CANADA – Lutheran Church–Canada has released a new “Luther Liturgy” service which congregations are invited to use as part of local celebrations of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

The communion service celebrates the music of Martin Luther, and may be used at any time of the year during Reformation services. Congregations may wish to use it for October 29 or October 31 to coincide with Reformation Day observances. Alternately, the service can be used at another date of the congregation’s choosing.

“Luther once said: ‘The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them,’ noted Rev. Paul Roggow, who planned out the Reformation-themed liturgy. “For Luther, music was ‘the greatest treasure in the world,’ second only to the Word of God.’ Let the church rejoice, during the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, in this great treasure of God—the music of Martin Luther.”

The festival communion service sets selections of the liturgy to music composed by Luther. The Gloria in Excelsis, for example, is set to A Mighty Fortress is Our God, while the Nunc Dimittis is set to the tune of Our Father, Who from Heav’n Above. The Alleluia is set to From Heaven Above to Earth I Come and the Agnus Dei is set to From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee. Other Reformation pieces appear in the service as well, with the closing hymn being Luther’s most famous composition: A Mighty Fortress is Our God.

The service incorporates material from Concordia Publishing House, which has graciously granted permission to LCC congregations to use the service throughout the Reformation anniversary in 2017. Congregations using the service must have the Lutheran Service Book in their pews.

Download the Luther Liturgy here.

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