One of the orders of service we use each month from our Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary is Rite 4, The Lutheran Chorale Service.  It is hardly a modern invention.  It’s origins are traced to the worship reforms of Martin Luther and his coworkers in the great Reformation of the mid 1500s. Luther recognized that the worship rites of the Roman Catholic Church promoted…

Recently a visitor to our Sunday morning worship service commented on her way out of church that she was really looking for a more traditional service. That’s not the kind of reaction we often hear at Heritage Lutheran Church. More commonly, first time visitors and church shoppers react in the opposite direction, surprised at just how traditional the Heritage worship services are.…

A 2005 report of the Inter-Anglican Liturgical Commission addressed the issue of the elements used in the Lord’s Supper in Anglican churches. The Commission reported that a surprising variety of substances had been used as substitutes for bread and wine in the Supper, including rice cakes, biscuits, round cake, Coca-Cola, Fanta, banana juice, pineapple juice, passion fruit, and raisins boiled in water.…

“The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’” –Exodus 16:2,3 Only forty five days had passed since the Israelites had left the land of Egypt. Those forty five…