Liturgy and Lutheran confessional identity

Notes: "`The Lutheran churches in Canada," Walter Freitag of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon used to say, 'ought not to have survived'. His insight was that almost all Lutheran congregations and synods were established in Canada in order to preserve the religious, cultural and linguistic identity of existing Lutherans. We always moved to serve our 'own', seldom ever asking what the mission of Christ would be in this new environment. As Lutherans lost their cultural identity and blended into the Canadian mainstream, it would seem logical that our religious identity should also have faded. It didn't."; "The restoration of weekly communion has had a positive effect on the spiritual health of many Lutheran congregations".; One of the chief characteristics of Lutheranism from its beginning is its willingness and freedom to learn from other traditions. "This freedom to learn from other traditions has already had a positive impact on Lutheran worship. Both liturgies and hymns in recently published worship resources are wonderfully eclectic, drawing on Latin American, African and Orthodox sources among others. We share a lectionary and contemporary English liturgical texts with a number of denominations".; Author is a Lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario.

Subjects: Lutheran Church - Canada - History; Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada - History; Liturgical renewal - Lutheran Church - Canada; Liturgical renewal - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Lutheran Church - Doctrines; Lord's Supper - Child participation - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Lord's Supper - Frequency of communion - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Bishops - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Episcopacy - Lutheran Church