Grow Ministries

LCA Child, Youth and Family Ministry

RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT – Lutheran Worship book

9 March 2022

Our Lutheran worship is full of meaning and purpose. Do we really understand why we do what we do and that the flow of worship is intentional?

Have you ever wondered what INVOCATION means? Or how about ABSOLUTION? Why do we PASS THE PEACE? Or say the APOSTLES' CREED?

Order in worship has been there from Biblical times. Jesus himself would have been used to the order used in temple and synagogue worship. So in one sense, we have inherited an order which has been passed down to us through the centuries.

Why do we worship?

Firstly, God told us to! Psalm 100 for example, is a call to ‘worship the Lord with gladness’, and the first commandments imply worship and reverence for God ‘above anything else’. Worship is a bit like breathing. We rely on breathing for life. In worship, God gives and then continually supports life in Him through the washing of baptism, through His words, and through the bread and wine of Holy Communion. In worship the emphasis is on God and we inhale His word and sacraments (the concrete, visible word). Of course, the communication is not one-way. We want to respond to God, so we exhale in prayer, in singing, and in our offerings.

The order reminds us that we are part of an enormous company of those who have journeyed with Jesus, and who will continue to do so when our earthly days are over. It’s also a unifying factor between Christians all over the world; you may have experienced the special grace of worshipping in another language and recognising the order of service.

Liturgy through the ages has, because of the balanced diet of word and action, been able to protect the worshippers from imbalance (only hearing part of God’s message), heresy (words which aren’t God’s) or even pastors! And the wonderful rhythm and words (most of them directly from the Bible) which we absorb and memorise are sometimes only words which make sense when we are troubled or dying. We can be carried along with and by the others in our church family.

Of course, there’s room for variety, imagination, different words and different styles of music, but some things remain constant in Lutheran worship services. There is a sense in which worship will always look and sound different from our surrounding culture. We come into God’s presence – holy ground, and the place where heaven intersects with earth.

This booklet ‘Why we do what we do in our Lutheran worship’ was created to grow understanding of the elements of worship. It goes into detail and explains the different parts of our worship and provides the Biblical foundation.

You could use this booklet for:

  • a resource to share with families,
  • a Bible study for small groups of all ages,
  • teaching tool for Confirmation or Baptism,
  • place it in your visitor’s packs or
  • new member welcome packs or
  • you may even consider putting some in your pews.
If you would like to learn more about how to intentionally minister to ALL generations, please contact the team at Grow Ministries. Register your interest by emailing growministries@lca.org.au and a member of our team will contact you.

«