Dear Peace family,
We had
a conversation recently in the Worship Committee about our liturgy bulletins. I
talked about the dynamics and processes it takes to print out the liturgy each
Sunday, and some of what I said was new information for the Committee. I
thought you might be interested in knowing a little about how the process
works.
First,
why do we print the whole liturgy out? There are still some who are not
convinced this is a good idea. Some think it is a waste of paper; others simply
prefer to hold a book in their hands.
We
began doing this several months ago in an effort to make our worship more
"user friendly" for visitors, particularly people who are not
familiar with Lutheran liturgy. For those of us who are accustomed to the book,
navigating between "page number" and "hymn number" may not
be much of a challenge; but for those not accustomed to it, it can be a
daunting task indeed. Add in the need to juggle various inserts for Psalm,
prayers, for a hymn not in the LBW, and the visitor is often completely lost
(and not a few members, either). So this practice began as a practical thing,
to make it easier for everyone to follow along.
Having
made that decision, the next obstacle was dealing with copyright restrictions.
Contrary to what you might think, churches are not exempt from observing
copyright laws; and copyright laws cover a large percentage of what we might
want to include in the liturgy.
The
material whose rights are actually owned by Augsburg Fortress (our ELCA
publishing house) is relatively simple; for an inexpensive license, we can have
the right to reprint most of the liturgical material in the LBW and other ELCA
worship materials.
Hymns
are more complicated. Many are in the public domain, but others, especially
more recent compositions, are under copyright. A year or two ago one of the
major music publishing companies developed something called
"OneLicense" which gives us permission to use the materials of most
of the major church music publishers for one annual license fee. We also have
another "multi-publisher" license which includes several others not
covered under OneLicense. Our only requirement is to report regularly what
hymns we are reprinting, so that the appropriate composers and publishers get
their fair remuneration.
Things
have gotten easier yet with Augsburg Fortress’s new web-based "liturgy
construction" site. On one site, we can select and download nearly
everything we need for the liturgy on a given Sunday—everything from texts to
music to graphics to children’s bulletins. Again we pay a fee to use this, but
it averages out to only a few dollars per liturgy.
With
all these resources available, putting a given Sunday’s liturgy together
becomes relatively simple. I would estimate that it generally takes about an
hour to design the liturgy—perhaps a little more, if we’re doing something
significantly different. We print out a master, and then the copy machine does
the printing, the folding, and even the stapling. (Ah, the wonders of
technology!) So the most time-consuming part is making the choices: What will
be the "theme" for the liturgy? What hymns will we sing? What
liturgical music will we use? What supplemental material might be helpful or
interesting?
Sometimes
space or copyright restrictions require that we turn to the hymnal for a
particular hymn, or that we leave out some extras like the background notes on
the hymn. But generally we are trying to include everything in one place. The
issue of "space" also dictates just what can be included. Lots of you
have expressed appreciation for the "About today’s hymns . . ." item,
and we try to do that each week; occasionally, in order to keep within the
number of pages we have available, it has to be dropped.
We are always interested in feedback about the liturgy
bulletin. Are there aspects of it you especially like? Things you’d like to see
changed? Suggestions you’d like to make? Send me an e-mail or drop a note in my
box, and we’ll be glad to consider it.
Let me also remind you that if you have trouble
reading the liturgy bulletin, there is a LARGE PRINT version of it available
each week. Just ask the ushers, and they’ll be glad to give it to you.
Peace to you,
Pastor Richard O. Johnson
Lord
God, you have called your servants to venture of which we cannot see the
ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go
out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is
leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
--Eric Milner-White and George Wallace
Briggs, Daily Prayer (1941)
Liturgy Notes:
How the Liturgy Changes
In his
book, The Americanization of the Danish
Lutheran Churches in America, Paul Nyholm discusses the process by which
the liturgy of the Danish immigrant churches gradually changed under the
influence of various forces in the United States. This is one example of a process that is happening rather continuously. Liturgy is always changing! Perhaps we notice it most when a new hymnal
is introduced, or a new style of worship is deliberately used. But most changes happen slowly, almost
imperceptibly.
What
causes liturgical change? There are
many factors. Sometimes changes reflect
the influence of other groups or cultures.
When Lutherans first came to North America, they often brought with them
the worship books and liturgical forms used in the “old country” (whichever
“old country” it was!). As time passed,
a new reality came into being: the
children and grandchildren of the immigrants no longer spoke the language! There were three ways that our forebears
dealt with this: some translated the
old materials into English; they borrowed liturgical forms from others around
them who already were using English; still others wrote new liturgies in
English (but still often translating or borrowing from others).
Sometimes
changes were made in order to accommodate new circumstances. Many Lutherans on the American frontier gave
up the idea of a chanted liturgy, because there were no musical resources to
support it. Indeed, the frontier
influenced Lutheran liturgy in many ways.
Often Lutherans were swept up in the great revivals that colored
American frontier religious life.
Wanting to fit in with their neighbors who were Baptists or Methodists
or Presbyterians, Lutherans often participated in the mass religious meetings
called “camp meetings.” These meetings
emphasized preaching and downplayed liturgy, and many Lutheran congregations
imported that trend into their regular worship.
Other
changes were made in a strategic attempt to downplay historic differences
between Lutherans and others. The vast
majority of Americans in frontier days came from traditions which were very
suspicious of any kind of liturgy or ceremony.
They were descendants of the Puritans, who had been antagonistic to such
things for centuries. When that kind of
suspicion is coupled with the strong strain of anti-Catholicism in American
religious life, it is little wonder that many Lutherans felt they needed to
give up aspects of their worship life which caused their neighbors to view them
as “foreign.”
Some
changes have resulted from the intermingling of various Lutheran ethnic
groups. In the early days, for example,
many Scandinavian congregations were formed across ethnic lines, and so
Norwegians, Swedes and Danes brought their own traditions. With increased immigration, these groups
separated by nationality--but they had already been influenced in some ways by
each other.
One of
the most important agents of change has been the deliberate effort to search
for “roots” in our church life. In
1888, a variety of English-speaking Lutherans in America developed what was
called the “Common Service.” It was an
effort to produce an English language Lutheran liturgy that would be faithful
to the early Lutheran liturgies in Germany.
The result was widely popular, and even immigrant groups who had not
been involved in its composition eventually adopted the Common Service when
they needed an English language liturgy.
In the
twentieth century, many of these forces for change continue to operate. The Lutheran Book of Worship is an example
of an attempt to recover our liturgical heritage--not just in Germany, but in
the early church. Yet the other kinds
of influence for change also impact us.
More and more Lutherans have roots or experience in other kinds of
churches, and they bring their heritage to bear. The use of language has changed rapidly in our world, and our
liturgies often reflect that change.
Musical styles have changed, too, and that influences how we worship.
Change
is an inevitable part of life. The
challenge for Christians in a liturgical church is to find ways to adapt and
accommodate to change, and yet to preserve what is vital and beautiful in our
tradition.