Transition to Evangelical Lutheran Worship

The Worship Committee met this morning, and one of the main topics of conversation was the transition to using Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

We will be using ELW for the first time on Ash Wednesday (February 21), using the traditional liturgy (including imposition of ashes) which appears in ELW. In preparation for that, we will include a dedication of the new hymnals in the the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, February 18. Then, instead of a postlude, we will hold a session to preview the music from Setting Five from ELW, which is the setting we will use during the season of Lent. Please stay for this session if you are able to do so. After the session is over, we'll replace our copies of the LBW and WOV in the sanctuary with the new copies of ELW.

The music in Setting Five from ELW is based on a setting in the old "red book" that was replaced with the LBW. People who know it will be able to help support those who haven't heard it before, and we believe that those who don't know it will be able to pick it up quickly. Given this, we're only having one preview session. When it is decided in the future to use a new setting from ELW, we will hold more sessions.

The Worship Committee spent time after the meeting putting dedication plates in the new copies of ELW. We appreciate the generosity of those who have made donations. Donations will still be accepted (and dedication plates put into copies) after the copies are placed in the sanctuary. At last count, over 200 of the 450 copies we bought have been donated - please consider helping in this endeavor. Donations can be made by individuals or groups. For example, the Chancel Choir as a group donated 30 copies in honor of our Director, Ginger Minneman.