasis of Peace, was produced to inspire the collective prayer and praise of participants at the assembly, where Christians from around the world, the whole oikoumene, united to rejoice in the love of God in Christ. It is hoped that the collection of words and music presented here will provide a context for inspiration, reflection, illumination, and rejoicing beyond the assembly. Videos of worship at the assembly are available on the World Council of Churches website.
Lutheran Summer Music Program
Valparaiso University
June 25–July 23, 2023
Lutheran Summer Music (LSM) transforms lives. Hear the impact directly from first-year students at the beginning and end of LSM 2022 as they share their experiences through personal testimonies.
The primary way prospective students learn about LSM is through encouragement from someone such as you. Whether you are a church musician, pastor, teacher, relative, or friend, your connection in telling the young people in your life about LSM is what sustains the future and carries forward life-changing impact to each new student. Now is the time to invest in students and nominate them for LSM 2023. Registration is open!
The leaders for Music that Makes Community are hard at work designing programs for a new year full of music. The community calendar is a great place to see what is happening in the community in 2022 and 2023.
Worship resources from Augsburg Fortress
Sundays and Seasons:
Preaching, Year A 2023
Sundays and Seasons:
Bread for the Day 2023