Why? A Layman's Guide to the Liturgy

It was called to my attention the other day that people are still benefitting from the little book I wrote a great while ago on the liturgy, to explain in simple terms why we do what we do, why certain things are in place, why the liturgy has this or that element, etc. It was written for laymen, and thus subtitled, “A Layman’s Guide to the Liturgy.”

The name of the book itself is Why?

It began as a compilation of a good number of actual questions people have asked me about the liturgy. Many years ago, when I was new at my parish, people had many questions, and I was happy to address them. Soon I began to open every Sunday Bible Class by asking if anyone had a liturgical question. The question would always be asked beginning with the word “why,” and soon people would offer their question by simply saying, “Pastor, I have a Why!”

I began to categorize these questions and added some more in our monthly newsletter, and soon began to provide them as a regular feature that ran for several years in Gottesdienst. Before long I had enough for the book.

Here’s the publisher’s information:

“Why do you Lutherans do that?” Every Lutheran pastor has heard the question (and some of them have asked it themselves). Most Lutherans don’t know as much about the liturgy as they would like to know—this book is a solution to this dilemma! Dr. Eckardt’s insightful“Why?” column ran for years in the pages of Gottesdienst. Now, Repristination Press has published a collection of these essays, together with several new “Whys?,” providing answers to 65 of those questions which begin, “Why...?”

It’s available for purchase at Amazon for $8.95. Pastors, you might even consider having your church buy a stack of them to hand out to your members or your Bible Class.