The Rev. Edgar Brown, Longtime Lutheran Worship Leader, Dies

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Edgar S. Brown, 82, retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and longtime worship leader in ELCA predecessor church bodies, died Feb. 6 in Selinsgrove, Pa., where he resided.
A Communion service in his memory is planned for 11 a.m., Feb. 12 at Beaver Lutheran Church, Beaver Springs, Pa.
Brown, who served as director of the Commission on Worship in the former Lutheran Church in America from 1963 to 1970, helped initiate a process that led to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. The commission developed the commonly used Lutheran Book of Worship, first published in 1978.
Before Brown directed the LCA Commission on Worship, he was executive director of the Department for Worship in the former United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA), a position he held from 1955 to 1962. During that time he introduced the Service Book and Hymnal to eight participating churches.
In 1943 Brown earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa. In 1945 he earned a bachelor of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). Muhlenberg College is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities; LTSP is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Brown earned both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate in theology from the Divinity School of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1950 and 1954, respectively.
Following ordination in 1945, Brown was a military chaplain in the U.S. Navy and was pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Pottstown, Pa., before he became worship director for the ULCA.
From 1971 to 1973 Brown taught religion and philosophy at Susquehanna University, an ELCA higher education institution in Selinsgrove. He served six years as chaplain at Susquehanna, and then was director of the state chaplaincy program for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, Harrisburg, before he retired from active ministry in 1986.
Brown wrote several books on liturgy, including "Living the Liturgy," published in 1961, according to The Daily Item newspaper, Sunbury, Pa. He wrote articles that appeared in theological journals, wrote a regular column, "Worship Notebook," for The Lutheran magazine from 1956 to 1962 and in 1979, according to the paper. He authored articles that appeared in the Op-Ed section and the Sunday Book Review section of the New York Times.
Brown was a co-founder of Societas Liturgica, an international society for liturgical study and renewal, based today in Germany. He was elected a Fellow of the North American Academy of Liturgy.
Brown was a regular participant in forums on Jewish-Christian relations and on the Holocaust, The Daily Item reported. He was also a participant in ecumenical gatherings with Roman Catholic leaders. In 1992 Brown was one of 17 North American pastors who met with Pope John Paul II to pray for Christian Unity.
Brown was a liturgical consultant to two assemblies of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) -- in Minneapolis in 1957 and in Helsinki, Finland in 1963. He was a consultant to the LWF Commission on Theology and to the LWF Commission on Worship and Spiritual Life, The Daily Item report said.
The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches with 138 member churches in 77 countries representing nearly 65 million Lutherans. The ELCA is a member church of the LWF.
Brown is survived by his wife, Marjorie, whom he married in 1972. He was preceded in death by a son, John III, and a daughter, Christine.
Interment will be at Salem Church Cemetery, Selinsgrove.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news