Evangelical Lutheran Worship

I have a question to throw out into the blogosphere...

...At our annual meeting a couple weeks ago Salem approved the purchase of the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) hymnals.  Along with that (of course) are a number of other worship resources (such as a guitar version that I found).  My question for anyone who reads this is post is this:  If you are using the ELW, how did you go about dedicating them?  Even if you are not using them, do you have any thoughts or suggestions for me?  My worship/Music team and I are beginning to brainstorm some ideas along with seeking some input from people/congregations that are currently using the ELW.  Right now we are planning on dedicating the ELWs sometime in April.

Some of you have already left comments on things you are doing to INTRODUCE the ELWs to your congregation...for that I say thank you.  I have printed those comments off for my Worship/Music team to consider.  But if you have any other thoughts on INTRODUCING the ELW, I am ready and willing to listen.

I know this will be a big transition for Salem, but from comments I have been hearing, people are more than ready.  My only prayer is for those who are silently upset about the move.  I pray that they can find it in themselves to voice their concerns to the Worship/Music team, the council or to me so we can have a fruitful and healthy dialog.  As I said last week in worship..."Worship is not contained to a place, date, book or style.  Worship is what we bring...giving thanks and praise to God."

So with that...I am preparing to hit the "place order" button...Here we go...

Take care and God bless!
-edh-

Comments

[PS]

I will see if I can get a copy of what we did to dedicate the hymnals or have our pastor email you or something.

The only complaint we have is from the pianist, who likes the music, but says that she needs to juggle three books at the piano. This gets to be a lot. And if she needs to warm up at the piano at the other end of the building, then she needs to carry all the books back and forth.

DON'T PLAY THE MUSIC SLOWLY.

My sister says her congregation resists everything new. They still think of the green book as new. They are looking for a new pastor and I told her, as a council member, that she should remind the other council members that if the congregation comes across as closed minded and stuck in the mud, they may have a hard time attracting a new pastor.

But I also reminded her that there is nothing wrong with old music, but that God has given gifts to many musicians in the last 50 years that we shouldn't ignore.

[Justin Neugebauer]

Hey Eric,

I just ran across your blog the other day. We dedicated the ELW's here in Summit, SD in October. Since then we have been using the LBW setting that we are used to. That is until Sunday. We are trying a new liturgy during Lent. I pray it goes well.

Anyways, when we dedicated them we did a combined Thanksgiving service for LBW and WOV as well as a dedication. I can email you what we did if you would like, just let me know your email. We started the service in the LBW then after the sermon had the Thanksgiving service. During a hymn, the hymnals were passed to the aisle and the youth carried them out of the sanctuary. Then we celebrated Communion and as the people returned from the table to their pews they picked up a ELW and then we closed with the dedication service and a final hymn out of the new hymnals. I thought it was a very moving service, especially for me. Knowing that these hymnals will be a part of this church's life and worship for years to come and I was the one who dedicated them. It was great! Anyways, I hope that helps.

Justin Neugebauer
hlchurch@tnics.com

[Eric]

I would appreciate anything you could email me. My address is: reverichullstrom@yahoo.com

Thank you!

[Diane]

I think we dedicated the books along with some new paraments etc., and used a service from the Occasional Services (still Green, no new cranberry one yet). I'll check it out.

[Eric]

Thanks Diane.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada website has a Thanksgiving and Retiring rite for the LBW and WOV along with a dedication for the ELW. That might be something for people to check out. I emailed the author and got permission to use it, but I am sure he would allow others as well. Drop me a note if you are interesting in more information about this.

I am still not exactly sure what we are going to do so I am still gathering ideas. As the ideas come in I will compile them and post them for others to see as well. Thanks for your contributions.

[LawAndGospel]

In my home parish we timed the new ELW use with a Youth Sunday. We had the kids carry in the ELW's and their song for the day was out of the ELW. I recently saw a church that ordered the ELW's before Christmas and people could "buy" them. They had a display of a pyramid stack of them with a little Christmas tree that was decorated with Tiny "ELW" ornaments. They hoped to pay for half, and they received enough money for all.

[Eric]

L and G -- That is a neat idea about youth Sunday and Christmas. As you may remember, we used the youth to introduce the new pew Bibles we started using last fall and that went over great.

Your Christmas idea is also a good one - get's more people involved and allows them to take more ownership in the process.

Thanks for the contributions.