Worship and Arts

The purpose of the Worship and the Arts Ministry Team is to assist congregations and ministries within the Synod to offer faithful worship to God, rooted in Scripture and the confessional and liturgical heritage of our Lutheran tradition.

Thank you from the Worship & the Arts Ministry Team to everyone who participated in our 2023 ABT Online Worship Survey. Everyone is welcome to view a summary of the results, which were shared with Synod Council in October. Your responses are helping us shape our plans for the coming years.

 

On November 19, 2023, Bethel Camrose and Messiah Camrose held an ecumenical service of peace.  The prayer wall pictured here played a part in the service, with attendees contributing tea lights during the service.  Pastor Deborah Ann Taylor (Bethel) explains, “The 32 large candles on the top level of the prayer wall represent the 32 armed conflicts in the world today.  The smaller candles in glass holders below them represent groups and organizations working for peace. The tea lights were placed by those present as a sign of their commitment to work and pray for peace.”  Worship was led by Pastor Craig Wentland (Chaplain at Augustana), Pastor Deborah Ann Taylor (Bethel, Camrose), Pastor Trina Holmberg (Moravian Pastor serving St. Mary Anglican, Ponoka), and Pastor Jeff Decelle (Messiah, Camrose).
A copy of the service used at Bethel is available here for use in other congregations:  https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:829d6733-acfd-4e7e-93e2-56853e1f096c.

 

 

 

Planning for Lent Workshop  (January 2023) – resources from Ben Johnston-Urey (Trinity, Whitehorse), including the powerpoint from the workshop, are available here.

 

 

 

Planning for Epiphanytide Workshop (November 2022) – watch the presentation here, access the chat thread here.  The powerpoint and other resources from Ben Johnston-Urey (Trinity, Whitehorse) are available through the chat thread.

 

Liturgical Arts…It’s More Than Just Paraments!

(September 2022) – From the Congregational Life Event (God, We Gather as Your People) on September 10, 2022, at Good Shepherd in Red Deer, Kari Heise (Hosanna, Edmonton) gave a presentation on the use of Liturgical Art.  For inspiration, education, and enjoyment, find Kari’s PowerPoint here.

 

 

Common Ground, Holy Ground, Common Good – In Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the signing of The Waterloo Declaration:

Archbishop Linda Nicholls and Bishop Susan Johnson speak of what Full Communion means to them in a video found here.
Find resources and guidance for your congregation to commemorate the Waterloo Declaration in the toolkit found here.

Video:  Worship and the Arts – July 2021Worship and the Arts Ministry Team Report to the 2021 Synod Convention

Prayer and Devotions

Our current hymn resource, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, explains and encourages us to participate in a daily ritual of deliberate prayer:

From the gathering around word and sacrament on the first day of the week, Christians are sent by God to continue their worship each day through lives of service. St. Paul’s guidance to “pray without ceasing… for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:17-18) suggests that the Christian life is prayer: openness to the presence of God, responsiveness to the word of God, recognition that all of life is in Christ, and engagement in care for one another and for the whole creation. Daily prayer is a gift that nourishes growth toward living all of daily life in prayer.Evening and morning are primary times for common prayer in various faith traditions. For Christians, Evening Prayer and Morning Prayer have an additional dimension, calling to mind Christ’s passage through death to resurrection. As evening comes, we look to the light of Christ that scatters the darkness, even as we anticipate the great awakening of the resurrection. With the rising sun, we praise God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we ask the Holy Spirit’s help in taking up the cross to follow Jesus into another day. Night Prayer offers a time to acknowledge both the gifts and the failings of each day, and we commend ourselves and the whole world into God’s hands as night comes.

(Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006, Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, MN, page 295)

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Prayer lists for use within the Synod of Alberta and the Territories

1. Weekly prayers for use on Sundays in our churches. In these we pray for our various Congregations within the ABT Synod, the Offices and Bishops of the National Synods, our partner churches within Canada, our Companion Synod etc.!

2023-2024 DIARY OF PUBLIC PRAYER and INTERCESSIONS

2. Weekly prayers of the Anglican-Lutheran Cycle of Prayer designed by the Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission

2023-2024 Version of the Anglican-Lutheran Cycle of Prayer

3.  Prayers for the weeks of Epiphany with a special emphasis on our companion church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Columbia (IELCO) and its other companion synods in South Carolina and Southeastern Minnesota.

Prayers for the Season after the Epiphany

4. The following link takes you to an alphabetized list of the ABT Synod Pastors (serving and retired), Deacons/Deaconesses, Chaplains and Bishops within our National Church family. Also included for prayer is their partner/spouse based on the most recent updates available.

30 Days of Prayer for Rostered Ministers – Updated September 2024

Thank you for praying for our many connections in Alberta, Canada and around the World.

ELCIC Copyright Information

Worship Planning Resources and Preaching Resources

(Information provided November 2019 by Gail Berg, Dr. Joy Berg, and Carolyn Ethier)

Worship Planning Resources

Primary

  1. The Worship Website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is to inspire, encourage, support and provide resources for creative, thoughtful and faithful worship in the Lutheran ecumenical tradition for liturgical and music planners and leaders in congregations and ministries of the ELCIC and other Christian communities; and for individual and home worship, devotion and spiritual practices for ongoing spiritual renewal. ELCIC Worship Website
  2. The Program Committee for Worship of the ELCIC has commissioned Where Two or Three Are Gathered: Worship for Small Assemblies, a series of worship outlines for the seasons of the church year using Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Link to resources
  3. Sundays and Seasons. A resource that follows the three-year lectionary cycle and provides everything you might need to support your worship ministry. This is an annual subscription based service allowing for worship planning for music, preaching, visuals Lutheran Hymn Books the NRSV Bible texts. Sundays and Seasons
  4. Resources for Crafting Prayers of Intercession – ELCA Blog October 2021

Secondary

  1. A Wee Worship Book, Fifth Incarnation (or previous ones), Wildgoose Publiations/Iona, 2015, USD 14.50. Simple, beautiful liturgies that can be adapted for various worship contexts.  www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=2701
  2. Evangelical Lutheran Worship Guitar Accompaniment Edition, 2007, USD 70.00 www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/97808066702…
  3. Singing Our Prayer: Companion to Holden Prayer Around the Cross, Tom Witt, 13.99 USD Full score ed. USD 9.95; Assembly booklet USD 3.00. Much of this music can be sung with or without accompaniment, and could be part of worship at any time of the year. www.augsburgfortress.org/store/productgroup/1184/H…
  4. Seasons of the Spirit from Woodlake Seasons Fusion is the worship resource, and SeasonsEncore is the multi generational study resource – excellent materials here too that we used for many years with our SS, youth & adults – includes seasonal multi-age gatherings with readings, songs  & activity ideas. (Must have a log in for detailed information.)
  5. Calvin Institute of Worship – worship.calvin.edu/
  6. Singing with the Lectionary: lectionarysong.blogspot.com/
  7. Ashley Danyew blog and website: www.ashleydanyew.com/posts/2017/star-of-wonder-sta…
  8. Sacred Ordinary Days: sacredordinarydays.com/pages/epiphany
  9. Various resources from Marty Haugen: Tree of Life, Bread of Life, Holden Evening Prayer. Marty Haugen’s Website
  10. The Lutheran Church of Australia has many service preparation tools from visual arts to prayers and readings:  https://www.lca.org.au/departments/commissions/commission-worship/

Preaching Resources

Primary

  1. For some time, the BC Synod has had a Sermon Rota program which is intended for congregations without a full time rostered leader or for whose minister is away on vacation. The ELCIC Program Committee for Worship is now offering Sermons by Email, initiated by the BC Synod Sermon Rota. The sermons, based on the Revised Common Lectionary, are currently prepared by rostered ministers who have agreed to participate in the rotation. The sermon is completed by Friday night and emailed to those congregations that have signed up to receive a sermon that week. This gives time for the recipient to practice the sermon before presenting it in front of the congregation on Sunday morning. Congregations wanting to receive a sermon should enrol with the  administrator two weeks in advance. If the congregation will be a regular recipient, it will need to enrol only once. The current administrator of the program is Pastor Jane Gingrich: jdgingrich11@gmail.com

Secondary

  1. The Lectionary is available through the ELCA site here: Lectionary
  2. Working Preacher is a resource from Luther Seminary (St. Paul, Minnesota) providing sermons resources Working Preacher
  3. The Text this Week: This site features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle: The Text this week.com
  4. The Lutheran Church of Australia in addition to many service preparation tools listed above also has sermons prepared for lay-reading. Lutheran Church of Australia
  5. Enter the Bible is a resource available through Luther Seminary designed to “help you grow in your faith, add depth to your Bible studies and truly discover the people, places and events of the Bible. Think of Enter the Bible as your guide, a helpful reference tool to accompany you in your reading of the Bible.” Enter the Bible

Daily Personal Devotion Suggestions

Various resources are available to you either in the ELW or the Lutheran Book of Worship, under the heading Daily Prayer. Below are some other resources that you may find helpful for your daily time of reflection.

God Pause – Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota www.luthersem.edu/godpause/daily_view.asp

Our Daily Bread – From RBC Ministries odb.org/

… in the Meantime. Where Faith Meets Everyday Life – by David Lose www.davidlose.net/

Synod-Wide Worship Services  

Easter 2 – April 11, 2021:

Access the bulletin here.

Read the Gospel Lesson and Bishop Larry’s sermon here.

View the Gospel Lesson and Bishop Larry’s sermon here.

View Synod Announcements and Thanks here.

Reign of Christ – November 22, 2020