Category Archives: Liturgy

The only benefit of a long travel day (with a delayed connection at O’Hare) is that I’ve been able to read much of this wonderful book by Gordon Lathrop and Timothy Wengert.  I’m about 2/3 through it and already look forward to reading it again . . . In short, they’ve gone about the projectContinue reading “Christian Assembly: Marks of the Church in a Pluralistic Age”

In the midst of postings regarding worship style and emergent church forms, I turned to the Augsburg Confession to recall what our tradition teaches about the nature of the church. The church is the assembly of saints in which the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly.  And it is enough forContinue reading “Concerning the Church”

anton Dwight P. from Minneapolis gave a thoughful response to my recent post about welcoming, relevant, contemporary worship.  Here’s my response with his comments in italics. Dwight: I’m a high-church, bells-and-smells, pipe-organ-demanding, historic texts hearing Lutheran. And from that perspecive, I think you either make or report in your post at least four assumptions thatContinue reading “On Worship “Style” – a virtual conversation”

I have a great job – I get paid to visit Lutheran churches.  Actually, that’s not what I get paid for, but a large part of my job involves traveling to Lutheran congregations and meeting with their pastors and lay leaders.  I have visited congregations from Northern Virginia through New England, and have been blessedContinue reading “On Being Welcoming, Relevant (& Contemporary?) in Worship”

Two Sundays ago I visited two Lutheran (ELCA) mega-churches in Minnesota, where my wife and I attended a wedding. These two churches are much larger and more Evangelical than any Lutheran church that I know back East. There’s lots that I could write about, but let me keep it short and sweet for now. WhatContinue reading “Mega Lutheran Churches”