A Gift of the Church. That positive phrase was the title of the first section of the Guide to introducing Lutheran Book of Worship that congregations used back in 1978. I want to suggest some ways in which the LBW indeed has been a gift to Lutheran congregations across North America. As we consider the short life span of LBW, I always try to put it in the context of the 2000-year-old conversation that we call the Christian liturgy. Assemblies of Christians around word and sacrament were encountering God in the event of communal worship long before this worship resource appeared, but LBW has served congregations in significant ways in this generation.
