Lutherans Come 'This Far by Faith'

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has a new worship resource, "This Far by Faith," developed by theologians, musicians, liturgists and congregation leaders from the African American community of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). The hardbound, 520-page worship resource is now available to the ELCA's 5.2 million members in the United States and Caribbean.
On these pages Lutherans will "witness a living chronicle of a faith journey begun on African soil," said the Rev. Karen Ward, ELCA associate director for worship. "This is the pilgrimage of a people leaning on the Lord and trusting in God's holy word."
"North American Lutherans in the first centuries of immigration were people of northern European ancestry, focused on nurturing and transmitting the faith primarily among their immigrant groups," Ward wrote in the preface of the worship book.
"It is true that Africans became Lutheran in the Americas beginning in the 1600s; records document that an African man named Emmanuel was baptized in a New York Lutheran congregation in 1669," said Ward.
"Yet the challenge of transmitting the gospel to people of African descent in the Americas has been exacerbated by the 'peculiar institution' of slavery and the seemingly intractable legacy of racism," she said.
"In succeeding decades, as they continued to be baptized and catechized under Lutheran auspices, African Americans frequently found that their vernacular expressions of worship and song were not recognized by the wider Lutheran community," Ward said.
In the midst of struggle "Africans in the Americas developed rich and highly textured images to speak of God and of the relationship between God and humankind," she said.
A verse from the book:
"We've Come This Far By Faith"
We've come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord;
trusting in his holy word, he's never failed us yet.
Oh, we can't turn back, we've come this far by faith.
We've come this far by faith.
"This Far by Faith" is a "proposal for addressing issues of worship from a perspective of A particular culture and at the same time being faithful to the worship patterns of the church through the ages," said Ward.
"To that end, this volume provides an important contribution to the global discussion on worship and culture by making available to African American Lutherans and to the wider church some of the riches of African American liturgy and song," she said.
The worship resource includes 120 pages of liturgical materials, a section of traditional and contemporary hymns and songs, a service of "prayer and preaching" set in a revival format, and culture-specific items including worship services that acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr., Black History Month and Kwanzaa.
The resource also contains three music settings for "Holy Communion." "Liturgy of Joy" was developed by the Rev. James M. Capers, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Decatur, Ga.; "River of Life" was developed by Tillis Butler, St. Olaf Evangelical Lutheran Church, Detroit; and the third is a chorale setting.
"This Far by Faith" was produced by the ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM), the ELCA's Commission for Multicultural Ministries and the LCMS Board for Black Ministries. It was funded in part by the Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits society based in Minneapolis.
At their meeting here Feb. 26-28, members of the DCM board commended the worship resource for use by the ELCA's 11,000 congregations.=20
"The worship resource was developed by Black leadership in the Black community of our church," said the Rev. Wyvetta Bullock, an executive director for DCM. The resource will be accessible to all ELCA congregations and synods as a gift from the church for the whole church, she said.
Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the ELCA based in Minneapolis, will host a series of one-day workshops this year designed to introduce the worship resource to congregations of the ELCA's 65 synods. The workshops will take place May 15 in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; May 16 in Frederiksted, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; June 5 in Washington, D.C.; June 26 in Chicago; Sept. 11 in Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia; Sept. 12 in Detroit, New York and Houston; and Sept. 18 in Los Angeles and Milwaukee.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html