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Articles by Frank C. Senn

Frank C. Senn was born in Buffalo, NY, received his BA at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY in 1965, his M.Div, from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1969, and a Ph.D. in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame in 1979.

Dr. Senn was Assistant Professor Liturgics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago from 1978-81. He has been an adjunct professor at other institutions, including Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. He served congregations in South Bend, IN, Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL, Linconshire, IL, and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston (1990-2013), from which he retired.

Frank is the author of many books and articles. His most recent books are Embodied Liturgy: Lessons in Christian Ritual (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2016) and Eucharistic Body (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017).

Frank is an adjunct professor of liturgy at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. He lives with his wife Mary in Evanston.

Should the Church Evangelize?

February 9, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

The question in the title of this issue of Let’s Talk is ironic. Yes, of course the Church should evangelize. We’re under a “great commission” from our Lord himself to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15). In Matthew the commission is given to the eleven disciples to make disciples of all nations […]

Filed Under: Should We Evangelize

Repentance and Confession

February 9, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” These words from Joel, heard on Ash Wednesday, are a liturgical sentence sung throughout Lent. Lent is a season of repentance, of turning around. It originated as the time in which the candidates for baptism […]

Filed Under: Turning Around

As I See It: Inculcating the Habit of Worship

February 6, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

On Trinity Sunday (June 3, 2012) the so-called Athanasian Creed will be recited in many churches. It is noteworthy that this Creed, which seems to offend many sensibilities today, does not begin with a statement of belief but an affirmation of worship. It says that salvation is a matter of clinging to the catholic faith […]

Filed Under: Keeping the Sabbath

As I See It: Training Youth To Visit Other Churches

February 6, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

It intrigues and concerns me that many of our young people don’t seek out worshiping communities when they leave home, for example, to go away to college or university. Yet they readily return to worship at their home church when they are home visiting their parents. So they cut loose from family routines when they […]

Filed Under: Faithful Parenting

As I See It: Lutherans Observe Advent

February 6, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

I like every season of the church year when we get to it, but I think I like Advent best of all. It is a season that emerged out of the culture and geography of Western Europe, not the Mediterranean world. It is not observed in the Eastern Churches. In the Western church calendar Advent […]

Filed Under: Preaching Advent

As I See It: Joe Sittler, Me and Liturgy

February 4, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

This issue of Let’s Talk is a retrospective on the life and work of Joseph Sittler, “our Chicago theologian,” as one of our board members called him. I offer to the mix of articles this reflection on my own relationship with Joe and how he contributed to my vocational decision to become a liturgist long […]

Filed Under: The Legacy of Joseph Sittler

Frank Answers 45: Resurrection Bodies

February 3, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

Question: I have read one theory about the resurrection that we will come back as our best possible selves, say, 30 years old and healthy. What form of ourselves do you think we will come back as? Will I have my tattoos? Answer: The paradigm for our resurrection bodies is the risen body of Jesus. […]

Filed Under: Honoring the Body

As I See It: Bodies Dishonored and Honor Restored

February 3, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

I find an interesting irony in how for all the attention we give to our bodies and for all the bodies on display in our culture, as individuals we may be more secretive and insecure about our bodies than ever before. I am bemused to watch fit young men go into contortions to get dressed […]

Filed Under: Honoring the Body

Yoga and the Theology of the Body

January 28, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

When it was discovered that I had colon cancer in 2006 my primary care physician said, “You will face your mortality and survive.” He was right. In my year-long chemotherapy protocol I witnessed my body dying. I will spare readers the details, but once my year of chemotherapy was complete my body bounced back—within a […]

Filed Under: Honoring the Body

Harnessing a Musical Tidal Wave

January 27, 2015 by Frank C. Senn

On July 1 of this year I began my new career as a retired pastor. My first retirement assignment was giving three days of lectures to the pastors and church workers of the Lutheran Church of Singapore, two open lectures to lay people, a lecture at the Church Music School of the Methodist Church, and […]

Filed Under: Grace in the City

As I See It: Radical Intimacy at the Lord’s Table

November 20, 2014 by Frank C. Senn

The ELCA is having a conversation about “radical hospitality” in the practice of Holy Communion. This means that the Table is open not only to all baptized Christians, but to all worshipers, even if they are not baptized. I can only assume that we are having this conversation because some pastors and congregations are issuing […]

Filed Under: Communion and Community

As I See It: Food Fight at the Lord’s Supper

August 14, 2014 by Frank C. Senn

At synod and churchwide assemblies and in many parishes the communicant is presented a menu with a variety of options: broken loaf or wheat wafers or gluten-free wafers, wine drunk from a common cup, a cup for intinction, or wine in individual containers, or a non-alcoholic beverage. The institution narratives of the Lord’s Supper in […]

Filed Under: Food and Justice

As I See It: The Pastor as Projector of a Worldview

May 22, 2014 by Frank C. Senn

This issue of Let’s Talk is devoted to leadership in the Church. There is a natural temptation to look to models of leadership from social institutions because the Church is a society in the world that operates according to social, political, and economic “laws.” Pastoral leaders can be taught leadership skills that come out of […]

Filed Under: Growing Leaders

As I See It: Clothed in Righteousness

January 30, 2014 by Frank C. Senn

I once received this email from a Lutheran pastor, who wrote: “In my present call I have inherited a ‘contemporary’ service. In the negotiations that are always necessary in these scenarios, I insisted on vestments (alb and stole) for eucharistic celebrations.  A member expressed concern over the ‘pomp’ behind such vestments. My response revolved around […]

Filed Under: Religion and the Arts

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20.1 Lent 2015

The Catechumenate

19.4: Advent 2014

Communion and Community

19.3: Ordinary Time 2014

Green coffee beans (top left), Nicaraguan red beans (top right), corn (bottom left) and millet, vital Nicaraguan crops, held in women farmers’ hands

Food and Justice

19.2: Pentecost 2014

Latvian Wheat by Dace Kiršpile

Growing Leaders

19.1: Epiphany 2014

archangel gabriel

Religion and the Arts

1996 – 2013

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