Biblical and Theological Resources

General resources

• Towards Freedom - The Practice of Forgiveness in the LCA – Report from GCC Taskforce 2009

Biblical foundations for worship

• Proclaiming the Name – Victor C Pfitzner
• Naming God – John W Kleinig
• Worship and Full Assurance – John W Kleinig
• Entrance into the Heavenly – John W Kleinig

History of Lutheran worship

• Liturgical Uniformity and Church Polity in the Augsburg Confessions and the Formula of Concord: The Church Orders as Hermeneutical Key – Matthew C Harrison
• Sasse on Worship – John W Kleinig
• The Origin And Nature Of The Service With Communion Of The LCA, As Published In The Lutheran Hymnal, 1973 – Michael Lockwood and Jonathon Kummerow
• Traditional and contemporary worship in the LCA – A discussion paper – David Schubert
• The Liturgical Heritage of Theodor Kliefoth – John W Kleinig
• Some Aspects of the History of Worship in the LCA – David Schubert, 2004
• Paul Gerhardt as a Teacher of Lutheran Spirituality – John W Kleinig

Theology of worship

• The Biblical View of Worship – John W Kleinig
• Where Is Your God? Luther on God’s Self-localisation – John W Kleinig
• The Mystery of Christ and the Divine Service – John W Kleinig
• Sharing in God’s Holiness – John W Kleinig
• The Lord’s Supper as a Sacrificial Banquet – John W Kleinig
• Witting or Unwitting Ritualists – John W Kleinig
• Worshipping with the Angels – Victor C Pfitzner
• Worship at Luther Campus – Faculty of Luther Campus, 1995
• What's the use of Praising God – John W Kleinig
• Luther on Participation in God's Holiness – John W Kleinig, 1985/2003

The Lutheran liturgy

• The Privatisation of the Cultus Publicus – Lutheran Theological Journal 27/1 (1993): 13–22 – John G Strelan
• Ways of Opening a Service – John W Kleinig, 2001

Congregational song

• Singing with Grace in Our Hearts – The Function of Hymnody in Its Cultural Context – John W Klenig
• The 1973 Lutheran Hymnal of the Lutheran Church of Australia: Alan Collyer: 2004

Music in worship

• Bach, Chronicles and Church Music – John W Kleinig
• Incarnation and Music – John W Kleinig, 2000

The practice of worship

• Some Pastoral Guidelines for Worship with Small Numbers
• The Use of Testimonies in the Divine Service – John W Kleinig
• The Use of Visual Media Technology in Liturgical Worship – Andrew Ruddell
• LCA Worship Guidelines - Summary of recent decisions and suggestions about the divine service – Compiled by David Schubert for the Department of Liturgics
• Language in Worship: David Schubert, 2006 – David Schubert
• Some guidelines for the use of data projectors in worship – Adam Cooper, 2003
• Worship and Outreach – BCL COW Task Force
• Worship and Mission – John Kleinig
• Speech Acts in the Liturgy – David Schubert

Studies on worship

• Worship for the sake of the world – Linards Jansons
• Studies on Weekly Communion – Greg Pietsch, 2004
• A series of studies on the Liturgy (formatted for church bulletins) – Linards Jansons

New rites and resources

Liturgy and Prayers for a Time of Drought: This rite is a full liturgy that may be used on any Sunday during a time of drought. It follows the Old Testament notion that times of natural calamity are times for a 'return to the Lord'. It is designed to be used flexibly. You may wish to simply use the regular seasonal liturgy for the day, inserting only those portions that seem advisable for your situation, or the entire service could be used as a special afternoon or evening service.

A Rite of Installation for an Assistant Pastor: Increasingly retired pastors have been appointed to serve part-time in an honorary capacity in the congregations of the LCA and to assist the local pastors in their work. Even though they have not been officially called as pastors to that congregation or parish, they serve there as ministers of word and sacrament. This rite is meant to regularise such an arrangement and to ensure that they have congregational support for their work.

LCA Alternate Marriage Vows

A Rite for Relinquishing Tokens of Office: The following rite provides an opportunity for the pastor who is leaving the congregation (by virtue of call or retirement), or who is leaving the office of the ministry, to publicly relinquish a token of office. The ritual relinquishment of tokens of office provides a symbolic and public expression that the public service undertaken by the pastor in Christ’s name has come to an end in that locality.

New Prayers for Holy Communion: While the LCA Worship Resources provide many different possibilities for variation in the communion service, they do not give any additional eucharistic prayers, but merely recommend the use of the same prayers for the whole liturgical year. These three prayers are suggested as alternatives to the prayers that are given in the Service with Communion, the Service – Alternative Form and the Modern Liturgy (Worship Today). They have been adopted by the Department of Liturgics and are released for field testing and feedback. The theological foundation for the use of eucharistic prayers is given in the Commission on Worship Statement 32 on the Celebration of the Lord’s supper with thanksgiving.

Indexes to various resources

• Seasonal Prayer – Sources of Quotations
• Everyday Prayer – Daily Lectionary
• Everyday Prayer – Index to Daily Lectionary