The Litany in ELW

[Larry Trover]

Re: ROJ's comment in the April 2011 Forum Letter
"Besides, the Litany didn't make the cut in Evangelical Lutheran Worship--it's so 16th century, you know"

Have you not looked at the last two songs in the Service Music section??

# 237 is the Litany of the Saints

# 238 is the Great Litany

ELW may not be perfect, but they did include these old gems.

[J. Thomas Shelley]

So perhaps the good Editor should have specified the pew edition of ELW.

Nevertheless, because the pew edition is the only edition that the average parishioner ever sees, handles, or uses, the loss of a 16th century gem is truly tragic.

Lex orandi, lex crenditi

The publication of ELW will cause more long-term harm to the faith, life, and worship of the ELCA than any decision of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

[Coach-Rev]

I'll have to give that some thought.  I suspect you could be correct in your assessment re:  ELW.

[Jay]

So perhaps the good Editor should have specified the pew edition of ELW.

Nevertheless, because the pew edition is the only edition that the average parishioner ever sees, handles, or uses, the loss of a 16th century gem is truly tragic.

Lex orandi, lex crenditi

The publication of ELW will cause more long-term harm to the faith, life, and worship of the ELCA than any decision of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

It is in the pew edition. 

[Brian Stoffregen]

So perhaps the good Editor should have specified the pew edition of ELW.

Nevertheless, because the pew edition is the only edition that the average parishioner ever sees, handles, or uses, the loss of a 16th century gem is truly tragic.

Lex orandi, lex crenditi

The publication of ELW will cause more long-term harm to the faith, life, and worship of the ELCA than any decision of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

It is in the pew edition. 

Indeed, they are. They are in the "Service Music" section where additional, liturgical texts and music can be found. #237 is "Litany of the Saints" and #238 is the "Great Litany," which I believe is quite similar to what was in LBW. (The copyright is both 1978 and 2006.) There is also the Litany in Evening prayer on page 316.

[J. Thomas Shelley]

]
It is in the pew edition. 

Indeed, they are. They are in the "Service Music" section where additional, liturgical texts and music can be found. #237 is "Litany of the Saints" and #238 is the "Great Litany," which I believe is quite similar to what was in LBW. (The copyright is both 1978 and 2006.) There is also the Litany in Evening prayer on page 316.

The Great Litany in ELW # 238 ( I stand corrected on its inclusion) is in fact textually and musically identical to its LBW counterpart.

Who knows?  Placing it as "Service Music" might actually lead to greater use, assuming that worship planners understand that it is not necessarily a stand-alone service.

Now the Litany in Evening Prayer is another matter altogether....it drifts farther away from its origin in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by shuffling the order of some of the petitions and by inserting a hint of environmental activism by praying "for the health of creation".   I would have preferred the editors to have moved its language closer to that of its Eastern roots, particularly by adding "and for our armed forces everywhere" in the petition for public servants.

I stand by my previous comment on ELW and its impact on the faith and faithfulness of the church.

Exposure to ELW liturgies was the genesis of my decision to depart....

[Richard Johnson]

A correction has been made in the May issue, already in the mail. I missed it because unlike all previous Lutheran hymnals that contained the Litany, it was not noted separately in the Table of Contents, but, as noted above, stuck in a section of "Service Music."