Two months out Readers ramp it up on fifth Sundays F
rom Shelby to Shreve- port, for some congre- gations the fifth Sunday
is a favorite of the church year. In Shelby, N.C., Ascen-
sion Lutheran Church is using the fifth Sunday in March to take its first ever “noisy offering” and will do it again in May, said Chris- tina Auch, pastor. The offer- ings support specific min- istries over and above the budget, including a local hospice and a men’s shelter. If The Lutheran’s Facebook poll of how congregations use
fifth Sundays is any indication, collecting a noisy offering is a popular way to mark the extra day of worship. Another common way to celebrate is with music. At St.
Stephen Lutheran Church, Shreveport, La., it all started with leap year 2004, the last time Feb. 29 fell on a Sunday. Harold Christensen, pastor, marked the rarity of it by writing a ser- vice called “Leap of Faith Day.” “We are a small parish that follows a very traditional
worship pattern (Setting one, Lutheran Book of Worship) and loves it,” he said. “But the change of pace was welcomed. After that, I began looking for and working on ways to use the fifth Sundays to enhance the worship experience.” Organist/music director Justin Gould and
Christensen usually build a service around the appointed texts, but sometimes they choose Scripture and music to support a theme. The services always have a “sermon in song,” Chris- tensen said—a medley of five or six hymns in place of the sermon. “As much as possible and practical, we also use hymns in
place of other parts of the liturgy and even the texts if we can find one that is faithfully close,” he said. Christensen’s favor- ite was when they celebrated Reformation by exclusively using hymns written by Martin Luther (either words, music or both). They’ve also done a sermon in song that follows the church year with a hymn from every season. Young piano
students play the prelude, offertory or postlude, and adult members sing solos, duets or play instruments. Deann Shealy McManus, Prosperity, S.C., says fifth Sun-
days are her favorites. At St. Luke Lutheran Church it’s called “Big Sing” Sunday, when anyone with a musical talent can perform—“from the very young to the very mature,” McMa- nus said: choirs, guitars, keyboard, band students, handbells, quartets and trios. On perhaps a smaller scale, Immanuel Lutheran Church,
Eden Prairie, Minn., and St. Peter, Pocahontas, Iowa, add a music focus on their fifth Sundays as well. At Immanuel, Bill Middeke says worship begins with a hymn sing. And at St. Peter it’s “hymns by request,” said Joy Gonnerman, pastor. And although it’s not music-related, Louisa Rogers
Brooks said her congregation, Faith Lutheran, Dickinson, Texas, in its own way sings unity when there is a fifth Sunday with one service instead of two. “This allows the whole con- gregation from both services to come together and worship as one,” she said. “The fellowship is wonderful.”
Good one! ‘Keep calm’ T-shirts
Transitions in leadership can be filled with both stress and opportunities. Preparing to say farewell to their pastor, the church coun- cil and staff of Kingo Lutheran
Church in Shorewood, Wis., last year shared their stress-reducing strategies—and good humor— at their annual meeting on Pentecost with these “Keep calm” T-shirts. Although the “Keep Calm and Carry On” message originated before World War II in Great Britain, the catchphrase and all the merchandise it has spawned has made a revival in recent years.
Send congregational stories—both those for a specifi c month/holiday or your best timeless idea—to
julie.sevig@
thelutheran.org. 42
www.thelutheran.org
©
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CHRISTOPHER FUTCHER
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