Worship
West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod


Contents
Introduction

Long overdue. We are developing a hub for all matters related to worship in the WV-WMD Synod. Currently, we have worship-related materials scattered across the various branches of our rather large web-tree. Having one place to land where there will be a comprehensive list of synodical worship resources—organized, hopefully, in an accessible scheme—should be a boon to all. This project will probably entail redesign of several already established web pages.

We'd appreciate your help. If you came here looking for something and could not find it, let us know by emailing Porter@WV-WMD.org.

In the meantime, the following is presented for your consideration.

N.B., there are two worship books in common use for liturgy among the congregations of the WV-WMD Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), abbreviated ELW, and the Lutheran Book of Worship (1977), abbreviated LBW. Additionally, some congregations are also using With One Voice (1995). Several are using Sundays and Seasons, a digital resource published by Augsburg Fortress, the ELCA's publishing house. There are also some locally developed liturgies in use as well as supplemental resources published by Augsburg Fortress and liturgical resources published by other entities. It would be very difficult and not a little cumbersome to cover all the resources in use. This page will focus on ELW and LBW. It is up to the individual pastors and congregations to translate if some other resource is used locally.

Luther and Christmas TreeThinking about Christmas?

The Dodekæmeron is almost upon us! Let's start with the following...

Lessons & Carols

Lessons & carols is a lovely devotion for Christmas. 2024 marks the 144th anniversary of the first lessons & carols service. Learn more about the short but fascinating history of this service and review questions to ponder when planning a service of lessons & carols by visiting our dedicated Lessons & Carols page.

Appointments for Christmas

Time to get out the Christmas tree...or is it? Check out our Appointments for Christmas page for a discussion of everything from wreaths to trees, colors to candles. And, no, there is no white pillar candle in the center of an Advent wreath.

Altar Prayers for Christmas

Looking for something other than the prayers provided in Sundays & Seasons? We have a page dedicated to what was once called the general prayer (a.k.a. altar prayer, prayer of the church, and prayers of intercessions). You'll find there a link to Zeidler's altar prayers for Christmas. Click here for that and other resources and thoughts connected to the prayers of intercession.

Paschal Candle

Learn about when to light (and when not to light) the Paschal candle along with items related to placement, history, and design on our new Paschal Candle page.

Zeidler's Altar Prayers are now available through the rest of ordinary through Advent.
Prayers of Intercession / Prayer of the Church

  • Prayers of Intercessions (ELW)
  • The Prayers, rubric #22 (LBW)
  • Prayer of the Church
  • Prayers of the People

We've received repeated complaints about the prayers of intercession provided in Sundays and Seasons and in Celebrate. To address this, we offer advice and alternatives. Visit our General Prayer page.

Trappe pulpitSupply Preaching and Presiding

We have a constellation of pages for this. You can start at our Supply Preaching & Presiding page. There you will find
  • policies for supply preaching and presiding,
  • compensation standards, and
  • lists (with contact information) for supply preachers and presiders.
You will also find links to our programs for

Worship Service Design

We've reconstructed our resources for liturgical planning. Rather than templates with all the options as the primary resources, we're providing simple worship forms in MS-Word that users can adapt easily for their local context. Click here to get started.

Worship Appointments — colors, candles, decorations, etc.

We've reconstructed these resources as stand-alone pages for each season. We hope this will be more useful for altar guilds and others involved in these details of worship. Click here to get started.

Worship Norms for Ecumenical Pastors

If you are serving a WV-WMD Synod congregation as a pastor of a full-communion partner or under dispensation for local Altar & Pulpit fellowship as a pastor of a denomination subscribing to the UAC, review our Worship Norms for Ecumenical Pastors.

Rites for Clergy

Do you have to plan an ordination or installation? Click here to find guidance for these complicated occasional services.

Resources for Special Occasions

We are slowly going through our already posted collection of resources for special occasions. For now, we offer up the following:

Item
 Description
Requiem Mass
 An adaptation of the LBW mass to conform with the traditional requiem mass. Originally designed for the death of a student by Bishop Riegel during his time at LCMWVU, it was reworked and annotated during the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as a template for anyone looking for a mass form appropriate for memorial occasions for both deceased individuals and deceased groups of people (e.g., in memory of victims of the pandemic, a natural disaster, war, etc.). It can be translated to work with ELW and other resources.
Muhlenberg Liturgy (1748)
 Muhlenberg's 1748 order of service is the oldest Lutheran liturgy designed specifically for use in America. It experienced a brief revival at the time of the American Bicentennial when it was circulated as "A Colonial Liturgy" (or maybe it was "A Colonial Worship Service"). Unfortunately, that form lacked the Eucharistic rite. Bishop Riegel extracted and transcribed the entire service with Communion and Preparatory Service (Penitential Service). Riegel has keyed all elements to the LBW so that hymns appropriate to the liturgy may be employed for the Introit, Gloria, etc. The link in the first column is for the entire liturgy (format is legal/landscape), complete with rubrics. A booklet form in legal/landscape is downloadable in pdf.
Burial of the Dead
Common Service (1918)
 The funeral rites of American Lutheran have changed significantly over time. If one were to compare the funeral rites in the LBW (1977) and the ELW (2006) with those of the Common Service tradition, the first thing that one would notice is the singing. The Common Service was musical throughout, though the Common Service Book (1918) was more so than the Service Book and Hymnal (1958). We're providing a link to the CSB (1918) setting. It is in public domain. Enjoy!



West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod,
℅ St. Paul Lutheran Church, 309 Baldwin Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
304-363-4030  +  Porter@WV-WMD.org