April 12-14, 2010

All of Us Go Down to the Dust:

Worship Life at the Time of Death

Each day we are reminded that we live in the midst of death.  As Christians, we make the sign of the cross and remember our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The church’s worship life at the time of death, then, is not just a matter for the end of life.  All of our liturgical life prepares us for the eventual end of life.  All of our liturgical life prepares us for death, in the claim of hope of the resurrection.  This year’s Institute will explore the richness of the Christian practices around death through liturgies, plenary presentations and workshops.

It is the Institute’s vision to present the richness of the church’s tradition, while, at the same time, pushing forward the edges of the church’s practice into new and creative expressions of worship.  We draw widely on worship resources of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as local and global ecumenical materials.  In these ways we find our unity in Christ grounded in our baptism, renewed through confession and forgiveness, and shared in word and meal.

Advisory Council, Institute of Liturgical Studies

Plenary presenters include:

Kathleen Billman
Professor of Pastoral Theology
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Thomas Long
Bandy Professor of Preaching
Emory University Graduate School
Atlanta, GA

James Nieman
Professor of Practical Theology
Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT

Thomas Schattauer
Professor of Liturgics and Dean of the Chapel
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA

Preachers' Retreat
January 25-27, 2010

Registrations will be accepted through December 15, 2009.

The Advisory Council held the first annual Preachers' Retreat at the conclusion of the 2008 Institute, April 3-4, 2008. The event was designed to encourage and support preachers in their weekly preaching task and offered small groups, facilitators and mentors, worship and reflection in a retreat setting. Gifts from the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith and Martin E. Marty provided support for this first venture.  More...

Future Institute Dates

May 2-4, 2011
Psalms - John Witvliet, Keynote Speaker

April 16-18, 2012
Bless Us and These Your Gifts: Practicing Life in the Promise of God

April 8-10, 2013