I shudder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet, over months-turned semesters-turned years, I began to discover the \u201cpoint\u201d of not just \u201cLutheran liturgy,\u201d but thinking about the liturgy at all.\u00a0 As my interest in church music prompted me to adopt the major, it was now unavoidable to begin learning, experiencing, and\u2014for the first time\u2014to be ensconced in a world where the liturgical life and care for the church\u2019s worship and its music was central and compelling for vocation and for faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I quickly found that my Lutheran classmates found joy in worship.\u00a0 They found joy in the music, in doing it well, and in doing lots of it.\u00a0 My teachers were models of both academic excellence and committed service: I had the honor of learning from Lorraine Brugh, John Bernthal, David Truemper, John Brian George, and many others.\u00a0 I felt the wondrous delight around \u201cAdvent-Christmas Vespers,\u201d was awed by the rendition of J.S. Bach\u2019s St. Matthew Passion<\/em>, and felt my mixed feelings stretch as Dr. Brugh firmly supported \u201cPraise music\u201d as well as \u201ctraditional Matins choir\u201d (I was not a \u201cpraise\u201d fan\u2014too much PTSD from \u201cOur God is an Awesome God\u201d in Catholic youth group).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had never\u2014and perhaps never will again\u2014experience Holy Week with such electric intensity of anticipation as I did amongst my fellow \u201cChapel rats\u201d at Valparaiso University. And I am grateful for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n No wonder I was surprised by my encounter with liturgical liveliness at Valpo. Little did I know, when I came to the campus, that Valparaiso was a historic location for liturgical renewal.\u00a0 Little did I realize that my teachers and mentors would give me the tools not only to pay my room and board for graduate school through my emerging organ skills, but give me the vision that the Church\u2019s worship might bring joy\u2014and even transformation\u2014to the hardest of hearts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So welcome, North American Academy of Liturgy, to Valparaiso University.\u00a0 Say hello to the Chapel of the Resurrection.\u00a0 Pray for all the students there now, of years past, and for the future, that they might continue to find inspiration from this place which gives even cradle Catholics a home\u2014cradle Catholics who now point to this Lutheran liturgical landmark to say, \u201cthis is where I learned to love the liturgy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KATHARINE E. HARMON — Welcome, North American Academy of Liturgy, to Valparaiso University, historic location for liturgical renewal.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":66098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,149],"tags":[3909,3235],"class_list":["post-66096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conferences-workshops-meetings","category-lutheran-liturgy","tag-north-american-academy-of-liturgy","tag-valparaiso-university"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HARMON-Chapel-of-the-Resurrection-Exterior-IMG20240316132553-533x400.jpg\")
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