At the beginning of this year I wrote an article for our denominational magazine, The Lutheran, about a new set of song books by my friend, Eric Wefald. Like many mainline denominations, we have a difficult time getting our groove on in worship with anything that was written after the 19th Century. This collection of song books draws not only from contemporary artists but contemporary Lutheran artists!
Okay, that might sound like an oxymoron at first, Lutherans and anything contemporary, since change comes hard for some of us of northern European ancestery. But for those who have been hanging around some of our rockin’ youth gatherings (imagine – 35,000 teens doing service projects in New Orleans last year), you know there are bands that rock the house and convey the radical unconditional grace that is central to our tribal identity.
Lutheran Songs Today take the best from many of these different groups, scores them for church house bands, and makes it possible to do them locally in worship. Eric has worked his butt off to get the copyright releases, the band support, and now is working to get this into the hands local worship leaders.
Do you have to be Lutheran to buy or appreciate the songs? Absolutely not! So check out the web site and order a copy today.
So why don’t Lutherans rock out in worship and have a hard time with things like video in worship, facebooking faith, or things that seem to abandon the fruits of the printing press? Ah, that is another blog entry and probably worth a podcast. In the meantime, enjoy the Lutheran Song from the group Lost and Found and find out that famous Lutherans include people like Dana Carvey, Bruce Willis, Steve Jobs, and Dale Ernhardt Sr. Yep, doncha know.