ELW Workshop
As I noted in a post below, I attended an ELW introductory workshop this past Sunday. I have said some uncharitable things about the Renewing Worship process in the ELCA, but overall have been very pleased at just how receptive the church has been to feedback from pastors and the laity. I now have both the Leader’s Desk Edition and the Pew Edition of the ELW, and I am pleased for them most part.
As I have already noted, I didn’t find the workshop itself helpful. I was fairly studious in examining the introductory materials, both print and media. I had seen the DVD they presented and had already listened to the service music. So it is not like I learned much from that aspect. What was helpful was being able to sing through some of the service music live, and to hear the people gathered respond to the music. It was also nice that we were able to sing some of the new hymns. Quite honestly, I am not enough of musician to look at a piece of music and know how it would sound. So this was good.
There are several things about the book I like and that I look forward to in the coming years. First of all, it assumes that Holy Eucharist is the central service of the church and assumes a weekly celebration. This is a great step for ELCA Lutherans toward regaining our confessional birthright. I can tell you that the Eucharistic practices that I am encountering now that I am in the call process leave me feeling a bit disconcerted about the lack of frequent celebration in some places. So this is a good step. I also like the fact that settings I and II from the LBW are preserved. These settings have served the church well in many places, and I believe will continue to do so in the future. I think LBW I is a great setting for Lent and Advent, as well as for “low” Sundays. The new settings are a mixed bag, in my opinion.
I like ELW 1. I think the community I serve will use this setting with frequency. Not such a huge fan of ELW 2. It is still a bit too sing-songy, and has a strange musical shift that caused some folks to stumble in the hymn of praise. ELW 3 and 4 are LBW holdovers. ELW 5 and 6 probably won’t get much use where I serve, as is the case with ELW 7. ELW 8 is supposed to be contemporary and lyrical. I am not a contemporary worship guy, so I can’t really comment on how I feel about this one. For those who are more into contemporary worship, I guess it has an appeal. I like that they try and frame a contemporary liturgy within the broader tradition and as part of the central resource, however. We have been using a homegrown contemporary liturgy like many other ELCA churches, and it would have been nice to have something like this to draw from. ELW 9 is AWESOME chant that I love and want to introduce here locally for feast days. ELW 10 is hymn setting with familiar tunes, and I think would work well in some places, though I found singing the hymn of praise to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful” a bit odd.
The new service of the word draws from With One Voice, which I am not especially fond of. However, the new service is certainly more substantial than the one from the LBW, which really was lacking. I think I would have made some different liturgical choices on this one, however. This really could have served as a chance to introduce a more “office” oriented approach. Instead of the hymn of praise included, I would have liked to see something more like the Te Deum or the Venite used. Again, however, this is still better than the service in the LBW.
I have used the new service for marriage already, and I have to say, I LOVE this newer setting. The one in the LBW was sparse and bordered on inane. This is a much fuller liturgy, with prayers borrowed from the BCP.
I have not spent sufficient time with the other services to comment, but look forward to getting to know the book better. I do like that Triduum services are included, as well as a service for healing. Having all 150 Psalms is a nice touch, as well as is the catechism. I am not overly thrilled with the daily offices, but I am incredibly picky here. At least they are included, and the rubrics allow for a decent celebration. I may end up blogging about these services more later on. But this will suffice for now.
Thanks for the comments on the ELW marriage rite. As one of the members of the Renewing Worship Life Passages editorial team and the primary drafter of the marriage rite, I’m glad to hear people are enjoying it.
you forgot to mention how great a lot of the artwork would be for tattoos…like the tree of lofe one.
The chant setting is my favorite. I agree witht he praise worship setting…not for me.
I found it odd that “This is the feast” has been canonized.
I like that the small catechism is in the hymnal along with some of the stuff that was originally only in the occasional service…bring it out of the pastor’s desk I say!
I love liturgy but I’m not the liturgy geek that some are. We used ELW 3 (LBW 1) through Epiphany and are not using ELW 4 (LBW 2) for Lent. We’ll use ELW 10 for the Easter season since it should be easy enough to do without teaching new tunes. We’ve never done a healing service here(Occasional Services had one that I participated in on my internship) so we’re going to use the ELW healing rite on the 3rd Sunday of Easter.
One thing that bugs me is losing the designation of Sundays after Pentecost. I can’t see myself saying “Welcome to worship on Time after Pentecost–Lectionary 11.” It’s going to be the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost for cryin’ out loud!
Another thing that bugs me is that the offertory (Let the Vineyards Be Fruitful) and the post-communion canticles (Thank the Lord which was changed to Thankful Hearts, and Now Lord) have been put into the service music section. We’ve left them out of our liturgy simply because people don’t like page turning. And they’ve left out “What Shall I Render” completely.
Our Sunday School kids loved the hymn of praise from WOV 5 that has been incorporated into the Service of the Word. Most of them had it memorized and could belt it out like nobody’s business. The only thing is we rarely do the Service of the Word (only when I’m on vacation and we have a lay preacher filling the pulpit).
On the whole, I think LBW was a great worship book and ELW has updated and maybe even improved on a few areas (Service of the Word definitely).
Tom - we used to do healing services once a month, and would like to return to that. I haven’t looked at the one in ELW, but that one in occasional services was pretty good. I was always amazed at how many folks participated.
You’ll have to post something about using ELW 10 after using it…I would like to know how people respond.
I’m confused. Are you an ELCA or an LCMS pastor???
Ivy - I am ELCA…just out of curiosity, what caused the confusion? Was it me quoting Walther?