Complete Story
01/05/2015
You are Invited to 'Called to be a Living Voice: Vocation Reformation Mission' in Atlanta in July 2015
You are invited to gather with others from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) this summer to imagine the future of worship renewal in our church.
Registration is now open for 'Called to be a Living Voice: Vocation . Reformation . Mission at www.LivingVoice2015.org.
An array of presenters, including ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Gordon Lanthrop, Nadia Bolz-Weber and Harvard Stephens, Jr. will share their thoughts on vocation, reformation and mission.
How is God calling the church today? And to what are Christians called? These fundamental questions will be taken up by those who come to Atlanta in 2015, gathering as worshiping people: those who make music, those who preside and preach, those active in worship ministries in their communities, those simply curious, and all who seek the ongoing renewal of worship for the sake of the gospel and for the life of the world.
For the first time, this gathering brings together two major national events in overlapping conferences. The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, founded in 1985, will meet Sunday through Wednesday of this week. The third Worship Jubilee for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, following those held in 2000 and 2007, will meet Monday through Thursday. Participants may register for one or both events, which will feature leading voices, practical workshops, diverse worship expressions in several of Atlanta’s city churches, and rich conversation.
A common theme runs through the entire week. One of the key phrases that emerged from the Reformation, which is approaching a milestone 500th anniversary, is viva vox evangelii—“the living voice of the gospel.” Interpretation of the Bible, the kerygmatic nature of preaching, the proclamatory role of music and the arts—these are among the ways the mission of the gospel is expressed in and empowered by Christian worship. Heirs of the Reformation emphasize “vocation” as our calling by the vox Dei, the voice of God, to make this good news come alive, again and again. We become God’s voice, calling out to re-form a fractured and changing world.
Worship and music practitioners are invited to gather in Atlanta in 2015, to listen to one another, to join our voices in worship and song, and to be renewed in our calling to be God’s living voice today.
