LCA Worship Planning Page

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Worship Planning

Commission on Worship

Seasonal Resources

seasonal-resources-page

Calendar of Liturgical Colours

Epiphany and Epiphany 1, Transfiguration, Maundy Thursday, Easter Day and Easter Day 1–7 (or gold), Christmas Day and Christmas 1, New Year's Eve

Epiphany 2–7, Pentecost 2–24, Last Sunday of Church Year

Ash Wednesday, Lent 1–5, Palm Sunday, Advent 1–4 (or blue)

Good Friday (or bare altar)

Easter Day and Easter 2–7 (or white), Ascension (or white), Pentecost 1/Trinity (or white)

Pentecost, Reformation, and other festivals

Lent and Easter resources

  • The first service: Maundy Thursday – Word | PDF
  • The second service: Good Friday – Word | PDF
  • The third service: Easter vigil – Word | PDF 
  • Midweek Lenten devotional service – Word | PDF
  • The passion of our Lord according to St John – Word | PDF otional 

Midweek Lenten Devotional Services 2020

It has been customary in the LCA to conduct midweek devotional services on the passion of our Lord throughout Lent, usually on Wednesdays.
Note that it is not necessary for the pastor to lead these devotional services. If a suitable meditation has been prepared for reading, a lay reader may lead the service. This may be especially suitable in multi-point parishes, so that every congregation has a midweek service each week.

Mid-Week Lenten Calendar 2020 with Public Domain Hymn Suggestions

Midweek Lenten Service 1 (to be held on the Wednesday after the First Sunday in Lent)

Midweek Lenten Service 2

Midweek Lenten Service 3

Midweek Lenten Service 4

Midweek Lenten Service 5

Advent and Christmas resources

  • A festival of readings and carols – Word | PDF
  • Service with the Christmas story – Word | PDF 

Christmas Carols Copyright

Click here to get the APRA AMCOS guide to copyright holders for a wide range of Christmas carols.

Christmas Plays

The following Christmas Eve orders and Christmas plays have been prepared for congregational use. The first five were originally prepared by the Board for Congregational Life of the LCA in the 1980s. In 2016 and 2018, we requested congregations to send in copies of Children's Christmas Presentations they had written and were willing to share with the wider church. Thank you to all those who contributed! We present here an edited selection which would be suitable for a variety of situations, with thanks to the original authors.They've been reformatted into Word documents. Feel free to edit them to suit your congregation's needs. Change or omit the carols/hymns/songs; double up on the reader parts and involve youth and adults. Be creative!

Worship the King - focuses on Jesus the King

Three Questions for Christmas - travel back to Bethlehem for the census with Mary and Joseph!

Hands Up for Jesus! - See also this PPT file which can be used to provide visuals during the service or as ideas for making banners.

Good News From Heaven - based on Martin Luther's famous carol 'From Heaven above'.

Happy Birthday Jesus - cast in the form of a Birthday Party. Children will participate as they do in a birthday party.

And You Will See - Rather than a retelling of the Christmas story, this deals with the theme of darkness and light and God’s rescue of his people. Written by Alison Barkley and performed by the Jesus And Me (JAM) children at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Greenock. These PowerPoint slides accompany the script: And You Will See PPT

Christmas A to Z - This idea would be best suited for a Sunday School with limited resources or mostly very young children. It would work well with the involvement of youth or parents.

Someone's Coming - Quite a few parts in this play, so it’s suitable for a reasonable number of children of different ages. Songs are suggestions only.

Surprise, Surprise - There are 10 characters who would have to be slightly older children. Young children could act some of the scenes or be angels or animals. Songs are suggestions only.

This Baby Changed My Life - Here is a program suitable for whole congregation involvement, or perhaps youth and children of all ages, when numbers of children are limited. Songs are suggestions only.

The Colours of Christmas -  Written by Rob Handreck and first performed by the kids of St Paul's Lutheran Church, Box Hill. This is very suitable for a group of young children, but can be adapted to include older children too.

News - People Saved By Baby -  Imagine how things might have been if today’s technology was available in 40AD and someone just turned on the radio to hear the news...

King of Kings - Written by Rob Handreck and first performed by the kids of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill. This play traces the Old Testament story of God’s interaction with His people through a selection of kings (these can be varied), finishing with the King of kings.

A Studio Christmas - The Director of a photo shoot is organizing a publicity shot for Christmas, and begins by getting the nativity scene set up with the usual cast of Mary, Joseph, Animals, Shepherds, Wisemen, Angels and of course, the Baby.

Advent Hymn Backing Tracks

LH1 "Hark, A Herald Voice is Calling" (tune: Merton)

LH2 "O Come, O Come Immanuel" (tune: Veni, Immanuel)

LH11 "The Advent of Our king" (tune: Franconia)

LH17 "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" (tune: Laus Deo)

LH733 "Daughter of Zion" (tune: Tochter Zion)