This is a document published by the former Commission on Worship which explores the Lutheran version of the catechumenate. Several churches that have catechumenal ministry for adults (as well as youth) are interviewed.
Pastors, this is one of the feasts that (sadly!) tends to be mostly observed only when it falls on Sunday, as it does this year. That means that many are tempted to speak the unfamiliar Proper Preface. If you’d like a little practice learning to sing it, listen here to Pr. Sean Daenzer as he sings it for you.
The Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS director of Worship and LCMS International Center chaplain, offers a meditation for Epiphany from Is. 60:1-6, Eph. 2:1-12 and Matt. 2:1-12.
The Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS director of Worship and LCMS International Center chaplain, offers a meditation for Christmas Eve.
The Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS director of Worship and LCMS International Center chaplain, offers a meditation for Christmas Day.
The following were anciently read on Christmas Day in the Daily Office, but they may also serve as an introduction to the Divine Service on Christmas Day, read by the pastor from the entrance to the nave and leading directly into “O Come All Ye Faithful” as the processional hymn.
Listen as Pastor Sean Daenzer of Trinity Lutheran, Great Bend, N.D., and Peace Lutheran, Barney, N.D., chants the Advent and Christmas prefaces. Listen a few times through and you will have them down in no time!
The Rev. Larry Peters of Grace Lutheran Church, Clarksville, Tenn., encourages the Church to avoid being like a theme park and to slow down and keep the focus on Christ this Advent season.
The Rev. Henry Gerike offers a few ideas for congregations to mark the season of Advent, a time for focusing on the gravity of the human predicament.
The Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS director of Worship, asks several church leaders and pastors whether the Reformation still matters today.
Matthew Carver shares a daily lectionary from the 17th century.
The Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS director of Worship, offers some advice to help a congregation sing the Divine Service, Setting Five, for Reformation Day or any other Sunday.
Four interviews with the Rev. William Weedon, director of Worship and International Center chaplain, on "The Liturgy of Holy Baptism" as well as eight interviews on "The Daily Prayer Offices." These two series delve deeply into the history, practice and theology of the Church's liturgies of Baptism and Prayer.
Here are a number of brief resources you may find useful in addressing the sorts of questions that arise among God's people when faced with disasters in this fallen world. They all seek to refresh the weary with the wonderful promises of God's Word related to suffering, the end of this age, and the joys of the age that will dawn at our Lord's return.
One of the treasures that has come down to us from the ancient church is the Bidding Prayer.