wfn.org | ELCA Sponsors Worship 2000 Jubilee July 10-13

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 6, 2000

ELCA SPONSORS WORSHIP 2000 JUBILEE JULY 10-13
00-154-MH*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) is sponsoring "Worship 2000," the denomination's first national
conference devoted solely to worship, July 10-13 here at Navy Pier.
     The national conference will include worship services and plenary
and small-group presentations by well-known Christian speakers and
visits to significant sites in the city.  Worship 2000 builds on the
"Alive in Christ conference" held in Orlando in November 1998.
     Pastors, lay people, and church educators of the ELCA are among
those expected to attend.
     Plenary presentations include the "Future of the Liturgical
Assembly," "The Honesty of Preaching: Silence and Speech," "Proclamation
Through the Arts" and "Meal and Mission."
     Small-group presentations include "Foundational Patterns for
Worship," "Environment and the Visual Arts," "Images for Preaching,"
"Congregational Song," " the Ritual Nature of Music" and "Christian
Formation."
     Presenters include The Rev. Gordon Lathrop, professor of liturgy
at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and author of "Holy
People: A Liturgical Ecclesiology," "Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology"
and "What are the Essentials of Christian Worship?"; and Gail Ramshaw,
professor of religion at LaSalle University, Philadelphia, and president
of the North American Academy of Liturgy.
     Although the primary location of Worship 2000 will be Navy Pier,
the conference will extend to Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the
University of Chicago, Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Luke, St.
James Episcopal Cathedral, St. Benedict the African Church, Fourth
Presbyterian Church and St. Clement Church, all in Chicago.
     Worship 2000 will also feature two festival Eucharists, a festival
of congregational song featuring a broad spectrum of musical traditions,
evening prayer with the world-renowned His Majestie's Clerkes -- a
Chicago-based chamber choir and a banquet on Navy Pier, as well as a
free evening to explore the city of Chicago.
     The Rev. Paul R. Nelson, director for worship, ELCA Division for
Congregational Ministries, said the conference will "model a diversity
of music and style that encourages an eclectic mix of cultures in
Lutheran worship" and "model services of Holy Communion, morning and
evening prayer, musical praise and preaching, which keep Jesus Christ at
the center, elements of which can be adapted for local use" and more.
      "We want to provide a leadership development experience for
people in worship, whether they are pastors or lay people," Nelson said.
"This will also be a time to offer thanks to people for their ministries
in ELCA congregations."
      The event is being coordinated by the ELCA Division for
Congregational Ministries and Augsburg Fortress Publishers, the
publishing house of the ELCA, Minneapolis.
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     More information about Worship 2000 is available on the Web at
www.elca.org/dcm/worship/2000.html.

[*Michael N. Hoffman is a junior at the University of Kansas, Lawrence,
Kan.  This summer he is an intern with ELCA News and Information.]

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html