Monday, August 22, 2011

Worship Resources Online

One thing I do not understand is why we Lutherans in Canada and the USA do not offer accessible liturgies online free of charge to congregations and clergy. The publishers of our hymnals seem overly protective in this matter, and would rather sell these materials than offer them to the public free of charge.

The story is much different in at least two other denominations that I am aware of. For example, the Anglicans have all kinds of liturgies online, offered free of charge to their congregations and clergy. Their Book of Common Prayer can be accessed here, and their Book of Alternative Services is accessible here. The other denomination is the Lutheran Church of Australia, which also has some fine liturgical resources online here. This online accesibility is very practical, helpful, and much appreciated I'm sure, for worship planners, worship committees, musicians, and pastors. If any Lutheran clergy out there are reading this, and know the reason(s), can you tell us why we ELCICers and ELCAers are so far behind our Anglican and Australian brothers and sisters in this matter?

3 comments:

Gene Packwood said...

Preach it brother!

Anonymous said...

It does seem odd that some church bodies do publish their liturgical resources yet the Lutherans don't.
So I guess that means that when people in the Lutheran Churches or outside of it are looking for resources for their services they will not use the material from the Lutheran books. I wonder what the longer term implications of that will be on the Lutheran congregations?

Dim Lamp said...

Good question, worth thinking about. Thanks.