Lutheran Church—missouri Synod

The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod, in continuity with Martin Luther and subsequent confessional Lutheranism, observes the full, traditional Christian year as a vehicle of the gospel. In the 1980s, some Missouri Synod churches moved away from the church year as too restrictive, while others sought an even more thorough appropriation of the church's ancient liturgical heritage. The Saxon immigrants and pastors who organized the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states (later, Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod ) came to North America for the express purpose of establishing congregations which would be specifically Evangelical Lutheran in both doctrine and practice. The writings of Martin Luther and the confessional writings of the Book of Concord (1580) were not only guides along this path; they were regarded as signposts of Lutheran confessionalism and orthodoxy. Luther and the Church Year Luther's own understanding of the liturgy, liturgical ceremony, and the prov…