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Editor's Comments |
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Introduction to the Issue
by Kaari Reierson
Last month Melinda Quivik posed the question to readers in her essay: "How do we know what to do?" This month she seeks to "help foster a conversation about both worship and the missio Dei by asking: How does worship form our own identity and our view of others?"
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Featured Articles |
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How Can I Keep from Singing? An Appeal to Christians to Sing the Faith
by Allison Werner Hoenen
On Cantata Sunday of this year (May 2, 2010), my husband and I gave our farewell sermon to the congregation at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Fürth, Germany based on Isaiah 12:2 and the hymn by Robert Lowry (1826-1899) "My Life Flows on in Endless Song." The last line of the refrain asks "Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?" |
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Worship and the Missio Dei
by Melinda A. Quivik
JLE invites us again this month to think about the relationship between Sunday worship and ethics, giving us an opportunity to question our assumptions about worship and God’s mission. |
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Planning Ecumenical Worship
by Jennifer Phelps Ollikainen and Michael Trice
The assembly of believers around word and sacrament represents a public event that serves as a witness of faith to the whole world. On behalf of those who will believe — those who will witness these public gatherings around word and sacraments from the outside looking in — the church strives toward unity expressed, at times, in shared worship across communion lines. |
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Music Is Prayer: Reconsidering Secular Music
by Jon Pahl
Historically, as the splendid Thrivent production 500 Years of Lutheran Music demonstrates, Lutherans have been eclectic and creative in our choices of music for liturgy. Recently, however, the choices have seemed to narrow to either "traditional" or "contemporary" music. The former features the organ, a baroque instrument rarely experienced outside of church. The latter features the so-called praise band, which tends to evoke soft rock or pop. |
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Liturgical Practice and Ethical Perspective: Revisiting the Marriage Liturgy
by Mitchell Jones
Liturgy provides experiences that form our spiritual identity. The liturgical rhythm of the common lectionary helps us wrestle with parts of scripture we might be wary of because they are uncomfortable or challenging to us. This is a positive force in a believer’s ethical formation. But there can be a down side as well. Constant repetition without adaptive change to new contexts and situations causes liturgy to lose connection to the changing character of life. |
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A Globally Inclusive Ecumenical Model for the 21st Century
by Brian E. Konkol
One of the central debates facing Christianity from its onset surrounded essential requirements for acceptance into the community of believers. More specifically, some wondered whether or not particular ethnic heritage or cultural traditions were mandatory, whereas others considered various beliefs and behaviors surrounding food and other existing customs.
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Preaching on Social Issues |
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Introduction to the series on Preaching on Social Issues
by Shauna K. Hannan
The new series on preaching social issues in the Journal of Lutheran Ethics is sure to offer insight, spark conversation, and transform our preaching. Lutherans have not always been perceived to lead the crowd in social advocacy. And yet, a quick scan of data shows that we are indeed on the leading edge in this arena: 1) The ELCA has a program unit solely dedicated to Church in Society; 2) Lutheran World Relief works with partners in 35 countries; and 3) Each year Lutheran Services in America touches the lives of one in 50 people throughout the United States and the Caribbean. |
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Thieves in the Temple: Intellectual Property, Use of Media, and the Law (Not Yet) Written on Our Hearts
by Jonathan Rundman
Today’s reading from Jeremiah casts a lovely and hopeful vision for a future when God’s law is "written on the hearts" of the people, and when friendship with God is so obvious that no one needs any convincing. Imagine the profound Reformation required for us humans to reach that point! Although we trust that indeed “the day is surely coming," it’s only too clear that we’re not there yet. |